Nottingham GSC

I interviewed for a RA (not postdoc) position, seemed to go well. More like a conversation than an interview, which is always a good sign.

Royal Mail

I got the postie job. Should tide me over.

UCLAN Lecturship

Failed to get this. Feedback was encouraging. Basically I pitched my presentation (nominally to first year students) at too high a level. Also my teaching experience was not enough.

royal mail

Applied for a temporary job, 20 hours delivery with driving. Might be quite enjoyable with all the walking. Was ready for the incompatibility of their test and Linux this time with my revived windows PC.

Huddersfield

Rejected.

DCS RA

Interviewed for a job modelling E-coli. Was the only candidate, but failed. Didn't really understand why they interviewed me anyway. I don't have experience of agent based modelling or even an O level in biology. The lack of biology is the given reason, but was clear from the start on my CV.

Interview at Huddersfield

They want 4 RAs to increase research activity. I've been interviewed, but then got a letter saying they would not complete the process for a while. Interviewing more candidates I guess.

Job at MRL

Went to the Mixed Reality Lab in Nottingham for an interview. They believe I had limited skills in HCI and interface applications and that my skills laid with GIS. Only ten years of application interfaces on my CV though :) I must have failed to get something across I guess, although with a broad CV like mine it is always possible to say too much of X and too little Y. I guess competition was stiff again.

Another one at Sheffield

Management school. An interesting job modelling the effect of social networks on evacuations and their planning. Someone with game theory experience got the job.

BJSS open day

I went to an open day at BJSS (don't ask what it stands for). A software company with a low profile, but an impressive client list. We had a talk followed by a Java test. Out of the four of us one passed the test and got interviewed. It wasn't me. Java is not my strongest suit, but I did think I had done OK. Never mind.

Aberystwyth GIS position

I went to an interview at Aber. They were looking for someone to organise GIS data for the Dyfi Biosphere project. They were very impressed, but I lost out to someone with previous experience of the environmental issues at Dyfi. They will email me posts that are coming up later though and that means I am doing something right.

I still don't know how I got through the whole interview without mentioning that I used to do lots of climbing and walking in Snowdonia, but there you go, your brain deserts you sometimes :).

Another one bites the dust

Got some nice feedback from an interview for a RA position. I gave a good presentation and did OK in the interview. However I did not get the job. There was a strong field apparently, which seems to be par for the course. The same person is recruiting for another position later in the year and suggested I apply, so I cannot have been too bad :)

Interview (management school)

had an interview at management school for a data analysis and evaluation position. Was a bit nervous, but presentation went down well. Interview was hard, but not unreasonable. I am kicking myself for not having a good response to a couple of questions. I'm still not interviewing fluently, just seem to lose any semblance of eloquence. Specifically was asked about chi-squared, and just went blank really, it just a statistical test for goodness sake. I have since thought of at least 5 good responses, only one of which needed additional info to what I had at hand.

interviews (K-now, DCS)

I went for an interview at a knowledge management specialist company that is a spin out of the Department of Computer Science at Sheffield. I have not heard anything, but it was a while ago, so I guess I did not get the job and they do not inform people even of interview failures! They are looking for 4 people though so it might be quite complicated at their end and they cannot say anything for sure.

I also interviewed at Computer Science itself (with one of the people from the above chairing this also). They have got back to me within 2 days, negatively. I get the feeling I am not getting myself across positively in interviews. V. Annoying because in some cases I realise later I knew good responses to the questions. Not sure interviews are a great way of selecting people TBH.

SDL project coordinator

fail

Another failed app, Nottingham

Failed to get an interview for:
Research Associate/Fellow in Geospatial Science
at Nottingham

Jobs

Got knocked back for a NLP job that seemed quite well suited. Not to worry as usual the money was mediocre. Academia just seems too hard to get into right now. Not good timing for my PhD in terms of career progression. I'm just glad I wanted to do it for other (undefined) reasons.

I am now looking at Java positions. I will train myself on some of the major frameworks and maybe take a commercial qualification. I will then struggle up through the ranks to be where I was before the PhD, but in a much more commonly used language. Hopefully I will find a good place to work locally and settle in, if that fails I will learn what I can and go contracting again.

I still have searches out for business analyst and project manager jobs, but will need to be lucky to get one as I have no experience. I would also take a Progress 4GL contract if one appeared.

Job hunting

So far:
Interviews at Sheffield (Ischool) and Cardiff, done and failed.
Interview at PFT a start up in Sheffield, done, awaiting response.
Application to Lectureship in Ischool, not short listed.
Applications to various RA positions, not known yet.
Part time opportunity with Global company, mooted, but not confirmed.

I have a weeks work on a web site.

Finished

I am finished! The library copy is in and all the corrections made.

This blog will now chart my job hunt.