As a full time employee working 36 hours a week, and a part time student studying an Undergraduate degree life is full on to say the least. 13 hours a day spent developing myself professional and academically is tough, but there has to be a line drawn between the two. A little box to put the thoughts of work into, before tackling the evening of study.

Welcome to just such a blog - to bridge the gap..

Monday 29 March 2010

Interview Attendances

When attending interview - what is the correct thing to do with current employers. Interviews are usually last minute arrangements that require a request for 1 day or an afternoon out the office at short notice.

Candidates in the past informed me that they were straight up with their employer that they were going for an interview and that this had caused the "cold shoulder" or worse. This raises an interesting question - do you prepare your employer for your eventual leaving them by admitting to looking for work elsewhere, thus attending interviews in agreement with them, or do you covertly attend interviews through taking last minute holiday in order to hand in your notice without anyone having seen it coming?

Monday 15 March 2010

Monday Calendar Entries

I was ill on Friday, so rested well and I am now back at work.

Unfortunately it does mean that I forgot about our team lunch today and so now have the honour of getting pocket money from a colleague.

Is it normal to remotely access your calendar on Sunday to make sure you don't miss something like this on Monday?

Thursday 11 March 2010

Mobile phones at work...

Its amazing to realize how different my behaviour has become with mobile communication and phones in relation to the work place. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the technological capability of modern models as much as anything else but today it got me thinking about my "mobile" lifeline...

I first owned a mobile for all of 1 day when I was 15 years old. It was a second hand model my friend wanted to get rid of, pay as you go, bricklike in appearance. I purchased at £15 and enjoyed it until my mum through a spanner in  the works and said she didn't want me to fry my head with it. The next time I owned a mobile phone was at the age of  16... I had a summer job as a leafleter, due in part to my hair being dyed green and not many other jobs being open to such things. It was a Nokia 3310 and I loved it. Though whilst working I had no use for it other than to text friends on the way to and from our minibus journeys as there was a strict "no phones whilst delivering" policy. Fair enough I thought.

I had it right up until I was 18. At this point I decided to go for a contract, which was great as I got a new handset, modern and up to date, it took colour photographs and everything. I worked in the Post Office at the time and so it spent most of the time in my drawer, waiting to be used during coffee breaks and lunch.

That pattern continued throughout my working life pretty much up until July 2009, at which  point I got a new handset, the Nokia 5300, which leads me to the thought that crept in and caused this whistful entry...

This phone sits neatly everyday close by to my left hand, poised in case I need to make a calander entry that will cause an alarm go off outside of working hours to remind me of a task to take stock of during the day. No one bats an eyelid, and I know they do it too. It isn't just our team though... throughout our building everyone has their mobile phone proudly upon their desk, poised ready for use.

Are we moving towards a more understanding work environment that is in tune with mobile communication and it's usage? A call to your mobile during the day from your mother whilst at you are work would seem to be indicative of an emergency call and if so would likely be better answered than not, surely?

I guess we could find out soon enough as the era of mobile communication steamrolls on...