As of the beginning of July I have been unemployed for 18 months. In more recent times I have temporarily abandoned social media and my art\/writing projects so as to put even my leisure time into activities that will help me find a job. So this is just a check-in to let you all know that I am still alive and also to share a few funny stories.<\/p>\n
I will start with more of a surprise than a funny story. A few months back I found myself sitting in a waiting room for a job interview. It was a trainee position (which says a lot about my desperation). What was really intriguing was the other applicants – they were mostly older people like me who were in their 50s. When I started chatting with them (if you know me then you know that I am sociable) I was surprised to discover their pedigree. One was a pure mathematician. Another was a Senior Network Engineer. Another a banker. And another the former head of a string of businesses. Yet all were unemployed now and having difficulty finding work. That amazed me. This confirms in my mind what a few agencies have told me – employers don’t like older workers in Australia.<\/p>\n
Anyway, on to the funny (and sometimes frustrating) stories.<\/p>\n
Keeping abreast of things<\/strong><\/p>\n The most embarrassing interview that I attended was in an older part of town, slightly outside the CBD. I found myself sitting on one side of a table with two extremely serious individuals facing me. We were on about the seventh floor and behind them was a large window which looked onto a neighbouring hotel. All of a sudden a woman stepped out of her hotel room and onto the balcony. She had a mobile phone in one hand and was doing that instantly recognisable thing of trying to get a signal on the phone. So what is embarrassing about that? Well, she was topless and very good looking. And there I was trying to answer technical questions with that view right behind the two solemn men interviewing me. I think that I managed to hide my surprise and continue answering, but the moment she stepped back into her room I asked if the window blinds might be shut due to the “brightness” outside. LOL.<\/p>\n In the end I did not get the job. I suspect that I was overqualified, but who really knows.<\/p>\n Not Jorge<\/strong><\/p>\n For one interview I was asked to meet at a local landmark where, for security reasons, someone would collect me for the interview. I got there half-an-hour early and was surprised to discover that this was a local meeting spot. Quite a few people were standing around waiting for others. A few people asked me my name. No, I was not Michael, John, Dr Rogerson, George, Professor Smith, etc. I asked a few of them their names. None of them were Missy (not really name). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As of the beginning of July I have been unemployed for 18 months. In more recent times I have temporarily abandoned social media and my art\/writing projects so as to put even my leisure time into activities that will help me find a job. So this is just a check-in to let you all know that I am still alive and also to share a few funny stories. I will<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[344,345,346,172,347],"series":[],"class_list":["entry","author-soulthief","post-3159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-life","tag-humor","tag-humour","tag-jobseeking","tag-life","tag-unemployed","clearfix"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/IMG_1116.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3159"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greole.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=3159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}