11/7/2012

I had an appointment at 11am with a consultant from Office Angels on George Street. I had already sent them my C.V., had done the online tests beforehand and I had brought the 6 forms they asked me to fill I, along with my passport, which they photocopied.. So I just wanted to find out if they had any suitable jobs available. They asked me what my situation was and what I was looking for.

The consultant who I spoke to was responsible for the temporary jobs and after hearing that I still lived in Amsterdam, said that I would probably be better looking for permanent jobs. “You need to be immediately available for temporary jobs” she said, which wasn’t an option for me at the moment. They didn’t have anything suitable for me. But they said they would contact me if anything came up and to call them if I found any interesting jobs I wanted to apply for on the website. But at least I had registered with them. It was a step forward.

I couldn’t get an appointment with Search Consultancy before I left Amsterdam, so I walked around the corner to their office on St. Colme Street. They asked me to fill in a registration form and to send them my C.V. via email as they didn’t have the time to see me that day. The woman I spoke to, said the same thing as Office Angels – you have to be immediately available for temporary jobs.

So no luck as yet with the recruitment agencies as regards office jobs. I was going to have to get back online when I get back to Amsterdam and continue applying. Of course, it would be easier, I think, to find a job there, if I was living there. I also have the option of moving there without a job and hoping that something would come up but it’s a risk I’d rather not take at the moment.

After going to the recruitment agencies, I decided I’d try the local Job Centre, in Tollcross. I spoke to the gentleman who was on the reception desk and when I told him that I was just over here for a few days looking for work, he said the best thing to do was to search for jobs on their Job Point machine, which has a list of all the local and national jobs online. I printed out 5 different jobs which I was interested in applying for and said I’d apply for them when I got back to Amsterdam. I didn’t bring my laptop with me on this trip.