Furthermore: November 2003 Part 4

November 27, 2003

Jobhunting

I’ve been trying to put into practice some of what I learnt on the course on Monday and Tuesday, so I’ve rewritten my CV a bit to include one of those cringe-making summary statements, and I’ve sharpened the language somewhat. The new version is here in HTML and PDF

I’ve also been thinking how I ought to focus my efforts, and the best approach (in terms of what I’m told are the actual statistics for how people find jobs) are to work with a few _good_ agencies, and to try to network more effectively.

So I got a couple of agency contacts from a trustworthy source, and I also talked to ECM again about some options we hadn’t looked at before. We’ll see what happens…

ID Cards Consultation

I just saw the following piece on the Guardian’s website about the Home Office’s ID cards consultation.

The short version is that anyone who submitted their comments through STANDs gateway website has been treated as part of an “organised campaign”. The response to the consultation counts these separately from other responses, which means they can claim a majority of responses in favour of ID cards.

I’ve written to the Home Secretary, complaining about the way my response has been treated (I’m certainly not aware of being part of an organised campaign). No response yet.

November 26, 2003

Jobhunting

I went to an outplacement course on Monday and Tuesday that my former employer provided as part of the settlement. I wasn’t really expecting anything earth-shattering, but it did provide some useful information on tightening up the language in my CV, and also on where to direct the energy in my job search.

The atmosphere was quite pleasant and relaxed, and it was nice to meet up with a couple of ex-colleagues again.

I’m not doing much today as I don’t feel all that well - just a cold I think - so it’s back to the job search in earnest tomorrow.

November 21, 2003

Tranquility Bay - Observer Article

I read about this place in an Observer article

via a link on Robot Wisdom and I’ve never quite been able to get it out of my head.

It’s a place where you can send your teenager (if you are in the US - UK law wouldn’t permit it I think) to straighten them out. I don’t know quite why the thought of sending children to this place bothers me so much - far worse things happen to many children around the world, after all.

I think it’s partly the fact that it’s considered okay for the parents to do it without oversight from some sort of independent child welfare body, and partly that it’s so easy to imagine yourself into the children’s situation - more so than it is into, say, the much more horrific position of a child soldier.

Whatever. It disturbed me, but there’s not a whole lot I can do about it except say what I think: it ain’t right.

November 20, 2003

Jobhunting

A gloomy one to finish with. I didn’t get the job near Cambridge that I went to interview for. Still a few irons in the fire though, so it’s been another day of phoning to see what’s happening. I’m also going to an outplacement course next week Monday and Tuesday - part of the settlement I got from my former employer.

Old Links - Privacy/Tech Politics

Some old links on technology and privacy issues. This is a subject close to my heart as I think it’s an area in which new technology potentially has the ability to damage rights that we currently take for granted. I’m not a privacy fundamentalist by any means, but I do think the UK government (and others) are in the process of a land grab of these rights before most people even realise they had them to lose. I’ll definitely be writing more about this.

• Bruce Sterling on Geeks and Spooks


• Short interview with Echelon architect


• New Yorker via Oblomovka
  
  - Nice short piece on TIA and Phil Dick. Nice punchline
  
  


• Washington Post - Good piece on identity theft - registration required.


• FIPR - State of play in interception of communications.

Old Links - Politics

A few old links on broadly political topics:

• D-Squared Digest - Storming article on the lack of rights of pension holders


• Slashdot - conflict diamonds - interesting links

November 19, 2003

Jobhunting

Feeling a bit fed up again. No news from any agencies today (unless you count Deutsche Bank’s autoresponder) so I’m on tenterhooks about the outcome of my interview, and also to get some news on the progress of other applications. At the same time, it’s starting to get near to the end of November now, so if I don’t get something soon, it’s probably going to be quite hard to get anything at all this year.

I’m not (yet) worried about the money, but it’s going to be really hard to keep motivated through December if that happens. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it I guess. I’m still optimistic about the interview at the moment, but I just don’t like to tempt fate by saying so, as it sounds like a really interesting job.

Today’s Run

Ran for about an hour. I did the usual circuit, except that I went down Grange Road onto Barton Road and back to Lammas Land from there. I had intended to do a bit of exploring South of Barton Road, but I needed to get back home for about 4 - I shall have to run quicker.

Also went for a run last Thurday, but forgot to post about it. That was about an hour too.

November 18, 2003

Jobhunting

Just a quick one:

• sent off four CVs from Jobserve ads yesterday. No responses as yet. I have one more agency to sort out today.


• Don got back to me to say that Heliograph aren’t looking at the moment, but he suggested another company that might be interested.


• Still waiting on everyone else, so better get off the phone for a bit