Jobs again
Dec. 18th, 2003 12:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
j4I 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.
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.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-18 12:29 am (UTC)Main reason: it's not ProQuest, & it gets you out of there. And whilst being a filing clerk is likely to be dull, at least it's a different *sort* of dull :-) & it has a nice set time-limit on it.
Plus, the experience in the Development Office will be useful if you're thinking about fundraising, if you keep your ears open & volunteer if there's other non-filing things that need doing when you're done filing, & stuff like that.
Whilst the temp agency probably won't stop offering you things, it *is* true IME that they are more likely to offer you stuff once you've started doing actual work for them. They seem to like to keep people working; also then they've got direct feedback from one of their clients, rather than relying on references, & know that you're competent & suchlike. As far as the possibility of Real Job goes: it's temping. You can stop doing it at any point, that's part of the deal (of course, the *other* part of the deal is that if they decide they don't need you for a full month after all, then they're allowed to do that as well; but that's never happened to me yet. I've twice pulled out of longer-term temp placements, though, with no repercussions).
I don't think it'll do your CV any harm, & it might do it good, especially if you do go for fundraising stuff. Do it.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-18 05:13 am (UTC)That's what I'm hoping. I don't mind "dull" when it's not accompanied by that sick feeling of oh-my-god-I'm-going-to-be-stuck-in-this-place-till-I-die.
Plus, the experience in the Development Office will be useful if you're thinking about fundraising, if you keep your ears open & volunteer if there's other non-filing things that need doing when you're done filing, & stuff like that.
*nod*
That's what I managed to do with the job at Templeton College Library, where I was supposed to be cataloguing and ended up doing half a dozen different things because I always finished things quicker than they expected & volunteered to do more stuff. And saw things that needed done, and suggested ways of doing them. I like doing that. The problem is I did it at PQ and they basically managed to make every new thing into a we-know-this-way-doesn't-work-quite-right-but-we'll-do-it-forever-now-anyway thing. *grits teeth*
it *is* true IME that they are more likely to offer you stuff once you've started doing actual work for them
That's good to know -- thanks. This is the second thing that they've offered me already, so if they're more likely to offer stuff once I've done some, there's a chance I may NEVER EVER have to go back to ProQuest. :)