Señor Nerd-Bender the Magnificent

Have to say I'm quite enjoying the Autumn weather recently 🍃

Behold my lowly dirt fortress having a fiesta, complete with hat-donning bunnies and pumpkins galore.

This ma jam.

For the last year and 4 months I’ve been in a steady job where I get the money I need to pay my current bills and expenses and still have a few hundred to put into my savings each month. I’m also highly valued as a team member and love working with my colleagues, but there isn’t many progression opportunities and the hours you get each week vary on how busy it’s going to be thus so do your payslips. Since I’m good at my job I usually get 25-30 hrs a week, but it’s also not the most rewarding role in the way that the public talks down to you a lot, it can be a very stressful environment and at the end of the day, it’s a zero-hour contract in an entry-level setting. Plus, even if you get to manager level (the only salaried position on the ladder) the pay is dismal. Recently I’ve been looking for new job opportunities because I wish to move out with my boyfriend and possibly do other adult things like get a car or maybe apply for a mortgage (that’s fucking scary to type). Unfortunately not many companies respond positively to 3 month’s admin experience in 2015 and a year and a half position in a cinema, no matter how nicely you word your applicable experience in cover letters. Because of this problem I’ve been stuck getting nowhere for a long time, both in my job and in my personal life. The interview I had came about when Marston’s (yes, the brewery) HR devision called me and said they’d received my application for a HR Assistant role and wondered if I’d like to interview for a full time Customer Service Advisor role instead, since my experience seemed more applicable. Obviously I went for it and the interview I had was probably my best one yet. It was with a panel of 2 interviewers and we got on so well it was ridiculous. They were also impressed with my research into the company and my achievements in my current job, so I’m pretty sure I’ll get a call back since they said there’s multiple openings. The only issue with this whole situation is, even though it’s full time and 9-5, is that the employment starts off as a 12-month contract, which they failed to mention until I asked. I also asked about progression in the interview and they said there’s lots of opportunities all the time to move around the business into different departments, and training if they feel like you need some help to get where you want to be. They also said that very often they take on their contract employees full time, and they’ve even had it where temporary staff of 3 months have applied within and moved up to stay within the company. It would also look better on my CV, cut my commute in half, and I could save more money in that year at least. And, if worse came to worse and it didn’t work out, it might make it easier to find jobs afterwards?  My boyfriend doesn’t think so and thinks I should stick with the less-risky option, still desperately applying for jobs and probably not getting anything. I understand where he’s coming from and I agree that it might be safer, but being comfortable won’t help me push my way into a good company’s infrastructure. He also got lucky with his full time job (1 job application and interview and he got it no problem) so maybe he thinks it’s easier than it is. I didn’t have much chance to talk about it with him because then he got attacked by a dragon and had to hang up. If you bothered to read all this then damn, thanks, and I hope you leave your opinion on the situation because I DON’T FUCKING KNOW and I’d rather be prepared and not get offered the job then get offered it and fuck it up by not being able to say yes or no.