Before the two job distasters that I wrote about in my previous post, I had two other job disasters but they were disasters for different reasons and one wasn't even my fault...
A friend who worked in the librarie of a musum sent my CV to her boss and managed to get me an interview at her work. Ok, the interview was actually with her, and it wasn't really an interview because we just chatted and drank coffee. However, I did meet the boss and after speaking to her she seemed keen to take me on. The only problem: "il vraiment faut avoir une convention de stage." A 'convention de stage,' which translates as a work placement/internship agreement, shouldn't be too much of a problem to come by I thought. That was until I contacted my university and they refused to provide me with one. I persisted and even asked about four different people but they all said no. The reason being: It isn't an 'integral' part of the year abroad. Read: We can't be bothered with the administration/it will cost us money. Great. All this document requires is a signature and a stamp. Other universities seem to give them out like sweets, but not Birmingham.
Then a couple of weeks later I received a phonecall from a subway-style restaurant. I chatted to the manager and it seemed to be going well until he asked about my disponibilité, to which I replied: "début de juin jusqu'à la fin d'août." He became a lot less keen and said they needed people who were staying much longer. Damn my honesty.
Today I received a voicemail from a cafe who received my CV from a bar I had applied to. Oh the irony; I spent three weeks job-hunting, waiting by the phone to hear something, and now I'm spending my time avoiding phonecalls from potential employers! Lesson learned: don't leave it so late to job-hunt next time.
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