Jobs again

I still don't know whether I should take this temp job I've been offered (filing clerk for the University Development Office), & I've got to decide before lunchtime tomorrow.

For:
- It's NOT PROQUEST
- It's for the University, & I'd rather work for them than for commercial companies.
- It's in the Development Office, and fundraising is one of the directions I'd possibly be interested to go in, because it's a good way to get to work for charities.
- It's only for a month

Against:
- It's unlikely to do much for my CV.
- It's only £6.06/hr (as opposed to the £10/hr I'm getting at PQ).
- It sounds quite dull.
- It's full time (i.e. 5 days a week) so I wouldn't be able to keep doing my Friday mornings at Oxfam, & I enjoy those.

Other:
- Will the temp agency stop offering me things if I turn stuff down? (I've already turned down one job because it was a "start tomorrow" thing & I'd already said I'd work for PQ the next day.)
- What happens if I get offered a Real Job(tm) while I'm doing it?
- [General formless stress about my CV ending up looking like I have no sense of direction whatsoever, which while true is probably not a good thing to show]

I don't like saying "Make my decisions for me" but I really don't know what to do. Even though I know in the long run it probably won't make that much difference to where my life goes, and you're probably all sighing exasperatedly at me already. :-( I don't know, I want to do something that's not ProQuest (because spending every day just wanting to cry with frustration and boredom isn't good for me) but I feel like maybe I ought to hang on for something better. But then I've been doing that for over six months and not been able to get a job.

Temporary measures

I told the TES that I'd take the job; which means that after today I only have one more day at ProQuest this year, and after that I don't have to come back here for at least a month. This is A Good Feeling.

The money won't be great, but I think I can live with that for a month. Hopefully I'll have work at the Carlton too, to top up the pocket money. And I'll talk to Oxfam tomorrow & see if I can do Saturday mornings or something instead. ... I don't expect to have very much free time for a while.

Thank you, dear readers, for confirming my gut feeling & giving it greater validity.

The road to hell...

... is paved with Mills & Boon novels.

The man from UCLES (part n)

[No, I never tire of that subject line. I bet imc (for I seem to recall that it was he) wishes he'd never come up with it.]

Anyway, the gentleman in question finally got back to me to discuss the other work that he might want me to do. It sounds like it's going to be a) temporary or freelance, and b) REALLY REALLY INTERESTING. Basically they're trying to develop new methods of computer-aided assessment for Eng. Lang./Lit. in schools, and they want people from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of different experiences for some intensive brainstorming sessions. Then, after that, they'll want a small team of people to work on whatever project comes out of the brainstorming.

He's suggested that I go away and investigate the current state of the market -- what's currently on offer in terms of computer-aided assessment for English -- and get some Ideas & be prepared to talk about them on Jan 12th next year. So I already have one interview set up in the New Year! Which makes me feel a lot better about the old year ending.

And ... Ideas! Somebody wants me to have Ideas! Somebody actually wants me to go away and think! This makes me feel happy. You know, I think that tells me something useful about the sort of job I want to be doing...