OK, so… Hooray! I’ve got a job!
I have been offered, and accepted, a position at ILTC, a language-training institute here in Lyon. ILTC just celebrated its 25th anniversary this year and has offices in Paris and Lyon, and is in the process of opening a new office in southern France. ILTC trains on a variety of languages and offers training in the classroom, by telephone, and document translation.
I will be on the English training side of things and, after my own training, will probably start out in one of the general conversational (spoken) English courses. From my understanding, the classes are mostly personnel from business and the like, although there is also courses for college students looking to improve their English as well.
The position itself is sort of what we would call a ‘probationary period’ in the states. It is a 200 hour contract at a set rate of pay. The two main perks in the contract is that I will be enrolled in one of ILTC’s French language courses, so that I may continue my French training; and they also cover, in part or whole, my mutuelle (private, supplemental insurance to cover what the French Social Security system does not). After those 200 hours, my contract will be reevaluated based on my progress and a new one will be written up (or I will be let go). I don't go in to sign my contract and start work until January 6th, so I have a lot of time to get all antsy about getting to work and stop hanging around the house!
That being said, at this point I have no idea what my weekly schedule will be like. Classes are only taught during the week, but work is based on what is currently going on. So it’s entirely possible that I could work as little as 10 hours a week, or as many as 50 hours, or it could be different every week. Who knows?
Well, that’s about all I can think of right now. If anything new comes up, I’ll let you all know!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Long time, no see. Part 2
Job Update: I got the call yesterday, and I do not have a job yet. However, I do have the coveted 'second interview' this coming Thursday. So let us hope for the best. I have never NOT gotten a second interview in a position which I have applied for that warrants one. And out of the six second interviews I have had in my life, only one didn't pan out. So my success rate is fairly high in these situations!
Anyhow, I promised more updates over the weekend regarding recent events, so this is update #2.
On Monday, November 30th, our stuff FINALLY arrived from the good ole' U.S. of A. I'd like to take this moment to thank the following people for their direct assistance: Anya for helping us load the moving van back in State College. Lance for storing our stuff until the movers could pick it up (as well as dealing with the whole U.S. side of that process). Dad and Kellie for dropping us off at Chris', and Chris for taking us to JFK. Finally we'd like to thank Tarlis, Patricia, Joanna, Emil and Alex, Gergely and Agnes for helping us in quickly and efficiently getting our stuff up from the moving truck to our apartment.
Barring some minor damage (a piece of wood from the pallet pierced the bottom of a box and damaged the case for one of my Playstation 3 game; and well as a plate, a bowl, and a glass were broken) things were in fairly good shape.
The biggest issue was probably the preceding week, where we were having unpleasant and stressful discussions with the movers, who insisted that we had to pay 110 euros for a 'local agent' to have parking in front of our building reserved for the truck on the day of delivery. Needless to say, it was fishy because we were to pay the movers in cash when they arrived and, furthermore, the local agent (who was supposed to handle everything himself), didn't follow through and, hence, we paid for a service that wasn't provided. Cars were still parked there and the moving truck had to unload while essentially blocking a lane of traffic.
After Erika and I composed a strongly worded letter to both the local moving company, as well as the company in the U.S. who we contracted to oversee this process, they have agreed to refund us the 110 euros. Now let's just see if it actually shows up!
Anyhow, I promised more updates over the weekend regarding recent events, so this is update #2.
On Monday, November 30th, our stuff FINALLY arrived from the good ole' U.S. of A. I'd like to take this moment to thank the following people for their direct assistance: Anya for helping us load the moving van back in State College. Lance for storing our stuff until the movers could pick it up (as well as dealing with the whole U.S. side of that process). Dad and Kellie for dropping us off at Chris', and Chris for taking us to JFK. Finally we'd like to thank Tarlis, Patricia, Joanna, Emil and Alex, Gergely and Agnes for helping us in quickly and efficiently getting our stuff up from the moving truck to our apartment.
Barring some minor damage (a piece of wood from the pallet pierced the bottom of a box and damaged the case for one of my Playstation 3 game; and well as a plate, a bowl, and a glass were broken) things were in fairly good shape.
The biggest issue was probably the preceding week, where we were having unpleasant and stressful discussions with the movers, who insisted that we had to pay 110 euros for a 'local agent' to have parking in front of our building reserved for the truck on the day of delivery. Needless to say, it was fishy because we were to pay the movers in cash when they arrived and, furthermore, the local agent (who was supposed to handle everything himself), didn't follow through and, hence, we paid for a service that wasn't provided. Cars were still parked there and the moving truck had to unload while essentially blocking a lane of traffic.
After Erika and I composed a strongly worded letter to both the local moving company, as well as the company in the U.S. who we contracted to oversee this process, they have agreed to refund us the 110 euros. Now let's just see if it actually shows up!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Long time, no see.
Hell, things have been BUSY lately, and I haven't been updating this as a I should have. I do have several important things to mention, but I will most likely discuss the most important today, and spread the others out over the weekend.
And what a day today is! I had what I consider to be a very successful interview on Tuesday and should be getting a call today as to whether or not I have a job (I'm pretty sure they will call because the it is the Human Resources Manager's last day, as she has taken a position in Australia, which is closer to her home of New Zealand).
Its a language school here in Lyon, and the available position(s) are for teaching English. The company, ILTC, is celebrating their 25 year in business- so I know that they are well established.
The position would most likely be English training to a small class (about 10 people), as well as phone training where the student has a packet of materials to study and work on, and then they call at a set time to practice with a trainer, who then fills out an evaluation sheet for the student.
Because of the fluid nature of the company, the offered position(s) may either be salaried (full-time) contract work, or hourly (which typically means part-time).
Aside from that, the interview process was extremely interesting. Instead of just a one-on-one interview, the candidates they selected to come in were asked to present a 5-minute lesson to the rest of the candidates, while three of the employees evaluated your lesson and presentation skills. You were provided with a whiteboard and markers, and were allowed to bring whatever props you wished. The only two rules were 1) That it NOT be about teaching a language, and 2) that it is restricted to 5-minutes, after which you were cut off.
Some were good (me, of course), some... not so much. The candidates were asked to volunteer for the order they would go in so, of course, the one person who showed up late immediately raised her hand to to go first. Among the lessons taught were card tricks, how muscles work, and how to make a 10-minute chocolate cake (that last being, aside from subject material, one of the best presented lessons, as well).
For my lesson, I immediately knew that, if I wasn't supposed to do something language related, it would be something art-related. I settled on something that was extremely easy for me to draw: me. That's right! I taught 12 strangers how to draw a caricature of me in 8 easy steps. In between I explained what caricatures are, what features to focus on, and how, with a little bit of practice, ANYONE can start doing caricatures. After I showed the group how to draw me, I asked a volunteer to come up and, using prompts from the group, draw me on the whiteboard. Needless to say, it was excellent! In fact, almost everyone in the class did a perfect job. This means either I am a great teacher, or a happened into a group with flourishing artistic talent. Let us hope for my sake that it was the former and not the latter!
After all of the presentations were done, the three employees got together for a quick discussion and then started bringing in the candidates one by one. I went fifth and believe that I made a fairly good impression. The head interviewer mentioned that they felt that there were three strong candidates in the group, so I hope I am one of them.
Anyhow, as I mentioned in the beginning, we are supposed to get word today on the results. Keep your fingers crossed and, hopefully, I will be updating this blog with good news instead of bad later in the day!
And what a day today is! I had what I consider to be a very successful interview on Tuesday and should be getting a call today as to whether or not I have a job (I'm pretty sure they will call because the it is the Human Resources Manager's last day, as she has taken a position in Australia, which is closer to her home of New Zealand).
Its a language school here in Lyon, and the available position(s) are for teaching English. The company, ILTC, is celebrating their 25 year in business- so I know that they are well established.
The position would most likely be English training to a small class (about 10 people), as well as phone training where the student has a packet of materials to study and work on, and then they call at a set time to practice with a trainer, who then fills out an evaluation sheet for the student.
Because of the fluid nature of the company, the offered position(s) may either be salaried (full-time) contract work, or hourly (which typically means part-time).
Aside from that, the interview process was extremely interesting. Instead of just a one-on-one interview, the candidates they selected to come in were asked to present a 5-minute lesson to the rest of the candidates, while three of the employees evaluated your lesson and presentation skills. You were provided with a whiteboard and markers, and were allowed to bring whatever props you wished. The only two rules were 1) That it NOT be about teaching a language, and 2) that it is restricted to 5-minutes, after which you were cut off.
Some were good (me, of course), some... not so much. The candidates were asked to volunteer for the order they would go in so, of course, the one person who showed up late immediately raised her hand to to go first. Among the lessons taught were card tricks, how muscles work, and how to make a 10-minute chocolate cake (that last being, aside from subject material, one of the best presented lessons, as well).
For my lesson, I immediately knew that, if I wasn't supposed to do something language related, it would be something art-related. I settled on something that was extremely easy for me to draw: me. That's right! I taught 12 strangers how to draw a caricature of me in 8 easy steps. In between I explained what caricatures are, what features to focus on, and how, with a little bit of practice, ANYONE can start doing caricatures. After I showed the group how to draw me, I asked a volunteer to come up and, using prompts from the group, draw me on the whiteboard. Needless to say, it was excellent! In fact, almost everyone in the class did a perfect job. This means either I am a great teacher, or a happened into a group with flourishing artistic talent. Let us hope for my sake that it was the former and not the latter!
After all of the presentations were done, the three employees got together for a quick discussion and then started bringing in the candidates one by one. I went fifth and believe that I made a fairly good impression. The head interviewer mentioned that they felt that there were three strong candidates in the group, so I hope I am one of them.
Anyhow, as I mentioned in the beginning, we are supposed to get word today on the results. Keep your fingers crossed and, hopefully, I will be updating this blog with good news instead of bad later in the day!
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