A date for my diary arrived in this morning’s post. Not the expected wedding invite, but a missive from the Jobcentre. April 10 2003 is payrise day for everyone on Jobseekers Allowance. A huge increase of 70 pence to £54.65 a week. If you’ve got a suggestion on how I should best use my 70p, please let me know.

Lesson of the day: Include everything on your CV! No matter how irrelevant it seems. You don’t know who your future employer is, let alone what they are looking for. This lesson was learnt as I received a call from an agency to say that they thought my experience as a Bank Clerk would be useful for a position they had. I was quick to bring to their attention my GCSE in Accounting. Surely this position had my name written all over it. Only time will tell.

Shock news for suburbia that Tupperware are no longer operating in the UK. With helpful party advice such as ‘Arrange a date and time for your party’ and themes such as ‘Organising your kitchen cupboards’ and ‘Saving money with Tupperware’, it’s hard to believe the party is over.

Although the web site seems to be in denial.

posted by Martin Wright at 10:15 am | Link

I had a great night last week ‘networking’ at A Ha Ha Ha comedy club in Soho. We were there to watch Alex Musson, a friend of a friend (the network expands!) With third billing he was one of the highlights of the night – and not just because he delivered the phrase ‘spontaneous lesbianisation’. Being jealous of his wit, I decided to look at his website which was bound to be rubbish. It isn’t. A professional web designer, I bet his CV isn’t very good. It is. At least he doesn’t donate any proceeds from his comedy magazine to charity. He does.

Drifting from the MSN Careers page, I find the CV Test and am disappointed that I only get ‘51% - 75% Good, but room for improvement’. So I took them up on the offer for a free CV review and look forward to receiving their advice.

I’m assuming that this Who’s Hiring page gets updated regularly.

A professional service at a knockdown price? I wonder if they give a discount for the unemployed.

posted by Martin Wright at 11:46 am | Link

Whilst looking on the BBC jobs site I briefly considered a career as a Taxonomist, although the dictionary definition didn’t sound as much fun.

The MSN Careers site seems to offer much but needs more investigation.

When one job required me to be a member of the ISTC I had to check the entry qualifications. It appears that it only requires £50 to be a Professional Communicator. I sending fifties quid soon.

And of course I wondered which other professional bodies would be proud to be associated with me for a nominal fee. The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals will have me for £28, the Institute of Professional Sales will consider my experience for £45 or the Royal Geographical Society will accept me for £30.

We finally have Scribbling Rivalry Press up and running. Go there now and buy a copy of Hobnobbing.

posted by Martin Wright at 12:23 pm | Link