Fairly Handy Business
on Blog From Beyond (Rwanda), 20/Jan/2010 18:21, 34 days ago
Skypeinterviews: All professionalism from the shoulders up. But little did they know, I was wearing my HUGE fluffy slippers :opWell. I'd be lying if I said the past couple of days haven't beenextremelydraining. I don't think the detox is helping. Essentially it's releasing all the toxins into my system for disposal and, to be fair, that's alotof toxins. I feel absolutely shattered.But also the stress of not knowing what's going on job-wise. I hate this state of limbo.I had a Skype interview withAshokayesterday. The position was for Executive Assistant to the Regional Director in Cairo. Sounded nice and the interview went really well right up until the end: 'any other questions'. Which is when I asked a bit more about the package. The salary, for what they were asking (9-5 Sunday-Friday) was very low so I assumed accommodation and so forth would be included. But no. Absolutely nothing was included, including the flights - which alone would have meant around two months working forfreejust to make that money back.Good luck finding an international, minimum BA qualified person who's going to take you up on that. Really.But I guess what annoyed me wasn't that this was what they were hoping for, but that they put you through an entire hour's interview before mentioning it. What a colossal waste of my time and theirs. At least do the honourable thing and put it on your job description that this is what you're expecting.So, that was the first downer of yesterday.The second was a chat withVSOwho don't think they've got any short-term positions in Secure Livelihoods or NGO Management until at least September, if at all.Let's put it this way - if I'm still not earning by September, I think it's beyond unlikely I'm going to opt for volunteership again. I'll probably be sobbing quietly in a corner.So - the break out from Disability is taking off like a lead balloon.However, it seems that I am destined to flap my hands about until I can fly. After poo-pooing the full-time admin post with my current employer in order to pursue overseas stuff, it's now been suggested to me by the college I'm working for that there may be a full-time Communication Support Worker (CSW) post in the not-too-distant future.My contract withDeafconnectends on 7th February and today I signed the contract with the college who will be taking me on three days a week at much better pay than I was expecting, plus paying my National Insurance. I shan't be rich but with no overheads it's enough to stay afloat.So. Given my lack of international prospects, I've decided to change tack.Working on the basis that I will now be in Northampton at least until the end of the college term in order to support my client, and with two extra days and weekends free, I've decided to register as self-employed on the side and attempt to up my income as much as possible in that time slot.Hand on heart, I had no idea that finding language facilitators and CSWs was, as my boss put it, "as rare as hens' teeth". If I advertise myself for jobs that don't require an MRSLI (fully qualified interpreter) but do require 'reasonable adjustment' I can charge a much fairer amount for the work - making me marketable. I'm both competent and confident and I know the boundary lines between the type of work it is and isn't appropriate for me to do. So long as I stick to marketing myself in that way, I should be fine.So I'm now (thanks Rabia) flicking through thePrince's Trustinfo on self employment andHMRCto find out how you do it.So there. It may not be ideal but so far it's paying - and that's a good thing. I just hate this feeling of being stuck in a loop, as though it were all planned out for me a long time ago -every job I getmust involve Sign Language to some degree. I shouldn't complain because it's meant I got to do an MA, travel to Africa, never been completely out of work...but still, it can't be the only thing I can do, surely?And if all else fails, at least there's the fluffy slippers :op