CV writing and unwanted news

What a day this has been! it's 5pm, I just got home after a 2 and a half hour CV writing course followed by 3 flat viewings all at 33 degrees Celsius. I am sweating profusely, I have a headache and see double.

Too much to do in one day when it's so hot and especially when the outcome of such events is not exactly what one expects.

So CV writing or Resume' as Americans like to call it. I am happy either way as long as somebody reads it and hires me but clearly life is not that easy.

So off I go to the American Association for this CV writing workshop and thank heavens I did go. It is clearly classic CV writing with the do's and don'ts and I must say I am rather good with the don'ts but need a little more work on the do's.

Now the idea of going to a CV writing course is to improve one's CV and be sure to have that extra humph! that will land you at least an interview. I would already be happy with this.

After the dreadful experience of having to find a job in the UK after leaving a perfectly good one in Italy over 12 years ago I had sworn to god I would never repeat the same mistake again but here I am a lot older but clearly not wiser and without a hint of a job at hand.

And according to the speaker at our course with very grim prospects of ever getting one again.

Now this is enlightening! happy to find out I have even less opportunities than I had 12 years ago.

It starts off with the fact locals MUST get 85% of all jobs even if they are not qualified for them, so much for meritocracy! This is then followed by the fact nobody uses head hunters because they are too expensive with a side course of job adverts only being there because by law a certain amount must be posted even if the job itself is not available. But the icing on the cake is the fact that spouses of expats, mostly wives of course , are considered unreliable since dependant passes, while allowing us to work, are only valid while the main bread winner still has a job. When that ends so does the right to work irrespective of the super dooper job the spouse has. Furthermore most expats leave within 3 years so what is the point of putting a lot of effort in a expat's spouse since they will go as well? Yes, dependant passes can be turned into permanent ones but luck would have it that the government has decided to out a stopper on these types of permits thus leaving a lot of people in a lurch.

So to make it sound better spouses of expats are called "trailing talents" which really translates to me as being nothing more than a drag.

There is light at the end of the tunnel however and it is called networking evenings and job offers by expats for expats. This means tomorrow night I am out at a networking night where bored employers and eager would be employees meet to find a common interest. Never been one for networking but one must start somewhere so I will dress to impress and be the belle of the ball!