Castlebar - County Mayo - The Starting Line

By now so many of you reading these articles know my wish to move to Castlebar. I also presume there are some of you who are in the same predicament as I am. I cannot complain, (Yeah Right !!!?!! Just because I don’t, doesn’t mean I can’t). I have a life that I enjoy, and I am not going to bore you again with the whole explanation, some of you must have read “Home is where the heart is”, therefore I will not repeat myself. Basically I am like any normal person with a dream. How many of you out there, have a job that you find worth it; but would like to be with your partner? Therefore you go on a hunt for an appropriate job that will not only allow you to finally build up a home but also give you job satisfaction. Not much to ask? You say? So do I.

Am I the only one that waits and waits for the phone to ring? You had gone for an interview. The job is what you want; the interview went well, now for that fatal phone call. But not to worry, it never comes. It was promised that you would be called by next Friday. That could be a few days away. I am sure you know how long a few days can be when your dreams are riding on it? But alas, you wait in vain. No call, no word. Some companies are decent. They send a “Sorry” letter. They are not great to receive, but at least then you know you can again take the position at the starting line. Looking for a job is like running a long distance race, without getting passed the starting line. That starter gun just does not go off. Oh Yeah, you get the countdown all right. One is for applying for the job you read in an advert in the newspaper, Internet or where ever you found it. Two is for applying for the job. Three is for the interview…. Then should be the starting shot fired from the pistol. You are eager, willing and able, ready to do your best, but……. SILENCE !!! Have you Personnel Managers out there forgotten what that feels like? ( now I definitely will not find a job here…he he). As I am also a businesswoman, I know that there must be dozens of applicants for a position, so the work involved answering them all is tedious and time consuming. I understand that, believe me. But where is the human part of the situation? What about the dozens of CVs and phone calls the person seeking an appropriate position has to do? Getting no response at all is bearable if you have not gone for an interview yet. But actually going for an interview, seeing the job possibility and then nothing. That is in my opinion classed as cruel. How is a person able to move on if they have this uncertainty hanging over them? Thoughts flash through your mind. What if I apply for another interview and the last one calls me to confirm my position? What if I want the previous job more than the new one I am applying for (no one can tell me that has never occurred in your life)? So you basically but your life on hold for a week or two, just hoping. Every time the mobile rings, you are too afraid to answer it. Every time it rings you still jump at the change with fluttering heart. But that fatal call never comes. Fatal might be the wrong word. Fatal just comes to mind, because standing perched at the “starting line” can give you a pain in more places than your head, the rest I leave up to your imagination. I don’t expect people to employ me after the interview if I am not suitable, but I would like to get the call or letter to allow me to prepare myself for the next line up.

Freindly customer service... :)

People say that you only get a call if you have been lucky enough to be chosen for the position. I beg to differ. I have had some very professional personnel managers or their secretaries call me to say sorry. That I find is a good sign for a company and would always consider applying for any new position in their company. I have had a company (due to obvious reasons, I will not mention the name) that just never called after the interview. I received an email which made me think that I was getting that starting shot. Then nothing. I phoned myself, hoping not to sound pushy, but I had to know. Now I am not talking about a week or two. I am talking about a month. I had another job for three months on offer and would have been able to take that and go straight to the permanent job from there. I had phoned and was told that I will know about the position on a certain date, as I had to phone back the 3-month company to confirm. No call came. I phoned to ask for information. Just a message if I had the job or not, I could not let the other company hang on. Need I say, I had to let the 3-month job go, not due to the fact that I had the “sorry” reply from the permanent company. I received no call at all. I had been told previously that I was one of two people being chosen. Well, I wish the winner all the best (meant in a good way).

I do not begrudge the other person her position. I am pleased for her, as I know what it’s like to be at the starting line. Well, all that said and most probably bored some people to death again, made some angry and made some feel they are not alone in this. Lets hope that all of us at the starting line can do that final sprint. Thank you to all the professional and human companies out there who do right and allow the hopeful to go on with their lives and start a new race.