Well after breaking my old record and going for 6 weeks unemployed I am now back working at the place that I was at before, The IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology). Back to free lunches at the cafeteria (no, its quite good food!), back to getting up at 7:15am for my approximately 1 hour commute, back to getting some cash flow happening! I must say I do like living in Canada Water even though my work commute isn't that much shorter than when I was at Earls Court.
Oh, yeah, that's the other thing that has happened since the last blog entry; I've moved to Spruce House in Canada Water, East London. Two bathroom, two bedroom apartment setup that is quite spacious and modern and very good value for money even though its the most I've paid so far in rent. I'm sharing with Debby who is a friend of a friend but we've gotten to know each other a bit in the last 3 weeks. We're having a housewarming on the 21st of this month so should hopefully be good and we've also hosted a few people round for dinner and lunch which is something I find I quite like doing...
Back to the topic of work it was rather convoluted the way I ended up back at the IET. First couple of weeks got two interviews for PeopleSoft related jobs (Lithuania and London) that I didn't get and that was surprising 'cause I usually get jobs that I interview for ;-p
Anyway, after that it was quiet for a few weeks; I mean I was getting calls from agents every day and they would ask my permission to submit my resume to clients but nothing really progressed to interviews! Then things started to firm up with an interview for a job in Amsterdam (University), Paris (CRM) and a call from the IET asking if I was still available. I'd already had phone interviews with Paris and Amsterdam and was waiting to hear back from them so couldn't really give an answer to the IET who wanted me to start straight away (and besides the other contracts were better because they were longer and the IET was only 6 weeks initially).
I called up the Paris agent to make sure that it was definite because I had to say no to the others soon. They said yes, its all a go ahead, come into the office to sign the contract. So knowing this I call up the IET and tell them I have to decline their offer. I get to the Paris agent's office at 2pm to sign the contract and find out that they have now realised there are visa issues with me working in Paris!! I told them this at the very start!! I knew there could be complications with the visa but they were confident it wouldn't be a problem and that being their area of expertise I thought if they can somehow swing it then I wasn't going to complain! But, in another example of me knowing more than the "experts", there was a visa problem! Incompetent fools! Wasted my time with emails, interview and phone calls.
So at this stage I'm scrambling to call back the IET to see if the job is still available! Humbling, yes, humbling...plus lost all bargaining power as well. Fortunately the job was still available and even though I had a couple of job interviews lined up for later in the week it was a case of just taking the first thing to come along and the IET isn't that bad a place to work at.
Other things that have been happening briefly are:
Went to the All Souls 20s and 30s weekend away and met a heap of great new people! There were about 70 people there at Otford Manor in Kent and I only knew two other people beforehand so I deliberately sat with different people for meals and the different sessions and it was great getting to know them all. I feel I am connecting much more with my church.
Got my new passport inserted with my new HSMP visa which is good for two years. Getting to stay and work longer in the UK is a two part process; firstly getting HSMP (Highly Skilled Migrant Program) approval and then filing for FLR - IED (Further Leave to Remain - Immigration Employment Document) based on your HSMP status. Oh, yeah, and the second part costs a further £315 just quietly! Had to send the passport away so have not been able to travel anywhere. Got it back after 3 weeks but had to put an urgent processing request form.
Went to see Stomp! last week which was surprisingly good. No real storyline and no singing or music but entertaining with some humour and good audience interaction. Definitely worth a viewing.
