On finding a job Pt 2

Another day, filled with learning. It tickles my brain! It's nice to be learning practical, useful things. I spent Monday evening learning how to drive the MYOB accounting software.

Today, the crazy recruitment-trainer-lady gave us advice about warm canvassing etc, being the most useful way to get a job. She mentioned finding the industry you're interested in, finding the right person to speak to, then making appointments to see them. She also suggested we keep track of the companies and people we had contacted in a spreadsheet, and to always follow up.

It all made sense, but it sounded so familiar....then it hit me. ICX. It's the beginning of the sales process.

Market Segmentation.
Company research.
Contact and follow up.

Duh. People say 'it doesn't matter what you do in AIESEC. What matters is what you do outside of AIESEC'. Hello Kylie... anyone heard of transferable skills before?

On finding a job

I've been unemployed since the beginning of May. I thought I would pick up a job really quickly, but it turned out not to be so. So here I am, at the end of July, a bum.

I've been working with a job agency to find work in admin. After numerous knock backs, I'm beginning to get feedback that I'm 'over-qualified' for the roles, regardless of the fact that I have 0 qualifications in admin. They take one look at my resume, and assume that I'm going to get bored really quickly and leave. Boo. I'm really keen to get work, any work, and just knuckle down and earn.

So my lovely advisors have put me into this 7 day course where I learn how to find work. Retarded, I hear you say? Nope - this bird has a different way of looking at everything, coupled with years of experience being unemployed, employed, and being an employer. I like her - crazy, but I like her.

More to follow - flat battery. Boo technology - Boo.

It's good to be, it's good to be an LCP!

Oh yes it is!

Today, I learned.
Today, I participated.
Today, I was full of Energia Positiva!!
Today, I watched people take ownership.
Today, I was inspired.
Today, I found faith in the system again.
Today, I was in control.

Today, I was an LCP.

I'm feeling prolific

in the sense that all I want to do right now, in this moment, is post on my blog. It's 2am, it was raining earlier. I've been watching the Tour de France, so my body clock is buggered!

I finally found my favourite song! Turns out it was tucked away on an album that I downloaded from Tom. Yep, I had it all along. Higher Ground is my favourite cafe, and they always play this one song when I'm there for lunch. I could never find it, but ta-da!

GOYTE. Heart's a Mess. Every time I hear it I'm right back there, eating lentil soup.

I have had quite a spanner thrown in my works in the last couple of days, non-AIESEC related, as odd as that sounds. About a week ago, I had a dream. I was hosting an AIESEC party at my childhood home, and I was talking to different people. An old friend of mine kept wanting to talk to me, but I kept brushing her off, because I thought I had more important things to talk about. When I was finally ready to talk to her, she was gone.

That friend has since been in touch. And it's not pretty. I don't want to lose her - we've been friends since high school and we've shared a whole shit-load of troubles together. But we haven't spoken in months, and a lot changed in that time. I didn't tell her anything, coz she wasn't on my immediate radar. I had other support. I wasn't going to call her just to dump a whole heap of out-of-context trouble on her doorstep, and I didn't have the energy to explain everything when there were people that knew already.

She's mad. I'm not sure how I feel. I don't really understand what she wants from me...

aha! Maybe this was the reason behind the prolific posting. All that just needed to come out. And there it is.

My FAVOURITE recipe

I bring this old favourite out every time there is an international AIESECer within 3 feet of my kitchen. It's an old recipe that my mum used to make when I was growing up.

Golden Syrup Dumplings - copied direct from email->

oven temp 190
cooking time 20 30 minutes

ingredients;
1 tablespoon butter,
1 cup (135)s.r. flour,
1 egg (60's)beaten,
2-3 tablespoon of milk.

syrup
1 1/2 cups water,
1/2 cup (110g) 1a sugar,
1 1/2tablespoon butter,
1 tablespoon golden syrup,
1 teaspoon lemon juice


method
1. set oven 190
2.. rub butter into flour. add egg and sufficent milk to mix into a softdough. Place dough in pie dish in spoonfuls.
3. Place syrup ingredients in saucepan,stir until sugar has dissolved and bring to boil.
4. Pour syrup over dumplings and bake at 190 for 20-30 minutes
5. serve with custard sauce or crean or ice cream.
note dumplings may be bloiled in the syrup instead of baked in oven. Cook for approximately 30 minutes.

Love you mum!

Silly

I created this blog knowing full well that someone other than me might actually read it. Still - I found it a little confronting when I heard that people do.

All I can ask is that you don't hold it against me :)

PS. The new Facebook is kinda odd.

Boom

Back to reality. The romance that was Sydney Airport has well and truly worn off. I'm back at home, in my pajamas, well aware that my world didn't change one bit while I was away.

It doesn't matter how much you change at a conference. What matters is how you convince others to see the world in the new way that you do. Bummer if you're not a great communicator; bummer if your audience doesn't want to listen.

I am coming down with post-conference plague. But it isn't the viral variety (been there, coughed on that). It's the plague of the 'Big If'. What on earth will happen to me, post-SPMs? Where does my AIESEC future lie? What if what if what if. It's frustrating, because I would like at least some certainty in my life.

Actually no. Scrap that. I'm not whining about the fact that I don't know where I want to go. I'm just plain scared that I don't have a place to go next year. Pure and simple. All the next steps require the confidence of others. I could put my hand up for any position, any opportunity, but each one relies on someone else saying "Kylie, we think you'd be good at this".

Where do I go from here? Tell me, magic 8-ball!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

I better believe it.

Process

National Conference has come and gone in a flurry of beer, split-flows and inspiration.



I'm sitting in the lounge at Sydney airport, because I managed to miss my flight this morning. Silly me. I was so damn knackered last night, and so damn greatful for a doona (more later) that I must've just passed out. I woke up at 8.30 this morning, all too aware that I should have been in Adelaide by then. Oh well.



So this extra 12 hours of quiet time has found me feeling reflective. I'm sitting here, trying to consolidate everything I learned. It's hard. Let's see if a list will help...



1. James Webb at DLD said that he regretted not taking up opportunities with AIESEC.

2. UniSA is still listed in the bottom left corner of SONA. While not significant on its own, it contributed to the following point.

3. At the NLT flow, I re-read my LCP Platform and cried. I bawled my eyes out. I was so devestated by the unfulfilled promises I'd made. I felt like a failure, like I'd let everyone down. It was awful - I've not felt so gutted before. While everyone else was thinking about the positive legacies they would leave theire LCs, all I could think of was mine "bankrupt and empty".

4. MC Handover. Hearing again that opportunites were not to be missed. Hearing the stories of developing, of fun, of challenges, of everything. It struck me that I should not be so arrogant as to dismiss chance before I've taken it.

5. Self-reflection XPROS. Realising what I value, looking at what my competencies are and what is yet to develop.

6. LC Planning time. Looking at the difference between our current position and where we want to be.

7. Watching my delegation begin to unfurl into the powerful AIESECers they are.

8. A multitude of chats, with Jess E, Pieter, Simon, Jen, Gen, Georgia, Arsey Pete and others. So many different perspectives, so much insight. My future is not clear yet, I am not able to stand up with confidence and say where I am headed, but I am closer to that goal because of their contributions. Thankyou.

9. With this in mind, I especially should make mention of something that Jen said, " Just because someone tells you something doesn't make it right. Take their opinion and weigh it against your own. What is right for you?" It also reminds me of one of my favourite movie scenes ever. It's the one in the Pursuit of Happyness, where Will Smith tells his son that he shouldn't ever let anyone tell him that he cant acheive something. That if he has a goal, he should aim for it with all his heart. That's really stuck with me, and I should remember it more often.

So yeah - they would have to be the most meaningful moments of my conference. They've shaped my thoughts about where I am headed next year. If I look deep inside, I'm still not sure. I don't know if I am ready for my next steps. But perhaps that's exactly why I should take them. "The perfect role for you is the one for which you are not ready". I've told people that before - perhaps I should take my own advice.

You know what? Somewhere inside my heart, inside my mind, there is a clear picture of what I want, and where to find it. What is stopping me from seeing it? My fears. Fear of success, fear of my own opinions, fear of other's opinions. All throughout Conference, people would ask me "why don't you believe in yourself?" "How can I help you believe in yourself?" Throughout Closing Plenary, the NLT would consistently stand up and tell everyone that believing in AIESEC, in your own abilities, was the key to everything that can be done.

I want that. I'm not going to hide behind my ignorance anymore, I'm not going to hide behind my fears, or excuses. Above all else, the combined experiences of this conference has made me see that there is more to life than hanging on to your labels, of relying on 'reasons why not'.
The hardest part is going to come next. I was about to write that I would 'try' to do those things. But we all know how that ends. Old habits die hard, you know. In fact, as I typed out that word, I heard Jen's voice in my head. "Do or do not - there is no try". I am scared, so scared of what that would mean for me, but I think it's time.