Quiet

Let's start off by pointing out that Blogger crashed on me just as I was going to post so I'm re-typing all this.

From memory.

Through gritted teeth.

On a gnawed carpet.

Quiet

After the last fews days I was quite surprised when my phone didn't ring this morning. Maybe the message was getting through about not phoning me at breakfast time (no matter how unreasonably early you have your breakfast).

But the phone still continued not to ring.

Years ago I once provided some after-hours cover at an accountancy firm. They were preparing pamphlets on that day's mini-budget and needed someone on hand for technical support.

Easy money, there were no calls.

The next day my boss had a word with me. Lots of people had been trying to call but no-one had answered. I didn't know what he was talking about. It transpired that the phone system had crashed.

So sometimes, when my phone is quiet, I phone it from another line to make sure the phone network is still working.

It was turning out to be one of those quiet mornings. I could only find one job suitable for an application.

So, I was startled when the phone did ring. It was a recruitment agent I had contacted just over a week ago. I was even more startled when it turns out that he only wanted to let me know that he hadn't yet heard anything from the client. Crickey, very few agencies do that.

Preparation

I had a colleague who once wore a business suit for an an interview she was having at home, on the telephone.

Good idea actually. But I don't follow that (remember I can take interview-type calls in the frozen section of supermarkets).

My preparation is mainly to charge up my Bluetooth headset (a Nokia incidentally, so girls will talk to me).

This afternoon I had my telephone interview. It went quite well. I think I got my points across effectively. They're interviewing others but if they want to see me face-to-face it'll probably be next week.

I didn't feel "yes, I've got that job" but neither did I feel the interview went badly. On the whole I think it went well.

Requirements

These days you not only have to meet the mandatory requirements but also the preferred ones as well. And that's for soft-skilled jobs as well as technical ones.

Yesterday I received the job spec for a role which had mandatory requirements for some skills I don't have. I advised the recruitment agency of this in an email and forgot about the job.

Today he replied saying he was still going to put my name forward. That was pleasing.

Almost job of the day

Today I saw a PM job which asked for CISSP.

What?

That's the Certificate in IS Security something-beginning-with-P.

CISSP have a web site and I'm glad to see that these sorts of skills are now gaining qualifications. It was, however, not really needed for the job described.

Security is becoming a hot subject in IT so I though, maybe I should get this qualification. But to be eligible you need four years' IT security experience.