Why I am not getting any jobs

Now I finally know why I have not been getting any jobs. My resume and cover letter are obviously good enough to get the interview. But somewhere I am bombing out on the interview itself.

So I turned to a womens employment agency that does mock video interviews.
It turns out that there are several things I am doing wrong.

1 My accent is strong and it takes while for people to get used to it
2 My voice is soft and some people just cannnot hear me.
3 I speak too fast.

So now I have to consiously slow down my speech and speak louder
(for me that will be hard as it is like shouting)

I cannot do anything about my accent - I will have that for life.
Most people I speak to, think I am either english or south african.
I am neither although I do have english ancestry.

I have another job interview on Tuesday, a job I really do want, so I will be makeing a strong affort to speak more slowly and louder.
I hope this works.

Graduation Ceremony

Well I have finally officially graduated!!.

And in the 3 months since I last posted, I have applied for many jobs, gone to several interviews but have had no job offers yet.

I am seriously thinking that employers may be discriminating against me just because I have grey hair. That is why I went back to school. To show them that I have updated my skills.

I really dont want to dye my hair for interviews because then I would have to continue dying it. Hair dye is an expense we just cannot afford.

The below photo was taken last night (Friday November 27th) at my graduation.

In the middle is Sholeh - my instructor. On the left is Selena - one of my best friends from Trios. She did the paralegal course.

Week 58 - I have finally finished my studies

I really did it. I have finally got my DIPLOMA. Here it is.
Please forget that my real name is on this diploma.
I graduated with Distinction. My overall average was 88%
And here is my graduation photo!!!

Week 58 - The Diploma

My Diploma and Transcripts have been issued already. I was told they may take up to 4 weeks. Today is just 10 days after my last class!!!!

I plan to pick them up tomorrow. When I do get my diploma, I will scan and post it plus my graduation photo on this blog.

Week 57 - Final grade posted

My ACCESS grade has finally been posted. I got 87% which is good.
I have one score in the 60s, 3 scores in the 70s and 17 scores in the 80s and 90s.

Which means I should graduate with DISTINCTION. I am very pleased with this.For the first time I have finished something I started. Now if I can just get a job in the middle of this recession.

Goodbye and thanks for following me during my one year back in school. This year has just gone by so fast.

I will stop posting on this blog now, except for photos which I promised I would upload and one last post when I do get my first job.

About that interview I mentioned last week. Well I went to that yesterday and it did not go as well as I had hoped. I am not too worried. It was my first interview in over 12 month. I am definitely out of practise.

Ciao for now everyone.

Week 56 - Day 5

Well that's it. I'm done.

I sat the ACCESS final exam today. I got 70 out of 90 marks. The instructor said I did good on the class project. So hopefully I will get a good final grade.

I rushed around after class taking photos of students and staff. I will put them up next week.

Remember when I said that the first class I took last year turned out to be not part of my official curriculum? Well the school director told me today that my marks for that class will NOT be part of my official transcript. Which is a pity because one of those marks was a perfect score (100%).

Oh well. That makes my average currently 86%. My ACCESS Grade is still to be added in. I expect to Graduate with Distinction. I am actually very proud of this grade.

Thinking back (a long way back) to my one and only year at university straight out of High school. I seem to remember getting all D's in 5 exams and a suspension for one year. I never went back. I wish I had. I do regret not going back.

This diploma more than makes up for the last 25+ years of not knowing what I wanted to do or be.

Week 56 - Day 4

Well, tomorrow is the last day of my Diploma Course. This is also the third and final week of ACCESS. Today we completed the class ACCESS projects and had them marked. Tomorrow is the ACCESS final exam.

These last 12 months have been so much fun. I have really enjoyed myself, a lot more than I thought I would actually. I have really enjoyed learning new skills. I also enjoyed learning how to use new software packages. I love learning new software.

Every other course I have ever started in my life (up until now) for some reason I could never finish. This course I finished. This is a big accomplishment for me.

I have one interview set for next week. Despite sending out my resume to numerous companies over the last 6 weeks, I have not had any responses. I think the recession is biting hard.

Week 55 - Day 6

I promised you a photo of me with S, my favourite Instructor. Well here she is. I am on the left, and S is on the right. The little white blobs on her head are light relections from the bottom edge of her sunglasses. She always wore her sunglasses on her head.


S is not longer at the Toronto Campus of Trios. As I said in an earlier post, S is now teaching at a new campus that opened up last month, and which is a lot closer to her home. Good luck and godspeed S.

Week 55 - Day 4

Just one more week of ACCESS to go, and then I am done for good.

I have been looking for jobs over the last 2 months (June and July) and had absolutely NO bites, NOT one bite, until today.

I have a job interview in 12 days time. My last day of school is in 8 days time.

I am not going to jinx myself by writing any more about it. The details can wait until after the interview.

Week 54 - Day 4

My final grade for Advanced Power Point was 88%.

I have just over 2 weeks to go until I am finished. Right now we are doing ACCESS. I also have an ACCESS project that must be done as well. I cannot believe how fast this year has gone.

Right now I am busy applying for jobs. In this recession that Canada is experiencing (just like everywhere else) I hope I can find a good job.

Week 53 - Day 1

My final grade for MS Outlook was 95%.

So to recap, my final grades for MS Advanced Applications, so far, have been all in the 90s. This is good. It will help my average. If my overall average is on the 80s. I will graduate with Distinction. Nothing wrong with that at all.

The 69 I got for advanced accounting, probably pulled my average down too far to get an overall average in the 90s.

This week we are doing Advanced Powerpoint, and next week we start 3 weeks of Access Database. We are not doing presentations for Powerpoint, thank goodness.

Week 52 - Day 5

I got 90% on the final exam for Outlook today, but that will not be my final grade.

More final grades finally showed up. For Excel my final grade was 94% and for ACCPAC I got 88%. I am very pleased with those grades.

It was S's last day today. One of my classmates took a few pics of various students and me with S. I will put them up, eventually when I get them.

I now have exactly 4 weeks to go.

Week 52 - Day 3

This week the class has been doing Advanced Outlook - things like meetings, appointments, sharing calendars etc etc. Next week is Power Point and then 3 weeks of Access. I am so close to finishing, I can smell it. Literally.

The school puts on a graduation lunch every month for those students graduating or starting an internship that month. Its usually pizza, pop and cake. Well I was invited to the graduation lunch today - because I finish early next month and the next lunch won't happen until after I leave. And I had pizza and some pop. No cake because someone forgot to order it.

I found out that my favourite teacher - whom I have called S in this blog - is leaving the Toronto Campus and moving out to the brand new Brampton campus that opens next week. She lives in Mississauga, and getting to Brampton is a lot easier for her than having to drive all the way into Toronto (a 90 minute trip most mornings) which she has done for the last 7 years. In fact she said that her classes start next Monday. I am so going to miss her. She is a great teacher and she will be missed.

The next graduation ceremony will be on November 26th this year.

Week 51 - Day 5

The class did Advanced Excel this week and we had the final exam today. I got 90% on the exam, and 100% on the assignments. The final grade will have to wait until next week.

Week 50 - Day 5

Well, this week has been interesting.

We had the advanced word exam this week. The instructor has a policy of marking assignments and exams immediately so I had my final grade for Advanced Word the day after we sat the final exam. I got 95%. We are now doing Advanced Excel. The final exam for that will be next week.

All year I have had trouble with my final end date. Officialy its has been July 10th, but thats 3 weeks too early. I officially finish on August 7th. This week I finally discovered why there was a discrepancy.

That basic computer course I did right at the beginning was not a course that I should have taken. I really should have started 3 weeks later in early August with Career Management (which was my second class). Thus my student loan did not pay for that first 3 week class so I got it for free. The Swiss boy who started at the same time as me, also got that free course as well. So that is why my end day has always been wrong.

And for those of you who have not yet heard, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson both died yesterday.

Week 49 - Day 6

Day 6 - Saturday. We have finished the first week of Advanced Word/Excel. I have learnt how to do tables and lists, and how to do footnotes, endnotes, contents and an index. Have also learnt how to do a mail merge. Very useful stuff to know. The final exam will be on Tuesday next week and then we have 8 days of Excel.

I am so much less stressed out these days. Partly because I have completed this course, (the first one I have ever managed to finish) and partly beacuse I have lost so much weight while studying. Not because I was stressed out, but because with only one income, there was not much money to buy healthy food. So I ate rice for most of the year. Right now, I am busy applying for jobs.

This year has gone by so fast. They say when you are enjoying yourself, time just flies by. Then I must have been totally enjoying myself during my lessons because I can still remember the day I started school as if it were yesterday.

Week 48 - Day 5

Last day of accounting today. I finally got my advanced accounting result. I knew it would not be good. I got 69%. My lowest mark so far. Like I said, I am not a numbers person.

Next week I have the final classes - Advanced MS applications.
Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook and Access database.

Week 48 - Day 4

Depite missing two days of school this week I think I did ok in the final A/R exam we just had this morning.

The reason for missing school - FLU. Courtesy of my spouse and my son. They get the flu every year, but this year it was far worse than usual. So bad that spouse was just too sick to babysit our son. I had no choice but to stay home. For some reason I have not caught the flu. As one friends mentioned today, maybe thats because I am no longer as run down and overweight as I used to be, at this time last year. I guess losing 50 pounds definitely does makes a difference to ones health

I was able to get to school to do the final project today. The teacher says she will be going back to the beginning of the accounting cycle next week - book keeping fundamentals and all the accounting software. I must admit that I thought that the accounting would drag, but it hasn't really.

We are still waiting for the Advanced Accounting results - which we finished 4 weeks ago. Next week I got back to J (teacher) for the final courses - Advanced MS applications - Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook and Access.

Week 47 - Day 1

Week 3 of ACCPAC.

This week we are doing the Accounts Payable module for ACCPAC and will have the project for A/P to do later on.

Next week we will do the A/R modules.

I now have just 2 months to go until I finish this diploma.
I have to admit the last 11 months have flown by just SO FAST!!!!

I am now looking for jobs, but dont expect to get one before the end of July, because I still have 2 months to go, and most companies usually need someone to start ASAP.

Week 46

Second Week of ACCPAC. We had to do the first project for ACCPAC this week. We had to set up a fictional company, and do some general ledger transactions.

Two days later we had the second project - a small project setting up the taxes and banking services module for our fictional company.

The Quickbooks result finally turned up. I got 78%. I could have done better.
The class is still waiting for the Advanced Accounting results.