Wednesday, February 28
I was scheduled to meet with Palmerston North Personnel from 9:30-11:30 am. Josh was going into Massey at 9. I had my suit all ready but didn't manage to practice my typing one last time before we had to leave. I though it funny that the previous day I went to work in jean shorts and a tank top and today I was in a business suit! Variety is the spice of life!
We dropped Josh off at the campus and then I headed up town to find the agency. Not so easy and I drove up and down Princess Street a few times...this is why I always scope out a place ahead of time. Parking was a nightmare as the first place I parked wasn't legit (after confirming with the PNP secretary...office is located on the second floor). Moved the car to a meter spot and, miracle of miracles, Josh had left coins in the car.
Back upstairs and it was time for the long awaited and much dreaded Microsoft Office tests! Turns out, they were easy enough...the learning of Pivot Tables and further advanced things in Excel that I had been studying wasn't needed so much. For confidence building, the first Excel question was essentially opening up Excel from an icon on the computer screen. Woo Hoo!~I think I got one right. Seriously though, I prayed hard before opening each of the individual tests.
I felt confident enough after the tests which, by the way, were taken on a 1980s computer. Seriously, New Zealand has been left behind in the technology age! The secretary then put me another room to wait to talk to Cushla, the Temporary Work Manager. Well, I needed to pee since arrival but a bathroom hadn't been offered so...I was going to burst. I managed to keep myself together, Cushla came in and we chatted about what I could do work-wise.
This is the best kind of interview. No stress because they want to help you find a job...they're not judging you to see if you're good enough for them! Cushla showed me my test results...85% on Word, 70% on Excel and 60 wpm typing. There was also a numbers test with the ten key thing...but I've never used that before and I don't really care about that! I told my mom that I wouldn't normally be happy with scores like that on a test but this time I was HAPPY! Heck, I didn't fail Excel! Sweet!
My main point to Cushla was that I'd like to work at a university like Massey, IPC, or UCOL. She asked what I'd like to do when I returned to the states and I said work with international students or do study abroad stuff. Also, why was I looking for work. I told her working gave me a sense of self worth and a purpose in life. She asked how I'd heard about PNP and I told her that Tracey, the secretary in Josh's Massey office, referred me...she seemed to know Tracey and was happy about that.
At the end of the meeting, Cushla arranged for me to come back this Friday at 10:30 to watch a work safety video. I went back home and waited for Josh to call so I could pick him up from Massey.
Later that day, the phone rang and, surprisingly, it was for me. UCOL's Human Resources office wanted to arrange an interview with me for a part-time position as International Student Support Co-ordinator. Awesome! I'm set to interview Monday, March 5 at 10 am. This position was advertised online with the phrase "incumbent applying" so I'm not overly optimistic about my chances, however, I'm a firm believer that any opportunity to interview is good for your professional development skills.
More Scattergories playing tonight.
Thursday, March 1
Josh and I took it easy today (minus the my-having-to-get-up-early-to-take-the-trash-out-because-Josh-is-too-lazy-to-help bit). Around 2pm, Palmerston North Personnel's Angela (works with Cushla for temp positions) called to offer me a six week job at Massey University as a Word Processor...basically, typing all day. Fine enough, but I told her that UCOL called yesterday afternoon and I wanted to interview for that first and that I'd get back with her on Monday after that interview. The UCOL job is more along the lines of what I want to do professionally so it makes sense to try for that first.
Then, it was time to meet up with Anand, Fleetwood, and Kim. Like I said, Anand is from India and F&K are from Jackson, Mississippi. Josh and I pretty much picked a place out of the phone book when we emailed them about meeting up. It's called Barista's Espresso Bar on George Street. George Street is cool.
Josh and I arrived about 15 minutes early. Pay parking here too! More coins! Sitting in the cafe, we waited for them to show up. Once they arrived, we hung out for about 2 hours...minimal awkwardness for meeting up with complete strangers. Anand gave Josh and I some small gifts from India so that was really nice. We mentioned that we'd like to speak at their sponsoring Rotary clubs soon.
I was scheduled to meet with Palmerston North Personnel from 9:30-11:30 am. Josh was going into Massey at 9. I had my suit all ready but didn't manage to practice my typing one last time before we had to leave. I though it funny that the previous day I went to work in jean shorts and a tank top and today I was in a business suit! Variety is the spice of life!
We dropped Josh off at the campus and then I headed up town to find the agency. Not so easy and I drove up and down Princess Street a few times...this is why I always scope out a place ahead of time. Parking was a nightmare as the first place I parked wasn't legit (after confirming with the PNP secretary...office is located on the second floor). Moved the car to a meter spot and, miracle of miracles, Josh had left coins in the car.
Back upstairs and it was time for the long awaited and much dreaded Microsoft Office tests! Turns out, they were easy enough...the learning of Pivot Tables and further advanced things in Excel that I had been studying wasn't needed so much. For confidence building, the first Excel question was essentially opening up Excel from an icon on the computer screen. Woo Hoo!~I think I got one right. Seriously though, I prayed hard before opening each of the individual tests.
I felt confident enough after the tests which, by the way, were taken on a 1980s computer. Seriously, New Zealand has been left behind in the technology age! The secretary then put me another room to wait to talk to Cushla, the Temporary Work Manager. Well, I needed to pee since arrival but a bathroom hadn't been offered so...I was going to burst. I managed to keep myself together, Cushla came in and we chatted about what I could do work-wise.
This is the best kind of interview. No stress because they want to help you find a job...they're not judging you to see if you're good enough for them! Cushla showed me my test results...85% on Word, 70% on Excel and 60 wpm typing. There was also a numbers test with the ten key thing...but I've never used that before and I don't really care about that! I told my mom that I wouldn't normally be happy with scores like that on a test but this time I was HAPPY! Heck, I didn't fail Excel! Sweet!
My main point to Cushla was that I'd like to work at a university like Massey, IPC, or UCOL. She asked what I'd like to do when I returned to the states and I said work with international students or do study abroad stuff. Also, why was I looking for work. I told her working gave me a sense of self worth and a purpose in life. She asked how I'd heard about PNP and I told her that Tracey, the secretary in Josh's Massey office, referred me...she seemed to know Tracey and was happy about that.
At the end of the meeting, Cushla arranged for me to come back this Friday at 10:30 to watch a work safety video. I went back home and waited for Josh to call so I could pick him up from Massey.
Later that day, the phone rang and, surprisingly, it was for me. UCOL's Human Resources office wanted to arrange an interview with me for a part-time position as International Student Support Co-ordinator. Awesome! I'm set to interview Monday, March 5 at 10 am. This position was advertised online with the phrase "incumbent applying" so I'm not overly optimistic about my chances, however, I'm a firm believer that any opportunity to interview is good for your professional development skills.
More Scattergories playing tonight.
Thursday, March 1
Josh and I took it easy today (minus the my-having-to-get-up-early-to-take-the-trash-out-because-Josh-is-too-lazy-to-help bit). Around 2pm, Palmerston North Personnel's Angela (works with Cushla for temp positions) called to offer me a six week job at Massey University as a Word Processor...basically, typing all day. Fine enough, but I told her that UCOL called yesterday afternoon and I wanted to interview for that first and that I'd get back with her on Monday after that interview. The UCOL job is more along the lines of what I want to do professionally so it makes sense to try for that first.
Then, it was time to meet up with Anand, Fleetwood, and Kim. Like I said, Anand is from India and F&K are from Jackson, Mississippi. Josh and I pretty much picked a place out of the phone book when we emailed them about meeting up. It's called Barista's Espresso Bar on George Street. George Street is cool. Josh and I arrived about 15 minutes early. Pay parking here too! More coins! Sitting in the cafe, we waited for them to show up. Once they arrived, we hung out for about 2 hours...minimal awkwardness for meeting up with complete strangers. Anand gave Josh and I some small gifts from India so that was really nice. We mentioned that we'd like to speak at their sponsoring Rotary clubs soon.
Back home to type up the blog. Josh and I are considering attending the Hurricane vs. Stormers rugby game in town this weekend.
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