Neil Hopcroft

A digital misfit

Run my life for me…

As some of you know I’ve vaguely started looking for work again – this is more because of boredom than anything else, but I’m also keenly aware of a rapidly diminishing bank balance. So far so good. I’ve found a few odd things to apply for, but I’m not really pushing very hard. It seems nearly everything I find is a fictional role put out by agencies to gather CVs so they can big themselves up in front of potential employers – we’ve got 14 milllion CVs on our books. Whenever I phone nobody has any details whatsoever, coming out with things like ‘its kind of in the M4 corridor somewhere’ and ‘they’re looking for GSM skills’ but when pushed on what layer they don’t even know it has layers (not that I know what the layers are, but it seems to be quite an effective sieve for the fiction).

That said there are a couple of potential real opportunities, theres a consultancy not far from here seeking a permie with my kind of skills, I’m hoping they’re small enough and real enough (as in I can actually talk to them) to consider thinking in a slightly different way, but I’ve arranged to go see them Thursday anyway. I’m vaguely positive about this, but I need to hear more first. I don’t like the idea of going back permie, for reasons which I’ll explain later.

Then today I got a call from these people, they left a message asking me to call back. Now, this puts me in a bit of a spot, since I’ve messed them around enough already that anything I do now has got to be straight ahead decisive and that decision has to be final, I can’t procrastinate. Overnight is fine, the message was recieved at 5:30, but I can’t leave it for a long time. They’re nice people, if a little *dynamic* for my liking – thats normally a good thing but it lead to rather more pressure than I’d really like to have had last time around.

The five year plan, such as it is, is to be setting up a business of some kind. I’m not yet sure of the structure of that business, but I’m intending it to be a self-funded ongoing revenue generator rather than a VC lead capital growth affair. Which doesn’t sit very well with taking a permanent job, unless I can find some fairly understanding employers. Contract positions would have no problem with this kind of structure.


Categories: Memories.

/ 4 Comments

4 comments

  1. susanofstohelit

    umm… the most employers in the states seem to expect is three years, if they’re lucky. (at least from young people.) most of the under-forty crowd I know hasn’t spent much more at any given job and doesn’t expect to yet.

    going into a permanent position with the intent to quit in six months wouldn’t be fair to the employer. taking a job planning to quit in three or five is valid.

    Reply
    • neilh

      Perhaps – though the reason for the concern with this particular role is that they’re pretty much in the field that I’d be setting up a business in, I wouldn’t want for that to be a cause of unnecessary friction. Ideally they’d be open to the idea of calling me in to help out when they need it, rather than employing me all the time. But I need to talk to them first to find out whether they’re open to that idea, and whether they’ve got some immediate work that needs to be done.

      There was one place I spoke to who were very concerned that I’d never stayed anywhere for more than two years, to which my response was – well, look at it this way, I’ll probably stick around for two years…

      I rejigged my CV after that (merging two companies into one job, the role itself didn’t change, just the way I got paid for it).

      Reply
  2. sushidog

    Going to an interview and returning the call don’t commit you to anything; they simply allow you to find out more about what your options are, and from the sound of it, exploring your options is a good thing.

    Reply
    • neilh

      True, but practically speaking I said yes last time, then said no, so what I need is to know that if I’m offered the role I can make a snap decision one way or the other. Its a lot easier now, since I’m not so much in need of a break any more.

      Reply

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