Employment!

I got a phone call the day after the interview offering me a part-time job, which I have obviously accepted. My career as an working dietitian is about to start, once references have been taken up, and criminal records have been checked, and occupational health requirements are satisfied... so I'm guessing February at the earliest.

It is wonderful, at last, to have succeeded in an interview, due in great measure to the coaching I received from our lovely neighbours. The first question in the interview was "Why do you want this job?" which was one that we had heavily revised. You'd think this would be an easy one, but you'd be wrong. I already knew that I shouldn't fall to my knees with tear-stained face and hands clasped and say "Please please give me a chance I need a job and this is just as good as any other but nearer to my home so I won't have to live somewhere else during the week," but we practised a number of more subtle ways to give the impression that this is the job that I've always wanted. The other question we worked quite hard on was the classic "What are your strengths and your weaknesses?" but that one didn't come up in the interview. I have some very impressive strengths and weaknesses now, if anyone is interested.

And yet I have surprisingly mixed feelings about the job. While I am delighted, I am also a little bit disappointed, because working 2 days a week is wonderful but I actually want a full-time job. And it is a post based entirely in a hospital, and I'd much rather work in the community. And it is probably a fixed term post (although it may be permanent), but all this may change over the next 12 months. So I shouldn't be churlish and ungrateful, but I can't help it, I am, a little bit. The two full-time posts were given to candidates who were already working as dietitians, so I should just be glad that the part-time one came my way.

I expect to have about a month of full-time freedom left, which means I should really get on with all the jobs around the house that I find so difficult. I have been working on a better deal for our house and contents insurance, and moving money out of various savings accounts that are paying no interest, and the dead freezer is now outside and our TV-watching points vouchers are on their way here to pay for a new one. I have a mirror and new light fitting for the shower waiting to be installed, and we'll see just how long they have to wait - eventually I'll have to pick up that drill and get on with it.