Dear all,
I graduated!!!!! Yesterday I graduated from the University of Glasgow with an MPhil in Scottish Literature. From now on you will therefore have to refer to me as Mariken Schipper MA MPhil;). Only joking of course. I had a nice day with my family, my mum, dad and Jan are over, and Derek. I will miss being a student so very much though...
Life as a full-time employee is really not as easy as I thought. I mean I am very very very happy an grateful to have a reasonably well-paid job, in a lovely team of people, don't get me wrong, and I am very very happy with the pay I receive each week too, but it is hard to get up at 6.55am each morning (yes, that's BEFORE 7am). If, like me, you have been a student for the past 5 years, used to doing things in your own time and used to getting up whenever you felt like it, it is really quite tiring. I now understand why people don't feel like cooking when they get home, and why people are tired by the weekend.
Tonight me, my parents, and my brother will travel to Cumbernauld to have dinner at Derek's house. His dad is cooking venison for us. My mum has met the family before, but my dad and brother haven't. Quite exciting and scary really, but I'm sure we'll have a good time!
Back soon!
Lots of love,
Mariken
xxx xxx xxx
Monday, November 28, 2005
Monday, November 07, 2005
REAL JOB!!!!
Dear all,
I am very very very happy to announce that I have a JOB!!!! With Lenovo (the Chinese company that took over IBM's PC business) in Greenock.
It is a Customer Relations job (and in Dutch as well as English), but with a difference. 'We' receive the cases that are too complicated for the help-desk to deal with, as well as complaints from large companies (or executives that have written to the big boss). The job involves a lot of networking within the company. I won't be on a phone all the time, as I would receive e-mails with all the cases that require solving and I can then go solve them in my own time. They usually take from 20 days to solve, envolving different departments etc.
It seems like an exciting job that will give me a lot of experience dealing with big executives and things like that. I am quite amazed I got it, as a requirement was that the candidate have a 'proven track record' in 'excellent' customer service, and I knew that there were two more candidates with experience. The recruitment lady said that this manager was apparently very picky and that he was very positive about my interview, saying that I have excellent communication skills (yes, I like talking;)) and that I am very intelligent.
Proud of myself:)!!!!
Love you all!!!
Mariken
I am very very very happy to announce that I have a JOB!!!! With Lenovo (the Chinese company that took over IBM's PC business) in Greenock.
It is a Customer Relations job (and in Dutch as well as English), but with a difference. 'We' receive the cases that are too complicated for the help-desk to deal with, as well as complaints from large companies (or executives that have written to the big boss). The job involves a lot of networking within the company. I won't be on a phone all the time, as I would receive e-mails with all the cases that require solving and I can then go solve them in my own time. They usually take from 20 days to solve, envolving different departments etc.
It seems like an exciting job that will give me a lot of experience dealing with big executives and things like that. I am quite amazed I got it, as a requirement was that the candidate have a 'proven track record' in 'excellent' customer service, and I knew that there were two more candidates with experience. The recruitment lady said that this manager was apparently very picky and that he was very positive about my interview, saying that I have excellent communication skills (yes, I like talking;)) and that I am very intelligent.
Proud of myself:)!!!!
Love you all!!!
Mariken
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Interviews
Dear all,
I had an interview at a company called Indigo Lighthouse (see http://www.indigolighthouse.com which strangely does not say anything about contact lenses! and no, I'm not making it up;)) today, in my lunch hour. I think it went well:). They 'do in' contact lenses. They outsource (is that a word??) for companies in The Netherlands such as Pearle and EyeWish, as ll as many companies in Britain, and the rest of Europe (YES Britain IS part of Europe;)). I liked the sound of the role, a combination of dealing with customers and branches in The Netherlands, and communicating by e-mail, post, and phone. They are a young company that is growing fast and therefore there is much room for progression. The atmosphere seemed really nice and the office is much more cheerful than the one I am in now. Hope they liked me too:)!
Tomorrow I will leave work at 1pm (after saving up 3 hours by working an extra hour on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) to travel to Greenock. There I have an interview at IBM, with both Addecco and Manpower. The one is for a temporary customer service role, the other for a permanent business-to-business role. I would definitely prefer the second one, but we'll see how we go. If, theoretically, I get offered both an IBM role and the Indigo Lighthouse role I will go for the second one, not least because it is snap bang in the middle of Glasgow's city centre. It pay slightly less, but the pro's (less travel, smaller company) are larger.
Will let you know how I get on!
Love to you all,
Mariken
I had an interview at a company called Indigo Lighthouse (see http://www.indigolighthouse.com which strangely does not say anything about contact lenses! and no, I'm not making it up;)) today, in my lunch hour. I think it went well:). They 'do in' contact lenses. They outsource (is that a word??) for companies in The Netherlands such as Pearle and EyeWish, as ll as many companies in Britain, and the rest of Europe (YES Britain IS part of Europe;)). I liked the sound of the role, a combination of dealing with customers and branches in The Netherlands, and communicating by e-mail, post, and phone. They are a young company that is growing fast and therefore there is much room for progression. The atmosphere seemed really nice and the office is much more cheerful than the one I am in now. Hope they liked me too:)!
Tomorrow I will leave work at 1pm (after saving up 3 hours by working an extra hour on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) to travel to Greenock. There I have an interview at IBM, with both Addecco and Manpower. The one is for a temporary customer service role, the other for a permanent business-to-business role. I would definitely prefer the second one, but we'll see how we go. If, theoretically, I get offered both an IBM role and the Indigo Lighthouse role I will go for the second one, not least because it is snap bang in the middle of Glasgow's city centre. It pay slightly less, but the pro's (less travel, smaller company) are larger.
Will let you know how I get on!
Love to you all,
Mariken
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Good and bad news
Dear all,
I never told you, but my grandfather was in hospital with a broken hip and arm. It didn't look good for a bit, because of some complications, but he is back home now, thankfully. Hope he will be mobile again...
Good news on the job-front too! I HAVE AN INTERVIEW WITH IBM in GREENOCK on FRIDAY!!!!! Also a phone interview for a different position with IBM tomorrow morning at 8am. Also heard from a recruitment agency looking for someone for a Dutch customer services position in the city centre of Glasgow. YEAH!!
Unfortunately I will not even be considered for my dream job, the post of International Student Advisor at Strathclyde university. That's a shame!!!
Job is still boring. Especially as I'll be back doing the most boring stuff (when I was doing something slightly more exciting for the past week), because of some sort of re-organisation... SIGH!!!
But hopefully I won't be doing it for much longer;)!!!
Love you all!
Mariken
I never told you, but my grandfather was in hospital with a broken hip and arm. It didn't look good for a bit, because of some complications, but he is back home now, thankfully. Hope he will be mobile again...
Good news on the job-front too! I HAVE AN INTERVIEW WITH IBM in GREENOCK on FRIDAY!!!!! Also a phone interview for a different position with IBM tomorrow morning at 8am. Also heard from a recruitment agency looking for someone for a Dutch customer services position in the city centre of Glasgow. YEAH!!
Unfortunately I will not even be considered for my dream job, the post of International Student Advisor at Strathclyde university. That's a shame!!!
Job is still boring. Especially as I'll be back doing the most boring stuff (when I was doing something slightly more exciting for the past week), because of some sort of re-organisation... SIGH!!!
But hopefully I won't be doing it for much longer;)!!!
Love you all!
Mariken
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