The Strange World of Axel Fendersson

Hmm. Well, the first job application I’ve submitted since I revised my CV has led to an interview. Not sure whether that’s a coincidence or whether having an excuse for the past eighteen months does actually mean that I look employable again.

It’s for a job as a lab technician at Oxford University’s chemistry department. Which would hopefully be more interesting than the manufacturing/production/assembly jobs I’ve mostly been going for. Also being in Oxford it would be fairly nicely located: easy to get to by public transport and convenient if I wanted to pop into the city centre during lunch or after work or something.

The only trouble is that it’s only 38 weeks a year. Which means that the respectable (for a job that I’m qualified for, anyway) pay of a little over £17,100 a year goes down to about £12,500 in practice. That said, it might be possible to find some other work over the summer to make up the difference, and even 12k is several times what I’m getting now in benefits. Also, having three months off would at least make it easy to find time to do things over the summer like going to festivals, seeing friends and the like.

This job would also be a chance to gain experience of working in a laboratory, so I could always stick it out for a year or two and then try and find something else for more money, this time with two years’ proper lab experience behind me. Hell, just having been in continuous employment for a year or two would put me in a much better position than I’m in now to find another job, so it’d definitely be valuable as a stepping-stone to better things, even if it’s not going to make me very much by itself.

Having said all that, I really don’t know what my chances are like of actually getting this job. The interview is next Wednesday, so I now have all week to worry about it. But even if I don’t get this particular job, it’s an encouraging step to even have an interview. This is the first application I’ve made in some time that’s even got this far.