November 3, 2006

• Today’s Possiblities

  For the last two and a half weeks I’ve been lazing about, guilt free. After firing off countless CVs to various jobs in Glasgow (and spending one hot, fetid, prawn-reeking first and last day employed in a sandwich shop), I was hired by a temporary agency called Kelly Services on October 19. While both my employer and I were eager to start me on my first office assignment straight away, Kelly Services requires all their employees to have a National Insurance Number before they begin employment.

  In the UK, the National Insurance number is what the government uses to make sure you pay taxes. It is how you can receive whatever benefits your employer offers. Trying to live without one is a bit like trying to live without a social security number in the states. And trying to get one is a lengthy process.

  Once you have a job (or evidence via a rejection letter that you’ve been looking for employment), you make an appointment to apply for your number. To the appointment, you have to bring a plethora of evidence that you are who you are: passport, visa, birth certificate, marriage certificate, drivers license, blood samples, baby teeth, your crusty, petrified umbilical cord stub, ect. It’s quite complicated, really.

  I made my appointment to get my number after getting a rejection letter on October 17. And the fastest appointment I could get for my number is 23 days later on November 8.

  While it has been nice to have 23 days to enjoy the city without the stress of looking for a job weighing on me, I certainly wasn’t expecting it. When you are granted a work visa, no one tells you: “oh yeah, you won’t be able to actually work until you apply for this other thing.” (Although some employers, like Shaun’s, will let you start before you have a number, knowing how long it takes to get one.)

  This number thing is nothing that I’m upset over, but just something that I thought might be worth tossing out on the ‘net, should anyone else be planning to live abroad and might find this info useful in their budgeting; my credit cards are getting clingy.

  Anyhow, so I am content thinking of working as an office temp this year. The hours and flexibility are ideal. The thought of popping into someone’s day-to-day work has a voyeuristic quality that appeals to me and should benefit my writing. Then yesterday, I began to visualize a different route this year could take for me: I received two letters inviting me to interview for two very appealing jobs.

  The first job interview is for Glasgow City Council. I applied to act as the assistant to the city’s marketing office, which would be fun and relatively low stress. I’ve always wanted to be a city employee and I held a similar position at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago before my promotion. Plus, I truly like this city. I could assist in the marketing of it in good conscious.

  The second job interview is for The Lighthouse: Scotland’s Centre for Architecture, Design, and The City. The position I’m a candidate for is to be the Marketing Coordinator for the Six City Design Festival in early summer, 2007. I know I would throw myself into this job; I love The Lighthouse (it’s one of Glasgow’s coolest museums and the cafe is luscious). Plus, I was a Marketing Coordinator at the MCA so I know the logistics of the job, and the idea of working intensely on one project appeals to me. I think that the festival sounds incredible.

  I’m certainly not an architecture expert (or an expert much at anything yet, really. I’m only 24 for gods sake!), but I’ve been brushing up on my Scottish art/architecture history lately (what can I say, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands), so even if I don’t get the job I will have all this fun knowledge floating about my head. Plus, I sincerely value what the festival offers, and I am confident in my ability to communicate that value to the public.

  Architecture and design are fun to celebrate. When people are given a chance to revel in the objects and spaces that they utilize everyday, it’s interesting to realize that utilitarianism does not equate to mundane. Strong aesthetic principals are not frivolous; they can influence a community subtly, guide us, help us navigate, influence our moods and our ability to think, create, and engage.

  I’m going to take the train into Sterling on Monday to checkout the architecture there (Sterling is one of the Six Cities in the festival), so that should be a fun trip. There is a castle there, too, so I expect that I’ll frolic about it for a while.

  Anyhow, if I don’t get either job (it is likely that a local might be more desirable for either position, understandably so), it’s good to keep in the habit of interviewing. Plus, the worst thing that can happen is that I don’t get either of these jobs and I get to flit about the offices of Glasgow as a temp, discovering all the types of paper shuffling there is in the world. I can take vacations or new assignments whenever things get stale. Like I said, the temp job is appealing to me too. I guess I just have to wait and see.

  In the meantime, this weekend I’m taking a condensed course to get my Teaching English as a Foreign Language certification. This might help me land a job at a writing center or a school when we move back to the states. Also, with this certification, you can do month-long trips teaching English in places like Peru, which might be an interesting way for me to get used to large, terrifying bugs. Oh yeah, and help me transition into an English teaching career before I’m thirty.

  After the course is finished on Sunday, I’m joining Shaun and the rest of the International crew at the Glasgow Green for a chilly night of fireworks and bonfires in celebration of Guy Fawkes Night.

  Remember, remember the 5th of November!
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  Have you ever visualized taking your working-life in a different direction? What did it look like?

  • 4:38 pm
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