Tag Archives: Business

The Opportunity

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Last Thursday I had an important interview with J. from the recruitment agency that I found online the previous Friday. I had sent my CV along with an introduction in an email and basically asked for their help. An hour later I had a reply in and was invited to come over for an interview. We agreed on meeting up on Thursday last week. Unfortunately the Tube people decided to go on strike on Tuesday which would cause a real problem to me since I had no clue how to get into town. Buses were full, traffic was chaotic and stuck most of the time so taking a cab was out of the question. I decided not to panic and see what would happen.

I’ve been working on my portfolio from Sunday to Wednesday last week, updated some stuff, printed some of my web designs and made sure both folios [A3 and A4] looked neat and up to date… Lucky me the strike was cancelled on Wednesday afternoon so I would probably be alright on Thursday. Thursday, midday, I was ready to travel all the way to the other end of town to have my interview. I was clever and didn’t wear a coat: it was a sauna on the Tube, way too hot, it would’ve been too warm. I was 15 minutes early which was good: I had some time to cool off, drink some cold water and relax a bit while waiting for J. After 20 minutes he came into the room…

The interview went really well and took over an hour. I have a few things that I will have to look into over the next couple of weeks. I will have to set up my own company in order to get the freelance jobs in through the agency. I will have to look for an accountant in the area, to discuss my possibilities and sort out all the paperwork that needs to be done in order to set up the company. I will have to read into things because I have no clue how it’s organised over here so I will buy some books about the topic. J. gave me useful tips and advice about the business that I would like to read into as well. So if I don’t write a new post on here for a while then you’ll know what is keeping me busy…

I realise things won’t be easy since this whole business thing is something new to me and I guess I will run into problems along the way: things are probably different in this host country than back in the Lowlands, but I’m a fighter and this is a new chance to start with a clean slate! I’m positive this is going to be a success! I see it as a new challenge but this time I will succeed because I’m doing this for me and I deserve to succeed…

8)

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Agency profile:

We understand what you’re looking for, and more importantly we take a real interest in you as a person – your ambitions, your worries, your hopes, your needs, your potential – whether you’re a client or a candidate.

Be prepared, we’ll be honest with you, but you’ll thank us for it. And because we only work with people we want to work with, you’ll always be more than just a number to us.

If you want to contact us, then drop us an email with your CV. If we genuinely think we can help you on your quest for a fab new job, then we’ll meet up with you and find out all about you.

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Smoggy Cider

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Nothing spectacular going on lately… I’m just doing my thing, whatever that is. I was supposed to meet up with Amit today but he cancelled. I met him at the Flash Actionscript course that I did. We were going to exchange some CDs/DVDs but unfortunately that has to wait until I’m back from my visit to NL. In the meantime I’m downloading my own copy that I promised Christiaan. I can’t wait a few more weeks and I would like to bring it to the Lowlands as promised.

So I ended up cleaning the house and sorting out my dress [sewing] it’s almost done. I’m so looking forward to seeing my friends in the Lowlands, it has been almost a year since I left the country, I’m going to have a very busy week, but that’s good, it will distract me from what’s going on over here in the UK and hopefully I will be all energised and happy again when I’m back. I will be ready for a brand new start… a confident one, on my own, knowing things will work out just fine.

I met up with Helen, her other half and Kris a friend of theirs on Tuesday this week. I went to Chancery Lane tube station and called Helen to ask her where to meet up. They were at some restaurant so I started to walk towards Chancery Lane and ended up walking all the way to Holborn which is half a mile. I totally missed Chancery Lane somehow. [I’m not from this planet, I swear…] We called each other about 8 times just to see where I was or where they were. Funny thing was we must have passed each other at least twice without realising…

We agreed to meet up at a place called the Lounge, in the meantime I had walked the distance between Chancery Lane tube station and Holborn tube station at least three times [1.5 miles/2.4 kilometres] before I finally found the Lounge where they were waiting for me on the terrace. It was close and smoggy and I was desperately in need of a refreshment. Helen ordered a cider for me, I expected a small one but instead I got a pint [how was I ever going to finish a pint in half an hour without getting totally pissed since I didn’t eat breakfast, next time you’d better think girl!].

I remember I promised myself not to drink on an empty stomach ever again, but I reckon I broke my own promise *bad girl!*. Lucky me K. kindly offered to help me finish the bottle… *relief* I showed my portfolio and we discussed business [website design]. We had a really nice time chatting even though it was only about half an hour. I walked back to Chancery Lane tube station accompanied by K. He had lived in Amsterdam for a while and when he had to leave he -to my surprise- said: ‘tot ziens’.

On my way back home on the train I had a slight problem concentrating on what was going on around me, by the time I came home, I really had to take things slow, the alcohol had taken over my brain function… Next time I better keep my promise or have a solid breakfast instead of a liquid one.