After a great 5 years of travel and retirement, it is
time for me to get back into the work force again. It is funny to think I am coming out of
retirement at the age of 40, but not only am I doing it for monetary reasons, I
am also looking forward to the social aspect, meeting new people and widening
my networks.
I was sent an email from a friend who works in the US
Embassy a month ago. She saw a British
High Commission job advertised and thought of me and sent it through. It looked like the perfect job, so I updated
my resume, confirmed my references and sent in my first application for a job
in 15 years!!! Imagine. It was nearly to the actual day that I applied
for my travel agent job in 2001, was interviewed, by my now wonderful friend
and boss, Denise, and where I stayed for the next 10 years before I departed on
my round the world travel odyssey.
FIFTEEN YEARS. I also got two
friends , who hire and fire, to check over my resume to make sure it was up to
speed and current for today’s market and was given a thumbs up from both
parties, so it was dusted off, updated and sent with all my fingers and toes
crossed.
I got an automated reply that my application was received
and if I hadn’t heard anything within 3 weeks, then my application would be
considered unsuccessful. Well that date
passed last week and I was a bit bummed that I wasn’t even given an interview. My email was checked daily, in the hope of getting
some correspondence, but to no avail. It
was like back in the old days when you used to wait by the phone for your
boyfriend to call, the expectation was high and that disappointed feeling when
the phone didn’t ring. I think I looked
pretty great on paper, (just ask me) but as most jobs, you don’t know if they
advertised because they had to, even though they may have had a candidate in
mind already. Either way, it has made me
update my resume, get a cover letter done and it is a step in the right
direction. It felt good to get started
in my job hunt, and over the coming months, I am hopeful that something will
come up that will suit me to a tee.
In the meantime I dropped off my resume to the Australian
High Commission the same week I applied for the British High Commission job and
that afternoon, I was emailed with the same job I had just applied for with the
BHC. It was nice that they thought of me
none the less. I have booked marked the
job listings for the Australian, Canadian and British High Commissions and I check
them on a daily basis. I have also
joined an association, UNKLESA (United Nations Kenya Local Expatriate Spouse Association)
which is supported by the UN system and partnering organizations. Their aim is to assist globally mobile
families adapt to the new duty stations and to help expatriate spouses/partners
find jobs and maintain their professional careers. So there will be a better quality of job
offers, a lot of which I am sure I will be not qualified for, but you just never
know what will come through that channel either. I have 2 other web sites to register with www.inspira.com and www.reliefweb.com where you load your resume
and they hold it on file for jobs that match your criteria, but I want to wait
for my Dependant visa to be processed before I launch fully into the job
hunt. I am currently on a visa that does
not permit me to work, but my marriage lets me get a spousal visa where I am allowed
to work. I will still require a work
permit for any job that comes my way, but at least I will be legal. It really is a complicated issue here, work
permits, so in my defense it is not as easy as one may think.
So
my job hunt continues.
I
will not feel deflated, I KNOW something perfect will come my way. I just can’t wait to have an income again,
save for my trips to Australia, buy property, upgrade my car and all sorts of
‘normal’ things that people do when they actually have a job!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment