Building Confidence

I have applied for quite a few jobs.  If I had to make an estimate, I would say about 30.  All I had heard to date is that after receiving hundreds of applications, my bid for the job had not been successful.  And that's if I had heard anything at all.

So today I was surprised to have a telephone interview from a recruitment agency followed by a request 10 minutes later for a face-to-face meeting.

Yeah, me!

I guess it doesn't take very much for me to build a little confidence.

Now I'm ready to conquer the world.

Accounting in Sydney

Before I begin, I need to state the obvious:  these are all my personal observations.  :)

Accountants in Sydney are a dime a dozen.  If you make your living in accounting, I would think twice before moving here.  The problem is that universities are churning out Accounting grads faster than you can blink.  For every accounting job that becomes available, there are hundreds of people applying.  You can send out just as many resumes and never even hear back.  When you do hear back, you are told any number of things, but it's usually that they have received a large number of applications and yours just didn't match their EXACT needs.

Each job description reads like a CFO.  You'd think that by the time they tell you the salary, you'd be offered something in the six digit range.  But no.  They expect all that for $50k per annum.  Sometimes less.

It's a miracle to get a request for an interview.

The whole process is so demoralising to me.  At this point, I'd be happy for a receptionist job.  But those jobs are no easier to obtain because all the accountants are getting so desperate for work (money) that they are willing to do anything as well.

The thing is...  I'm a hard worker.  I don't have a problem with working for a decent pay.  But some days it seems impossible.  What magic do I need just to get to speak to someone about my qualifications?  I am a people person who wants to please others.

At least in the states I was treated like a person and not like just words on a piece of paper.  My previous qualifications meant something.

Redundant in Australia

Ah... yes.

The dreaded redundancy in Australia.

What is this, you ask?  Well, redundancy in Australia is similar to being laid off in the United States.  It's basically a fair work act in Australia whereas your (ex) employer must compensate you for ending your employment through no fault of your own.  In order 

Still sucks, though.

And I was made redundant today.  :(

My Babylock Ellure

I took my sewing machine in to ...  holy crap?  Where have I left my baby?  It has honestly just dawned on me that I have no idea the name of the shop where I left my sewing machine to be serviced.

Anyhoo, Mr. Smith found this place that services Babylocks.  It's in Chatswood and the good news is that I know how to get there.  :)

Upon arriving in Sydney and taking out my machine, I realised that my bobbin winder didn't work.  Now, I'm not sure if it happened because of the extreme heat/cold that can occur during transport, but being the lazy person I am...  I just decided to buy an external bobbin winder and deal with the problem later.

Here's where Mr. Smith steps in.  He can't stand for anything to be broken or in any way not in working order.  He probably offered to open it up and try to figure out the problem, but - over my dead body.  Not that I don't trust him.  Anyone who knows him knows that he knows everything about everything.

So when he found this place, I figured we should take it in.  Our trek (lol) began on Tuesday (New Years Eve) at about 11:00.  Now, we don't have a car.  And I'm pretty sure that the tote I have for my machine and all its accoutrements was never meant to be rolled along for over a mile... only to the car and into the trunk.  Oh well.

Of course, I had to have a coffee.  And it was quite a warm day.  I suppose that is what contributed to the fact that by the time we arrived at the shop, I was fully sweating like a linebacker after a day of training.  The woman at the shop had a genuine look of fright that cannot be reproduced.  (When I sweat, I don't mess around.)

We had brought the machine, the power cord, the foot control and the step-down transformer (required when using American made products in Australia).  We brought the small step-down transformer, which weighs about 10-15 pounds.  I just asked Mr. Smith and he can't make up his mind.

They wouldn't take the tote or the transformer, so we had to bring those back home.

It was surprising about the transformer.  Apparently, other Americans have been dropping off their machines for service because that's the only reason they would need to have one there.

So, it'll be at least two weeks before my machine is all done, then she'll be running like a top.  I'm going to try to sew more this year.  I really do love it.  I just have to convince myself that I have time for it.  Every time I see material (anywhere, not kidding), I get the urge.  Then somehow it fizzles out.

What's wrong with me???