Chapter Thirty Two - "Up To Speed"

Time to break the silence. Admittedly it has taken slightly longer than I intended, to get back into blogging, but with the summer over, and a quiet morning to myself, I thought now would be a good time to bring you up to speed.

Since I last wrote, I have been busily involved with job searching and interviews. I have had around seven interviews now, and most have been unsuccessful. Among my later interviews was one in Kent. The post was described as ‘ad hoc’, and as there had only been a few days between the invite and the interview date, I attended with the main intention of gaining interview experience. I had actually just arrived back home from an interview in London (on which I was particularly hoping for a positive result, because of the location) on a Tuesday evening, to discover an invite for this interview on the Friday!

On the Friday, when the time for the interview came, I went into the room and answered the questions calmly and clearly. I was beginning to sense that this was one of the smoother interviews, although I was surprised that there was no image viewing involved during the process – all my other interviews had devoted at least a couple of minutes to looking at images and assessing their quality. The interview went well, and I was expecting to be told that I would hear back from them in a week or so. It was rather a surprise, therefore, to be offered the job immediately – ‘to save me needlessly travelling back and forth’, as they said. As I let their offer sink in, two things struck me – not only was I surprised to be given an immediate verdict, I also hadn’t seen any other candidates, which was unusual. I wondered if I had been the only one. But then, the chances of that were incredibly low.

As I was still waiting on the outcome of another interview – the one on the Tuesday, in London – I said that I would think about it and get back to them as soon as possible. I mopped up my cup of water with a paper towel (it had spilled, probably due to a mixture of nerves and surprise), and politely left the room to await a quick tour of the department. As it happened, the London interview was unsuccessful, but at least with this offer, there was less pressure on any future interviews. What’s more, I was pleased that the journey from Kingston would be manageable, so I would be able to remain in my current house, and perhaps begin to settle down.

Aside from the interviews, my voluntary work in the charity shop had proved to be increasingly enjoyable. For a few weeks over the summer I, along with James (a young lad fresh from the college), had been entrusted with the running of the shop – everything from renewing stock, till work, banking, and locking up. All skills that will look great on my CV. What’s more, working in a charity shop has its perks – you can never be sure what treasures you will find in storage or on sale. So far I have bought books, CDs, DVDs, and a number of smart shirts, thus depleting the already limited menswear department. I even bought some old vinyls – ABBA and The Carpenters – which I am unable to play, for lack of a grammaphone. Strange as it may seem, they were actually a gift for Mark, although I don’t know when I’ll next see him. Sometime soon, I hope.

More recently, with the start of a new university year (something I have been looking forward to for a while – the chance to welcome new freshers), I have been helping out on the Christian Union stall at the Freshers’ Fayre. We had a high level of interest and signed up about 150 people over the two days – if you ignore the rather suspect entries of ‘Tom Smells; email: tomsmells@hotmail.com’ and ‘Tim Smells; email: timsmells@hotmail.com’. It was encouraging to get so many leaflets and flyers out, and to have the support of one of the Gideons, who did a brilliant job of distributing New Testaments. May God continue to bless their work.

Back to my job search, I decided to accept the Kent work, and the relevant paperwork was completed and sent off. Thankfully my two references were contacted swiftly (sooner than expected, considering one was a university lecturer), and I start my three-day induction period next week. This is rather sooner than expected, but I’m beginning to realise that it’s probably best to start work sooner rather than later – I don’t want my skills to get rusty.

In addition, in early October I have an assessment locally, at the place where I trained. Please be praying for both the induction, and this assessment, and that I would trust God for the outcome.

For now, that’s it. I realise that I had best get down to work before the evening’s birthday celebrations – a meal and film. It’s also a nice way to celebrate the end of the summer, before life in the ‘real world’ kicks in!