G'Day

Caitlin Black

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I'll be sweating it out in the shopping centre continuing my applying-for-jobs rampage. Well, on Saturday I will. Sunday is all about my relaxation time.

I dropped off 10 resumes today. 2 stores told me I need to apply online, so I better do that tonight while I remember...

But hopefully I'll get a part time job in time for Christmas. :)
 

Caitlin Black

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Cheers.

Actually, on that note - does anyone know if JB Hi-Fi is a national store? I want to work for a company that has stores in every major city, so I can move around Australia easier. (Ie. just get a transfer and bam, I have a job in a new city...)

I'm pretty sure the supermarkets and department stores are national...

Coles, Woolworths, Myer, Big W, K-Mart... some others, but they aren't local for me here...
 

MissMacchiato

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we def. have JB here in Sydney. Not sure where else it is.

Um, who else could you try. Australia post is, and they need seasonal workers.

bi-lo, aldi, franklins, IGA...
 

LunaFancy

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Hi! I'm a noob but I'm an Aussie, can I play in the sandpit with you guys?:)

And if we're drinking on tap, I'll have a Tooheys extra thanks!
 

Caitlin Black

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we def. have JB here in Sydney. Not sure where else it is.

Um, who else could you try. Australia post is, and they need seasonal workers.

bi-lo, aldi, franklins, IGA...

JB is my top choice, and Sydney is in my top 3 Aussie destinations. :)

Hmm, I could possibly work for Australia Post if I didn't have to actually deliver the letters. I don't have a driver's/motorbike license...

Bi-Lo is one that I can't easily get to down here. We have them, but they're just not local to me, and not driving... yeah.

Never heard of Aldi or Franklins... *shrug*

We have an IGA near my house. I didn't think they were national? I guess I was wrong. I'll look into it. :)

Cheers. :)

Hi! I'm a noob but I'm an Aussie, can I play in the sandpit with you guys?:)

And if we're drinking on tap, I'll have a Tooheys extra thanks!

Welcome! I'll join you with a Toohey's Extra Dry!
 

Caitlin Black

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OMG I just had the BEST dinner I've EVER had!

Penne pasta, cooked with a dash of salt until it's that perfect place between al dente and soft-as-silk.
2 Chicken thigh fillets cut up into edible pieces and cooked until they're nice and white.
1 full bottle of Dolmio (I think) tomato pasta sauce with red wine and basil.
2 slices of a large onion, diced into small pieces.
1 teaspoon of garlic paste, mixed into the sauce evenly.
Shakes from a small container of chilli powder to taste.

OMNOMNOM!

This was the first time I've used the basil/red wine sauce, and I frickin' LOVE it! The onion pieces were tastier than I've ever had before thanks to this sauce (the flavours REALLY complement each other).

And also, my glass of Jacob's Creek Pinot Grigio was beautiful with this dish. I've never seriously considered myself a wine drinker, but by gosh this glass went down so well with the taste of that sauce in my mouth! I know people say you're meant to drink white with chicken and fish, but I've never noticed any significant benefit to doing so until tonight. Like, I've had chicken schnitzels with this same wine, and fish with this same wine - no benefits. This pasta dish? OMG I think I died of deliciousness.

The above meal fed 3 people quite well. :)

/food ramble

(Oh, and I cooked this meal myself. The best meal I've ever had and I cooked it myself! *fantasises about becoming a chef at an Italian restaurant* :D;))

...

I'll be good now. No more rambles from me (today).
 

MissMacchiato

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lol Cliff! Sounds pretty good!

Gawd I'm soooo tired tonight. I know it's only 9:30 but I'm going to bed. I'm such an old woman, haha!
 

Caitlin Black

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LOL, actually I went to bed about that time too. I used to be such a night owl, but these last couple of years I've been having early nights and then waking up before 9am.

And I just remembered - the pasta sauce wasn't Dolmio's, it was Raguletto. (In case anyone was planning on cooking what I had last night to see if it's really as good as I think. ;))

Morning folks!
 

Caitlin Black

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Okay, question time.

I know some of you have mentioned having to go to work, or being at work when you're posting. So... what work do you all do?

I've sent out resumes after finishing my Retail course, but so far no job. If I still don't have a job the week before Christmas, I'll probably have to volunteer for unpaid work experience and worm my way into the heart of the boss...
 

MissMacchiato

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I work as a receptionist slash administration assistant. There's a lot of smiling and answering telephones involved, making tea, sending mail.

Basically the office mother.

I've been in roles like this for about 5 - 7 years now, so I know the job, and it's not hard, unless your boss is evil!
 

_Sian_

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I do cheek-out chick work at safeway. It's boring at times, but the people I work with are really nice, and they put me on part time in about two days after I asked.

Also, I'm able to transfer with them to queensland.

You can apply via the internet, I think
 

MissMacchiato

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I just gave my 'I don't actually know you in real life' beta my last chapters! AAAAAH Excitement city!!

I haven't touched book 2 lately, and that's weird because I probably know more about how the storyline will go than I did at this point of writing the first book.

How is everyone else going in that regard? Editing your Nano stuff yet?
 

Caitlin Black

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MissM, do you need training to do admin assistant / receptionist stuff. I've applied for jobs like that before, and never heard anything back from them.

Sian, check-out chick sounds like a good job for me (except I'd be the guy version...). I don't think we have Safeway here in Adelaide... never seen them before.

Fred, Angus and Robertson? I want your job!! We had an A&R at my local shopping centre, but it closed down earlier this year, before I had any Retail qualifications... sigh. There's one that's an hour away by bus, but I think I'll apply there sometime soon. I don't particulalry want to work in that shopping centre, but I guess if I can't find anything in my local one...

And MissM again, I haven't started editing my NaNo stuff yet. That's because I didn't finish the book, even though I did more than the 50k required. 20k more and the book should be finished... I'm aiming on getting that 20k done before Christmas, then editing it between Christmas and NYE. I write pretty clean first drafts. I'm not saying they're any good, but the grammar and spelling are mostly fine, and there's usually no plot holes to fix. In this NaNovel, there's one plot hole that needs to be fixed, but that's just a matter of finding where I said X and removing it. The rest of the novel works on the assumption that X didn't happen... but I didn't want to search for it and edit it out while I was still writing the first draft. It's an easy part to remember though - one of those brainless "type first, don't think later" sort of things...

:)
 

MissMacchiato

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Reception and admin jobs... not really. They're hard to crack into. Admin def. needs more experience, possibly training with Excel or MYOB, but only for the paper. Anyone with any common sense could do the actual job.

Do you have any Fitness First gyms around your area Cliff? They have an extremely high turnover of reception staff and you'd probably be able to get a job fairly easily, they were always looking when I worked there.

I have to say, I've never heard of anyone needing a retail qualification to get a job as a checkout chick or other retail position if I'm honest...
 

Caitlin Black

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My experience with retail has been the following:

I didn't work when I was under 18. Retail positions hire under-18s all the time, because they can pay you less legally. But I didn't start looking into Retail until I was in my 20s, and I had no experience, meaning no easy in for other jobs.

And then, since turning 20, I've handed in resumes for Retail fairly consistently, and didn't get a single job out of it.

Then I found out I could study Retail at TAFE, so I thought, "Yes! Maybe this will get me a job at last!" And I only just finished Cert II last week.

Technically you shouldn't need qualifications or experience, but with the job shortage, it's so hard to get a job without those things. I'll admit I haven't applied for too many positions with supermarkets or department stores, which would probably have been easier to get into, but the fact is I just couldn't get a Retail job with my work history.

So I used to work labouring, until I started having back troubles, and then I did 6 months in telemarketing, until I got fired (I wasn't very good at the hard sell...). I've done data entry with Work For The Dole, but applying for real paying data entry positions, nobody's been interested.

But Retail is what I really want to do. I figure once I've got my foot in the door, it will offer a lifetime career. Probably not with the same company my entire life, but a year's experience in one shop and Certificates in Retail through TAFE should mean I can have my pick of jobs...
 

MissMacchiato

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it's tough, isn't it? You can't get a job without experience, but you can't get experience without being given a job.

It's the same in my field, sigh.
 

Caitlin Black

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Yeah. The only field I've ever got straight into was labouring.

I've never been turned down for any general labouring jobs that I've applied for. I took my first job at 20 after dropping out of Uni, as a skinny guy with no muscles digging bike trails in the summer and doing other odd "green" jobs. After that, I just worked a bunch of temporary jobs (usually lasting for 2-6 weeks before the job was finished) and yeah, never turned down.

I suspect that's got a lot to do with labouring being a "men's club". I didn't have muscles, and yet I got those jobs no sweat.

And I suspect retail is somewhat a "girl's club". I mean, I've seen guy's working in retail, but the vast majority of retail workers that are local to me are generally young women.

For instance - my sister took her first job at about 20 also. (She's older than me, so she got there first...) That was in retail. She'd had no experience, no qualifications, and she would've been receiving the full pay (as opposed to under-18 pay). Yet she got the first job she applied for.

I have to suspect that it had something to do with being a young, attractive female.

(I'm not making judgement here, or at least I'm trying not to - I'm just stating my own personal experiences and observations.)
 

_Sian_

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hmmm. I know what you mean about the - girls club thing for retail. In many cases, I think its true.

Forgot, Safeway is Woolworths. They're the same company. Just when Safeway set up here, woolworths had a bad reputation, so they changed the name :D
 

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I was in customer service, but I'm not working right now courtesy of a dickhead co worker playing a prank involving my chair which blew out a disc.

So thanks to a workcover payout and loan insurance, I'm playing full time but unpublished writer right now! Shame about the first 12 months of agony, but now the pain is only bad, I'm quite enjoying myself writing all day.

Right now its the umpteenth revision of my (now at Beta stage) WiP but next week... New Project!:D

I'm going to be bummed if I have to give it all up and go back to the salt mines when the cash runs out.

*runs off to check lotto*
 

Caitlin Black

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Pranks are stupid.

Sorry to hear about your pain.

*checks e-mail to see if anywhere I've applied for jobs have gotten back to me*

UPDATE: Woolworths are still processing my application (ie. checking qualifications and stuff). BUT I also applied by e-mail for a job with St Vincent De Pauls. My Retail teacher told me about the job and gave me the e-mail address. Well, today I realised that I had received an automatic "Cannot deliver mail" message. Grr. Faulty address. *sigh* I might just pop into the St Vinnies near my house and drop in a resume, and tell them about it.
 
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