November 2010
2 posts
The Best Kind of News
A message for the campaign followers,
Thank you to everyone that joined and sent me links/recommendations to jobs. I realise that recently the campaign has gone quiet but rest assured it has been ongoing.
Through many applications and sadly fewer rejections (most applications get ignored) I have finally found a job. I’m still in disbelief and not quite sure what to do with myself.
...
Old habits etc
I’ve fallen back into the habit of not updating this blog so apologies to anyone that actually reads it… which I know is no one but seeing as apologies are easy to say, have a dozen.
I’m still jobless as you probably could’ve guessed. The jobs I apply for are as ever either not getting back to me or telling me I’m not suitable for the role… despite clearly...
October 2010
3 posts
Finally some worthwhile news to report
Back in the crossover period of the 80s to the 90s when fashion was still learning, sunflowers had sunglasses and guitars and Timmy Mallet wasn’t yet deemed ‘cause for concern’ by the mental health board I had a friend named Tom Sharp. Over the years we lost touch but our parents stayed friends and would do as parents do and talk about what their child is up to now.
It turns...
Mr. Winter, your reputation precedes you
I’ve been quiet again recently as there’s not been anything to report as such. I’ve been applying to jobs every day and talking to people about the campaign to the point that I’ve lost track who I’ve told.
I thought I’d just mention a quick thing that happened the other day as I thought it was quite funny. I was talking to a girl at work about employment,...
About that 'Good News'...
Yesterday I had an interview for an internship with &&&Creative. This is the first company that have heard of the campaign and acted upon it. I met with one of the guys there named Shawn and we did the whole interview experience: Portfolio, chat etc.
I’m not sure whether I get the placement or not. From what I could gather there were a few interns who were on some sort of rota...
September 2010
8 posts
Good News
I’m not certain if things will go ahead yet but there may be some good news on the way. I’ve got to wait until next week Tuesday to find out for definite. I feel pleased about it but equally nervous as it’s the biggest outcome of this whole campaign yet. I don’t want to say too much in case I jinx it. I’m not usually a believer in anything like that but I like to...
My update
The news I had earlier was this: On Friday at 5.25 I received an email asking me to call to discuss my information in more detail. A possible job not just some stranger asking for info on me.
I thought what with receiving the email at 5.25 on a Friday the person in question would be frustrated and not conduct a thorough enough conversation as she might want to leave the office. I mean, it’s...
For today I am a wild creature and tomorrow I will...
As of today I am a part time reprographics technician until Christmas. With this safety net of a job in place it’ll keep me busy and provide an income while I’m looking for something else. It’s a good job as they understand I’m looking for graphic design so I get to try make contacts as well. I’ve had a few teachers who offered to keep an eye out or ask a friend etc....
It never rains but it pours
Which is fine because I quite like the rain. Providing I have a hat or umbrella… not too sure where that fits in this analogy/metaphor (It’s gotta be one of those) but anyway…
A few weeks ago I made some business cards for a friend make-up artistry business: EC Make-Up through her I managed to gain a contact of another girl from her course (Shannon) who was interested in having...
Radio Radio
Firstly, I just want to say a big thank you to ‘The Penguin’ over at Mod Culture. I’d completely overlooked a seriously awful kerning issue in one of my logos and he kindly pointed it out for me. I’ve removed it from my online portfolio until I can get around to fixing it.
That aside, I’ve decided to attack radio with emails asking them to give a shout out regarding...
An overdue update
There are few places I’d ideally like to work, I’d be grateful of a job most places. A little while ago I had an article written about me on Ugly Baby. A company based in Bethnal Green contacted them asking to see my portfolio. I emailed them and tried to stop by but couldn’t get passed the iron gates so I lost hope of hearing anything back.
Bethnal Green is where my...
The Awakening
I’ve been fairly quiet recently regarding the campaign. The search continue as do the applications… as well as the rejections unfortunately. I’m keeping my head up though, I can’t let it get on top of me.
Yesterday was the first day back for the kids at the school where I now work part time (again again again). I had a pile of photocopying that had I left would be taller...
Did someone say 'Job'?
…Yes. Yes they did.
It’s not the job I’m after and it certainly isn’t getting in the way of the whole campaign. Don’t worry, 10% is still yours to win. I’ve managed to secure a few weeks work back in the secondary school I’ve been working on and off for nearly 2 years. They say it’s who you know that gets you a job and this is no exception. My Mum...
August 2010
28 posts
Tea & Radio
A short time ago in my blog I mentioned Greg Dion from ‘100 cups’. To refresh your memory (or tell you for the first time, depending whether you’re new to me or not) he’s set up a campaign of his own with the goal of meeting 100 people for a cup of tea. While a lot of us use sites like Facebook & Twitter it’s slowly taking over the way we interact. I for example...
Devil's Arabacate
I just received an interesting tweet from my friend Araba (Can I call you a friend?I’ve not seen you for years and we were friends in 6th Form… I’m gonna go with friend). She tweeted “One thing I’m interested in - It’s all good asking people to help but what are YOU doing?”
I suppose with all my campaign blogged and tweeted about I fail to mention the efforts...
V-I-D-E-O
I’ve just finished editing my campaign video. Based on the concept of simple Mathematics Me + You = Job is designed to drum up support as well as giving a thankful nod to my supporters so far. Apologies if you didn’t make the final cut, I chose the first couple of hundred and whittled it down from there. Thank you to everyone and keep spreading the word around, I’m receiving some...
Refining the idea
In my last post I mentioned creating a flyer available to be printed and sent to companies to spread the word of my job search.
I’ve changed the concept to be a PDF to be emailed. I realised after some brainstorming with my mate Ashley that it’s a lot of ink to be printed and people would be less inclined to go to all the effort. You can almost hear the sound of “You mean...
Yo Dawg, I heard you like competitions so we put a...
Last night I decided I’d go to bed around 11.30ish which was a welcome change from the recent ‘1am job search in pants’ routine I’d got myself into. The only problem with going to bed over an hour earlier than you’re used to is while your body is tired your mind isn’t. Or worse, the other way around. Although I’d rather have slept straight away I’m...
The Scale of Things
Last night I decided to contact my local newspaper (Ilford Recorder) to try get my story printed. I sent them a list of links such as the articles in The Drum Ugly Baby and my recent interview with Charlotte Reid. Hopefully they’ll get back to me and I can get everyone in Ilford on my side. The last time I was featured in the Ilford Recorder was for my Year 6 Christmas production of...
Apple Whinehouse - Back To Mac
“We only said goodbye with a kernel panic, you crashed about 12 times, you go back to Apple and I go back to my old Mac…”
Ok, perhaps that was extremely nerdy of me but I’ve got my MacBook back and I can get on with some designing finally.
It’s been 2 weeks and the result Apple came back with is ‘nothing wrong with it’. Bit weird. Apparently they...
Day 22 | Return of The Mac?
After 2 weeks without a Mac and various phone calls to the Lakeside branch of Apple I decide to see if I can track my repair status online. Sure enough, you can. It was fixed 5 days ago. I’m quite annoyed as I’ve had ideas pile up that I haven’t been able to work on. I’ve been using my old Mac (gave it to my Mum) but it’s not got any CS, the trackpad is the old...
Day 19 | Illness
I think searching and promoting all these long hours have caught up with me. Yesterday I felt awful. Still not so great today. I had to cancel on a friend from my old college. I hate having to cancel, especially at such late notice.
This morning I’ve taken things a little bit easier and started the day helping my Dad mend the shed roof. After that near fiasco with the rotten wood I had some...
Day 18 | Power cut
I have to say, the past few days have easily been the most draining of this whole campaign. I tend to wake up a couple of times in the night and it’s got to the point now where I’ve got a phone in my hand, checking twitter and email for job links before I’ve even regained full consciousness. I don’t know whether to be proud of that dedication or disturbed. It’s quite...
Day 17 | First card found
I’ve just got home from London and checked Twitter to find a card has been found already. Congratulations Marianne Cantwell for being that person. Thank you for the comment ‘THE best find a job campaign: I just found @markjwinter’s card on bus check it out (beats a CV!)’. I’m bloody happy with that. I always liked the Number 8 bus journey to my Grandparents, now I...
Day 17 | Jamie, La Tasca and Grandparents
I decided today that I needed a break from the computer. My friend Jamie took the day off work to work on a project and give blood. Separate tasks. I’ll talk more about that shortly.
I’m testing tumblr out for my iPhone and I’m on a jolty bus so excuse typos etc.
Whilst Jamie looked for places to place his project I took the opportunity to also use the day and scatter some of my business cards...
Day 16 | Part 2
I have not been this tired in such a long time. After a couple of days worth of feedback from web designers, wordsmiths and people in general I’ve taken everything on board and have completely revamped my online self. My sleep is now so messed up I had morning breath at lunch time. Revolting.
If my internet wasn’t so shoddy I could’ve done everything in a fraction of the time....
Day 16 | Tumblr Begins
Today I discovered ‘Tumblr’. I’d heard of it before but never looked into it until now. Currently it’s crashing with everything I do so if you’re reading this now you know I’ve succeeded and managed to blog. If you’re not reading this on Tumblr, what the hell are you doing on my Mum’s computer? Get out of my house.
Earlier I received an email from...
Day 15 | Monday 16th August 2010
Ok, now I’m writing Monday despite going to mention stuff that’s happened since Saturday. I felt 100 cups needed it’s own section. Other things that have happened to me in the few days that have passed include: An interview, an email entitled ‘work’, a potential apprenticeship placement and first semi-negative opinion. The interview came from a ‘Charlotte...
Day 13 | Saturday 14th August 2010
It’s been a busy few days (It’s actually Monday, I’m catching up on the blog I should’ve done). I’ve been contacted by a guy name Greg regarding not a job… but a cup of tea. Co-creator of ‘2 guys - 100 cups’ Greg Dion is a fell campaigner. Only he has a job. 2 if my memory serves me well. It’s alright for some, ay. His idea revolves around the...
Day 12 | Friday 13th August 2010
Today I have received my first email of “I’m sorry your application has not been shortlised for an interview”. Considering the amount of jobs I have applied for I think it’s safe to say, generally speaking, companies don’t follow up with their potential new employees. This is why you should never wait around for anyone to respond. Even if it’s a sure thing...
Day 11 | Thursday 12th August 2010
Overnight I’ve managed to get more followers on my Twitter feed than I have in a week for Facebook. Turns out adding around 500 people will eventually get some followers. Around 10% but numbers are still rising. I’ve seen people retweet my campaign and spoke to them receiving nothing but compliments. It’s a fantastic response and I’m thankful to everyone of you making the...
Day 10 | Wednesday 11th August 2010
Some serious thanks needs to go James Kirkby for his help today. He gave me some great advice with using Twitter (A route I’ve avoided until now because Twitter confuses me. I don’t quite understand it. Now I know it works and people listen… I still don’t understand it. But I’m happy with that). I’ve spent the best part of a few hours adding people of the Design...
Day 09 | Tuesday 10th August 2010
After a trip into Romford to get my Graduation pictures printed for my Nan and a while helping my friend Charmaine try fix her PC (It never got solved annoyingly) I’ve finally sat down to look for some jobs. Today’s been really busy and I’m knackered but pushing through it all. Oh yeah, I should also mention, I bought a couple of CDs while out: Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (Which came...
Day 08 | Monday 9th August 2010
This week has started far from good. After a horrible case of what I think is food poisoning (Old El Paso I’m renaming ‘Oh Hell, Pukehole’) and losing my MacBook for repairs at the Genius Bar I’m, needless to say, far from happy. That said, in spite of these hurdles I’ve managed to apply to 2 jobs today… well, one job and one company a contact at my...
Day 07 | The Curious Case of Benjamin Jacques
I decided to take a bit of a break yesterday. After spending most of Friday dealing with a crash every hour or so I wanted to see how long my MacBook would last and didn’t want to risk losing any information. Luckily, I have’t experienced any problems since other than a delayed startup with a white screen this morning. I don’t know what that means but I’m hoping I’ll find out tomorrow at the...
Day 05 | Mac, Sad sack and crashed
Well this is annoying; my MacBook has decided it doesn’t want to work properly today. I’ve had 2 grey screens so far this morning, both of which telling me to restart my computer in about 6 different languages. It’s meant that every update I’ve had to blog about has been lost. I’ve had a few positives this morning as well. So, here’s attempt number 3 at mentioning them…
Firstly, I’ve had a...
Day 04 | Join Me... and me
Thursday morning and after being rudely awakened by the dustmen I try to get back to sleep. Only I can’t as I’m now singing ‘Parklife’ and incredibly annoyed that the lyric is ‘Wednesdays’. To be fair, I don’t think Phil Daniels is from this area. A short while later I get back to sleep. These late nights of job searching and updating this blog are shifting my sleep patterns, I should sort that...
Day 03 | My college gets in touch
What I’ve failed to mention on the Facebook group is that I went to college for 3 months at the start of this year. I’ve no idea why, it was an important part of me advancing myself in my career prospects. As I’m sure I’ve said already at some point, I’ve worked in the industry before on a marketing team for a property consultants. Unfortunately I was made redundant (staff cutbacks etc).
A short...
Day 02 | On the advice of Louise
Before lunchtime all I’ve managed to do is chat to a contact in the Hyde Park area. I’m slightly disappointed in myself for not getting out of bed sooner and making more of the day but after exchanging a few messages I managed to send my ‘Interactive Portfolio’. It’s a PDF copy of ‘see. speak. hear.’ that can mostly be seen on here.
I’ve also skipped breakfast which means I won’t be concentrating...
Day 01 | In the Beginning
Ok, so this isn’t exactly Day 01 of me job searching, I’ve been doing this properly for a good few weeks now. However this is Day 01 of me documenting my search. If you’ve found this via Facebook you’ll know I’ve offered a cash prize to anyone who can help me get a job in Graphic Design. Anything from simple word of mouth to buying fireworks that spell out ‘Graphic Design companies of London,...
