Live from Old York, it's Sunday morning!
Things have been going well over here in what could best be described as pleasant regularity.
The only major event (and sadly a bad one) happened a couple weeks back. A 6-month gig with the interpreters opened up in Feb. to begin in March and last throught the busy summer season. Even though it was only temporary, and apparently with no chances of it becoming permanent, I was urged by everyone to go for it anyway and try to arrange to make it an inter-departmental transfer so that I could just return to what I'm doing now once it was up. All the interpreters were basically certain that I was going to get it, especially since I was the only applicant when they posted the position internally (which they do first before advertising it to the public). So, I put in my application with the support of basically the whole museum...
and was refused even so much as an interview.
My managers (yes, even my department bosses were behind me on this) told me that I had the right to go to HR and ask for the reasons I wasn't given an interview. So I did. I was told that they have a checklist of traits that they seek out in every application, and that mine failed on two accounts. I scored for historical knowledge, stage-combat experience, and performance experience. What did I fail, according to HR, to display on my application, you might ask? Stage technique, and customer service. Uh... riiiiiight, so how can someone have performance experience yet not demonstrate stage technique. More importantly, how can someone not demonstrate customer service if the job they currently occupy is entirely based around customer service? I was not given satisfactory answers to these questions, but was essentially told that that was their method of screening and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I came to learn that the HR person in charge of these things tends to get a bug up her arse about certain people and that this could be the reason I was black-balled. I later found out the the entire interpretations staff was furious over this and actually lodged a formal complaint. At least it's good to know that they really are fighting to get me in there.
Result? This changes my perspective slightly on this museum. Thankfully, I still enjoy doing what I'm doing there. What it does mean is that I'm going to start more actively keeping an eye out for other gigs, preferably closer to York so I'm not burning too much fundage on the commute. It does make me sad that my prospects for moving up in this museum seem slim, but perhaps fate is ushering me in a different direction. Only time will tell.
Other than that, I shared a marvelous three-way birthday feast held for some friends Fri. night. Get this: 12 course home-made Italian feast! With great wine to go with! And only 26 quid a head. It was, by far, the finest meal I have ever had and the standard by which I shall compare all future feasts. Yum.
Also, for those who are fans, prepare to be jealous. Adrienne managed to get extremely close seats to see Tori Amos in Manchester in July! Woot! She's been talking up to me how great Tori is live for so long. I'll finally get to see it for myself.
Wow, looking at this post, the bad seems to outweigh the good, at least in word-count. But let me assure you that this is not the case. I was upset for a few days over it, but it has passed now. Things really are doing quite well over here. And I hope they are doing likewise for you all. We'll talk soon. Namaste.
The only major event (and sadly a bad one) happened a couple weeks back. A 6-month gig with the interpreters opened up in Feb. to begin in March and last throught the busy summer season. Even though it was only temporary, and apparently with no chances of it becoming permanent, I was urged by everyone to go for it anyway and try to arrange to make it an inter-departmental transfer so that I could just return to what I'm doing now once it was up. All the interpreters were basically certain that I was going to get it, especially since I was the only applicant when they posted the position internally (which they do first before advertising it to the public). So, I put in my application with the support of basically the whole museum...
and was refused even so much as an interview.
My managers (yes, even my department bosses were behind me on this) told me that I had the right to go to HR and ask for the reasons I wasn't given an interview. So I did. I was told that they have a checklist of traits that they seek out in every application, and that mine failed on two accounts. I scored for historical knowledge, stage-combat experience, and performance experience. What did I fail, according to HR, to display on my application, you might ask? Stage technique, and customer service. Uh... riiiiiight, so how can someone have performance experience yet not demonstrate stage technique. More importantly, how can someone not demonstrate customer service if the job they currently occupy is entirely based around customer service? I was not given satisfactory answers to these questions, but was essentially told that that was their method of screening and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I came to learn that the HR person in charge of these things tends to get a bug up her arse about certain people and that this could be the reason I was black-balled. I later found out the the entire interpretations staff was furious over this and actually lodged a formal complaint. At least it's good to know that they really are fighting to get me in there.
Result? This changes my perspective slightly on this museum. Thankfully, I still enjoy doing what I'm doing there. What it does mean is that I'm going to start more actively keeping an eye out for other gigs, preferably closer to York so I'm not burning too much fundage on the commute. It does make me sad that my prospects for moving up in this museum seem slim, but perhaps fate is ushering me in a different direction. Only time will tell.
Other than that, I shared a marvelous three-way birthday feast held for some friends Fri. night. Get this: 12 course home-made Italian feast! With great wine to go with! And only 26 quid a head. It was, by far, the finest meal I have ever had and the standard by which I shall compare all future feasts. Yum.
Also, for those who are fans, prepare to be jealous. Adrienne managed to get extremely close seats to see Tori Amos in Manchester in July! Woot! She's been talking up to me how great Tori is live for so long. I'll finally get to see it for myself.
Wow, looking at this post, the bad seems to outweigh the good, at least in word-count. But let me assure you that this is not the case. I was upset for a few days over it, but it has passed now. Things really are doing quite well over here. And I hope they are doing likewise for you all. We'll talk soon. Namaste.