In the Hands of the Gods

About six weeks ago, I spent an evening in a Jack Bauer style race against time, trying to finish an online job application before the midnight deadline. Apart from an email which arrived a couple of weeks later, acknowledging the application and making vague promises about short-listing happening soon, I didn't hear anything else, and so assumed I hadn't made the cut.  This was disappointing, as it was a job I was really interested it, but if I'm honest, not entirely surprising.  I knew when I applied it would be a bit of a long shoot.

Curiously, I had another email today, apologising again for the delay, and explaining that the position has been cancelled "due to business reasons".   I'm not sure, and doubt I'll ever know,  what the whole story was, but it is reassuring to know that at least it wasn't something to do with me.

In related news:  while flicking through what I thought was the current issue of the TES last night, I almost fell over with excitement when I saw a perfect sounding job, being advertised by a company which I have always wanted to work for.  The almost falling over was swiftly followed by the discovery that it wasn't, in fact, the current issue, but one which arrived just before I left for Australia, and that the deadline had long passed.

 Needless to say, this particular discovery was itself swiftly followed by the TES being thrown across the room in despair, and lots of shouty sweary words.

Now that I have calmed down a little (it took a restless night's sleep and lots of chocolate) I have been trying to figure out how I missed seeing it. I spent weeks being vigilant, checking both the website and the physical paper for opportunites, and not seeing much, then for the few days just before I left I stopped looking.  And the simple truth is, I chose the wrong day not to look.  There's not much I can do about it now, and I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned there somewhere.

Why is this related news? Well, both events made me realise just how much of this whole job-hunting business comes down to fate.  Not only do you need to have the right skills and be able to sell them, but the right opportunities need to be available at the right time (although it also helps if you're actually checking the job ads, obviously).

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