Saturday, March 18, 2006
Games and an interview.First, the interview.
Andrea spotted an ad for a job, just by chance, that she thought would suit me perfectly. Can you believe they actually pay people to be chatroom moderators? I've been doing that for years, just for the fun of it.
So on friday, I made my way by bus to this little town I've never heard of, in the middle of I dunno where, to have an interview in a hotel lounge. Quite an odd experience, it must be said.
I dunno how I did, to be honest, but it certainly wasn't one of those excruciating interviews where you walk away feeling a complete arse.
Fingers crossed.
The games.
1: Black.
First person shootemup with lots of guns, lots of people to kill, lots of stuff to blow up, and very pretty graphics.
It looks absolutely awesome, and is brilliant fun to play.
But....
It's too short by far, and to compensate for that, to make the game last longer, they implement wholely unfair game save points. There are places where if you don't reach the end of the level before you turn off, the next time you play, you'll have to replay over an hour's worth.
That's just wrong, in my book.
2: Shadow Of The Colossus.
I've only been playing for a couple of hours, and having killed one colossus, am really enjoying it.
It's original in the extreme, it's breathtakingly beautiful, and it's bloody hard.
Also... and this is something you wouldn't expect.... when you finally manage to kill a colossus, it makes you feel quite sad. It's not like beating an end of level boss, so much as killing an innocent creature who's only sin was being big.
Most unusual.
So the PS3 is still around 8 months away, and the PS2 is by no means a dead format, but I do believe that these two titles will be the final top quality, triple A, 'must have' games for it.
If you don't buy many games, sticking only to absolute top quality titles... these should both be on your shopping list.
If you only want one game this year though... make it Legend Of The Colossus, simply coz you'll never see anything else quite like it.
Labels: games, interviews, work
Steve 8:27 PM [+] (0) comments
Friday, October 08, 2004
So I was in town yesterday and this guy in a suit walks up to me with a clipboard, and I think "here we go... insurance salesman or somesuch."I was about to do the usual thing, say "not interested" and keep walking, but he asks something entirely different. He asked if I was interested in full or part time work.
Now this struck me as an odd way of handling recruitment, but i decided to see what he had to say. In typical salesman style, he spoke very quickly and was vague on details to say the least, but assured me that if I gave him my name and phone number, someone would get back to me in the evening with full details. Out of curiosity, I gave him my number. I don't really need the work as such, but something part time might add a bit of stability to my life that's rather lacking just now.
So in the evening, the call comes through, and they give me their address and a time for an interview, but were still very evasive when I asked what specifically their operation was. Like... was it an agency or what? The nearest I got was "It's a call centre. All of your questions will be answered in the interview."
Mmhmm. This didn't feel quite right to me.
So this morning, half an hour before the interview was due, they phoned me again to confirm that I would be attending, and I told them I didn't think I would. When asked why, I replied that the idea of attending an interview when the people concerned wouldnt even tell me what the job was, and the contact number was a mobile phone, jsut didn't seem quite on the level to me.
The woman asked if I'd reconsider if she told me exactly what the job was. I said I'd consider it. So she starts off with "It's a call centre... though not exactly sales..." I interrupted, "So it's cold calling?" Hesitation... "Yes."
"Well, since it's clear that your company's policy is one of deception, just from the way you handle recruitment, I really don't think I want any part of it, so I most deffinitely won't be attending any interview."
You can spot 'em from a mile off.
Labels: annoyed, interviews, work
Steve 8:27 PM [+] (0) comments
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
Job interview this afternoon. Should be...er... fun? Nah. Interesting? Probably not. Predictable? More than likely.What was amusing though was the way I found out about the interview.
I applied for this job maybe 3 months ago, heard nothing from the company, and then forgot all about it. So, yesterday morning at about 9am, I was just in the process of waking up, still pretty comatose really, when the phone rings. "Hello. Could I speak to Mr Benway please?" (No, that's not my real name. You'll have to work a bit if you wanna find out what it really is). In my pre-coffee confused state, this sounded like Brigitte, and I thought she was just having a laugh. "Hehehe... yeah, right." I replied.
"Is this Mr Benway? This is so-and so, from such and such company phoning regarding a job vacancy."
Oops. Talk about feeling like a right arse.
The moral of this story is, don't phone me in the morning unless you know I've had at least 5 cups of coffee, otherwise I'll talk complete jibberish, not even knowing what planet I'm on. Or... maybe it's that I shouldn't answer the phone till I've had the afforementioned coffees. Or... oh what the heck... there is no moral to this story, I just talk bollox when I'm not properly awake. Kinda like right now.
Who am I again?
Labels: interviews, work
Steve 9:05 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
Oh the joys of job interviews.It's always the same, even for a really crappy job. The interviewer looks at the cv (that's resume, to you americans), asks what happened to my last job and why I haven't worked in 2 years, and I then watch their eyes glaze over before I've even answered. It doesn't matter to them that the domestic problems that caused my previous employer to let me go were a mere glitch in an otherwise good and long career history. It doesn't matter to them that I have all the skills and experience that they could ask for.
I guess the simplest answer I should give them is "My last job ended because I had shitty luck, and I haven't worked in two years because of arseholes like you who ignore a good 17 year work history in favour of one blot."
Yeah, I know I could easily rectify this situation by going to an agency and doing temp work, but yeash, that SO sucks.
Still, looking on the bright side, at least I have lots of cool stuff to keep me occupied in my rather extensive spare time.
Labels: interviews, work
Steve 1:06 PM [+] (0) comments
Friday, November 29, 2002
Interesting.I just had a phone call from a potential employer inviting me to an interview. This is nothing unusual, but what impressed me was that she's sending me a map to find the place via email. Now I know email is no big thing, but it's highly unusual for a potential employer in the field I work in to take any notce at all of an email addy on a resume.
Anyways, we'll see how it goes.
Labels: interviews, work
Steve 3:33 PM [+] (0) comments
Friday, October 18, 2002
Hah!My instincts were correct. That job was absolutely NOT on the level. The guy wasn't looking for admin at all, it was simply a scam to draw in people interested in IT, to try and get them to refer customers to him, with the offer of a little money on the side as an incentive. Okay, so I could make a little pocket money from that, but it's not a job, and as such, a complete waste of my morning.
Labels: annoyed, interviews, work
Steve 12:15 PM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, October 17, 2002
I have a job interview tomorrow for an IT/admin position, which is rather cool, 'cause I'm entirely sick of the whole warehouse scene. Can't say I'm too optomistic though, and it's described as temp/perm. I spoke to the guy on the phone about it, and he said I should go in and discusss it, which is fair enough. I'll be rather wary though, 'cause I cant afford to get screwed on this, like.. take the job, and then get dumped again after a couple of weeks. That'd just leave me in so much shit.We'll see, and I'll post about it tomorrow when I find out what the score is.
It certainly would be nice to get into a job where I can utilise at least some of my skills, 'cause for the past 17 years, they've been going almost completely to waste. *crosses fingers*
Labels: interviews, work
Steve 2:55 PM [+] (0) comments
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
Haven't been online much over the past couple of days. My sleep pattern and whole routine have gone completely up the wall, and I couldn't seem to get my act together. Taking a couple of days off seemed like the only solution. I can't say that it's helped, and I've been struggling with a headache all day, so we'll just have to see.As predicted, I got a reply from the company I had the interview with last week, and I didn't get the job *chuckles*.
Labels: interviews, sleep, work
Steve 5:05 PM [+] (0) comments
Friday, September 06, 2002
Well, I can safely say after that interview that I won't begetting the job. I'd taken paracetamol an hour or so before hand for a headache, which often has the unpleasant side effect of making me feel sick. Typically, it kicked in right bang in the middle of the interview, so while the woman's asking me awkward questions, like what happened to my previous job, I was concentrating on trying not to puke all over the interview room table. Hehehe. I managed to keep it down, thankfully, but I'm pretty certain my answers seemed very...hmmm... not what she was looking for. Thing is, how do you explain to a potential employer that you were sacked from your last job, 'cause you couldn't balance your domestic life with work? I can usually just about make it sound plausable, but today... not a chance.Anyway, as it is, I didn't much like the sound of the job when she described it fully, and since financially I'm not exactly struggling, I think I'd be more pissed off if I actually DID get the job.
Labels: interviews, work
Steve 5:23 PM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, September 05, 2002
Spent the morning single handedly winning WWII in Medal Of Honour, and I'm not even american... much fun.Then went into town and came away with a job interview for tomorrow at 3pm. I can't say I'm excited about it, and certainly don't expect to get it, but I guess it keeps up appearances and looks as if I'm making an effort.
Gonna try and grab a few hours sleep now... it's hard to come by of late, screwed up sleep pattern and all that, so I have to be utterly exhausted before it's even worth trying.
Ugh! True to form, just as I'm about to nap, the asshole next door starts playing his bloody drums. It's like having a tank turning its engine over in the next room. He doesn't play them in the traditional sense, more a series of continuous drumrolls, probably thrash or some such crap. The funny thing is, on the rare occasions I've heard him play a straight 4/4 beat... he can't keep time to save his life. God help the band that has him as their drummer, 'cause if he can't keep time, they'll all be out of time too. Where's a 50 calibre machine gun when I need it?
Labels: games, interviews, sleep
Steve 7:25 PM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, July 16, 2002
What a curious day.It started with a mad rush to find various bits of long ago stashed paperwork, birth certificate and suchlike, stuff needed in a pre-interview assesment for a job I've applied for.
There were 5 of us taking the assesment test, all maybe slightly nervous, as no-one really enjoys that kind of thing, and we sat making smalltalk before the test about how irrelivant the things are etc. Anyway, the thing was an absolute piece of cake, and I was astounded when at the end of it, only three of us were found to have passed. If that wasn't surprise enough, the three of us were then given a tour of the facility, and then given on the spot interviews. Talk about not beating about the bush.
I suppose I give myself a 50-50 chance of getting the job, as my previous record isn't exactly a shining example of how to put a job before all other considerations... something companies tend to look for over here. Sod that. A job serves my purposes, not the other way around.
Anyway, I'm finding the prospect of working again rather... odd. I wouldn't say I entirely need it for financial purposes, having found a lifestyle that I'm enjoying immensely, that can be fairly easily achieved on my meagre income, but my social concience tells me it's time to get off my butt and do something.
I do wonder how having a healthy income again would affect my lifestyle. Being very happily single, with none of the expenses involved with having a girlfriend and her kids, along with having reinvented myself over the past 16 or so months into some kind of bohemian egomaniac, I can picture various excessive scenarios.
Still, I'm certainly not counting my chickens yet, as while there's a serious risk of finding myself gainfully employed again, it's by no means certain, and in truth, I'm not that bothered either way.... just curious.
Labels: interviews, work
Steve 8:10 PM [+] (0) comments
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