The job hunt so far...

I skipped June entirely. Had gone down to B'lore for some exams. Life is getting way too complicated now.

I've decided I'm gonna just document my job hunt on this blog. It's such a crazy way to live each day.

Fine here goes... I've got a law degree. I have a post graduate degree in 'C' law. and I'm doing my Masters in 'B' law. Finals of 'B' Law are in Feb and I've got to have some direction by then... Please God...

Well anyway, I had some exams in Feb. and during those exams I realised that my ideal job would be as an Acquisitions Editor for a big publishing company. Yeah right. Easy to dream of, tough to actually work towards.

I figure that before you get a shot at the acquisitions side you should have some experience as a copy-editor. Since I don't know anything about copy-editing I thought I'd look out for openings as a sub-editor.

At the beginning of June I applied to two places in Bombay. Two LPO's. That's legal outsourcing for those who are lucky enough to be unfamiliar with the terminology.

One place said that they'll let me know, which of course meant, 'get real, you think we want you!', and the other place was willing to take me n pay me 10,000 bucks of which only 8,800 would be in hand. I didn't really like the atmosphere there though the location was good. I figured it wasn't worth it to do a job in a hostile environment where I'd be earning peanuts for atleast 6 months. That's how long I'd have to be a trainee. I'd have weekends off but absolutely NO LEAVE for the first six months.

I figured I could give up a dream if they were paying me well but with 8,800 and expenses in Bombay being what they are I could envision myself playing the part of the pauper and depending on my folks despite working my ass off.

I told them I needed to go to B'lore and answer my exams and as of now I may still be able to get the damn job if I want to try for the August batch.

Then in July I came across this great ad. A post as an editor. While the job sounded ok, the people and the attitude seemed so great I was quite willing to work for about 10,000K. Then I find that salary could be anything from 11,000K to 20,000K. It depended on how I did through their tests etc. Well they sent me an online test. I tried. I honestly did. N I'm very embarrassed to say I thought I did decently.
Well I got an email telling me I wasn't good enough for them. So apparently the one thing/ the one job, I thought would lead me towards my dreams is not an option. So I suck at editing.

Back to square one. Or that's what you think.

My father who thought I was crazy to think of switching from law to editing saw an ad in the paper on Saturday. He saw the words sub-editor and called and set up an interview. I guess he'd be ok with 'editing' if it meant I was based in Goa. This job was for sub-editors for a new up-coming T.V. Channel.

This channel will be starting from August 15th and they're looking for staff at all levels. However as I found during the interview today, sub-editing in terms of media like T.V. News is obviously very different from editing in the print media. I could have told my dad that but I figured he wouldn't take my opinion as solid fact. Anyway, the whole experience was unreal. I was squirming hoping I'd get out of there. Feeling like an idiot. The interviewer, a kindly old gentleman couldn't understand what was making me change my field. How could I explain to him what I find so hard to understand myself.

Then he assumed I really wanted to get into the world of media and made me feel even worse by offering to let me join as a trainee if I was really interested since obviously the actual posts needed to be filled by people with experience. I was wondering how I could escape when my dad started asking questions and I realised I didn't have to worry.

Obviously since it's related to the news the hours could sometimes be erratic. And as a trainee I'd get only 3,00-4,000 which would be increased to the grand sum of 6,000 if I actually became a sub-editor. Hehehe. I could hardly keep myself from kicking my dad's foot. He actually sat there and tried to discuss the job some more. Maybe he didn't want us to look too money crazy. Still... c'mon by asking about the timings he'd already got one way out ready. Why did he have to sit there and discuss the salary etc as if it really was an option!

Anyway, I finally got out of there. I've to call n let them know by the end of the month if I'm interested. That's what comes of not being able to say no.

N then to top off my day, to keep my dad happy I asked him to call up an old friend of his who knows a whiz kid of my age who's in the field of 'C' law. He's apparently doing very well and though he's on the scientific side and I'm on the legal side I was hoping he'd, worst case scenario, tell me what I need to learn to get into the field, and best case scenario, give me a job. LOL... I wish.

Anyway, we went and met my dad's friend and he will ask Whiz Kid's dad for his email address or something. I don't want to jinx anything so I'm going to shut up now.