Although I haven’t blogged for several weeks, if you’ve been reading my Twitter updates you will probably be aware that I was successful in getting an interview for the Reporting Support secondment and that I was offered the job just a couple of days later. 
The interview itself was different to how I expected it to be – they didn’t really ask that many competency-based questions; it was mostly a chat about my skills and previous experience, and whether I would be able and willing to do the job. For the first few minutes of the interview, I was concerned that the interviewers thought that I was too technical for the job and that therefore I wouldn’t enjoy it. However, I managed to turn things around by saying that I’m happy running reports as well as developing them. From that point onwards, the interview was much better, and they said that I may be able to get involved with the technical development side of things in the future, as the team will eventually be merged with the systems team. By the end of the interview, I was feeling fairly optimistic.
A couple of days after the interview, the manager of the team (who was also one of the inteviewers) came over to my desk and told me that he’d like to offer me the job! I felt so happy and relieved!
I had a celebration meal at Prezzo’s Italian restaurant with Mum and Terry on the Saturday just after I’d been offered the job. It was the first time I’d ever been there, and the food was very nice.
Thursday 30th April was my last day in my old job. It was an emotional day. I brought in lots of cakes for my colleagues, and I also organised leaving drinks at a nearby bar and a meal at Malaysian Delights. Unfortunately only 5 people could make it to the meal, as some of the others were in meetings and some were so busy that they had to work through their lunch-hour. I still had a good time though. I received a card signed by all my co-workers, along with some lovely pink flowers (tulips). Thankfully I didn’t feel too upset, as many of my colleagues said they would still keep in touch with me, and that I could come down to visit them from time to time.
I started my new job on Friday. I know that seems like a strange day to start a new job, but they said it would be more convenient as it’s the first day of May. My first day went well. Everyone in the new team seems very friendly and the work looks interesting and varied. I haven’t created any reports on my own yet – on Friday I spent most of my time getting my systems access sorted out and I also shadowed another colleague so that I could see how things are done.
Two weeks ago (just before I was offered the secondment) I attended a Career Transition Workshop, which is offered to all employees who are at risk of redundancy. As well as helping me with techniques for CVs, application forms and interviews, it also helped me to think more clearly about what I want to do in the future.
Some people in my old team are studying to become Microsoft certified, and if I had been able to stay in my existing role, I would’ve done the same. At the Career Transition Workshop, I was asked to think about my short, medium and long term goals. I decided that my short term goal was to find a new role (which I’ve now achieved), my medium term goal is to study for Microsoft exams, which would then lead on to my long term goal which is to become a web developer, database developer or software developer. I’m not sure which yet; it all depends how I do in my studies.
So, over the next 12 months I’ll study for my Microsoft exams in my spare time. Hopefully I’ll have achieved my certification by the time my secondment ends in a year’s time, so then I’ll be able to apply for web/database development jobs.
That’s it for now. Tomorrow I hope to blog about the non work-related things that have been happening over the last few weeks.
Could it be… #
I kept coughing today though, so I hope I’m not going to be like that at the wedding. #