The Big Day :o/

Ugh. I've just got back from London and the VSO interview. It was intense :(

I travelled down to Lewisham on Monday night to stay with my best mate Cas, and her husband Sean, as the cost of getting a train to London and back was astronomical. Unfortunately, I got stuck on the M25 on the way there as it's Wimbledon weekend *sigh*

Had a lovely night. Cas cooked chickpea curry and Bombay potatoes (yummy) and we drank wine whilst watching Silent Hill. Didn't stay up too late as I had to be in Putney by 9am the next morning.

I couldn't really sleep that well, so I was up by half-five and out by 6:15-ish. Got the train to Charing Cross, hopped over to Embankment, then took the District Line to East Putney. Got there about an hour early and had a vegy fry-up in a local greasy spoon, which set me up for the day.

There were only five of us for the assessment day. Apparently they usually have 8-12, and two of ours were together - planning to go as a family with their kids.

It was a seriously intense day. Technically informal and relaxed, but you were under the microscope the whole time, and I was aware that I was by far the youngest and least experienced of the group.

The first assessment involved us having to make notebooks from newspapers, basically set up a production line. We had three attempts to increase productivity and reduce wastage. We did okay.

Then we each had a 45 minute one-on-one interview. It was really personal, asking about previous relationships, alcohol, habits etc. and also grilling us on our working ethos and experience. This was pretty stressful - I came out wishing I’d said some things I forgot to say, and wishing I’d not said some of the things I had! Always the way.

Then we had another group exercise which was quite good fun. We'd all been given a scenario which involved turning up to your placement to find your accommodation hadn't been booked (apparently based on real volunteer experiences) and you had a list of five possible options as to what to do next. We each had to pick one option and explain why we'd do that above the others. Then we had to discuss in a group for half an hour and all come to a united decision on just one option. It wasn't until we started discussing it that we realised that each person had some additional information about one of the options. It was clever because what seemed like a good idea at first, wasn't when you had the full information about it, which you only got by checking what everyone else had. We did well at this.

Then we each had to draw a spider diagram showing what we'd learned, what we'd enjoyed, and what we found difficult about the day, and give an individual presentation to the group. This was the last task.

It was full-on: 9am-3:30. By the end I was knackered. Going riding on Sunday was perhaps not the most strategic move either, as I hurt all over and have pretty raw blisters from not wearing gloves. Still, it was fun, and I doubt I’d have been any less tired if I hadn't.

Was a really long drive home, too. Accident in London meant the traffic was crawling worse than on the way in. I'm a tired, tired, girlie and plan on sleeping all day tomorrow.

I have absolutely no idea how it went. I think it's about 50/50. I gave it my best shot, but if I don't get it I think it's probably because I don't have enough experience in the field yet. The others were a Financial Advisor, Business Manager, and Farmer. We'll see what happens. I should find out in the next seven days. Fingers crossed, but won't hold my breath in case I go blue. Might need to consider a plan B.