Hello all!
So it's been ages since I've updated this...apologies. It has been a bit up and down the last couple of weeks so I was waiting till I had good news to report, and now I do. I have job in the HR department of the University in Galway. I just started at the end of last week, so not much to report on the ins and outs if the job. However, I can report that I have moved back to Galway and could not be more delighted. My stint at Irish BEC came to an end with a little bit of drama, but that seems to have sorted itself and the new job is lovely. I am working in recruitment, basically as an Admin. Assistant. It is incredibly easy and extremely low stress. I work 33 hours a week and earn more than I did at my old job. I cannot believe it all fell into place. This job will give me the exposure to the everyday admin side of HR that I didn't get in my old role, so will really help to strengthen my resume. I don't know how long the current contract is for, but it won't run over 11 months, which is fine by me. Means I am in there long enough to learn how things work, but not long enough to get to complacent with my greatly reduced work load.
Other than that I am searching for a place to live. I am over the moon to finally be able to have my own flat. I can start properly cooking again, and monopolize the TV while I work on craft projects. My old housemates were lovely, but 5 in a house is a bit too many for my liking long term. Also, moving to Galway means I will be here for the summer! Nothing beats a sunny day in Galway during the summer. It is absolutely stunning and I am so happy to not have to think about miserable Galway winters for a good few months. It's still cold here, but nothing compared to the snow and cold the midwest has been getting.
Hope all is well with everyone!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Hiya all! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas (or Happy Christmas as they say in Ireland) and that everyone's New Year has gotten off to a great start. I had a wonderful holiday, my parents came over to visit for Christmas and we did a bit of a tour around. We went to Galway, Cork and Dublin. The weather in true Irish fashion was completely crap, so the holiday centered primarily around eating. I can't complain since it is my favourite hobby :)
I hope Christmas cards arrived, I mailed them a bit later than I should of, and given the Irish postal service they may not have arrived at all, but they were sent out, I promise.
Work is going well. Not too excited to start back, could definitely use another couple of days break, but the trainees got extra time off, so I am grateful for that. The next section of the program has us split with two of us working in the main Dublin branch, one of us in a regional branch and one of us placed with a member company. So it will be a bit lonelier around the office and whoever is in placed in the Industrial Relations/ Human Resources rotation is going to be completely swamped with work...eeps. But, all that aside it is a wonderful experience and far and away the best job I've had. There are moments as with an job which are a bit trying, but the organisation is very invested in the program.
The week before break I carried out my first adjournment. Employment law does not run through the normal court system here, but instead through a set of quasi-judicial bodies: the Labour Court, the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the Rights Commissioner Service, and the Equality Tribunal. For the Labour Court, adjournments must be filed and carried out similar, though less formally than they would be in a normal court of law. So I had to request and adjournment, which is normally a pretty straight forward process. Not this time...twenty minutes of integration and being given out to by the Chairman, just my luck. It was kinda of a buzz, though and even though it was something small, it's the first time I've formally presented in front of any of the Employment Rights bodies.
I'm sure some of you heard about my house excitement. We were burgled by someone who had a key to the house a couple of weeks before Christmas. My housemates and I had our laptops stolen and it was a pretty upsetting. Definitely a wake up call in terms of trusting the people you live with, since one of the people in the house seems to have had some involvement in the whole thing. The individual who was the problem is gone, the locks are changed, the alarm is fixed and the rules of the house have been changed, thanks to fighting with my landlord for ages. It is all sorted and no one got hurt. A few of the people I work with were also burgled before Christmas, so upsetting and there isn't really anything the police can do about it. I find it ironic that of all the traveling and moving I've done, Ireland is the only place I've ever had a problem.
Onward and upward though.
A quick thank you for the Christmas wishes and presents that made there way over here. It is so sweet and much appreciated. Shout out to Aunt Pam, the Beadazzler will be put to excellent use! Thank you notes are on there way soon, but again, with the post system there's about a 75% chance of arrival.
Wishing you all the happiest of New Years, I know a lot happened in the last couple of months and here's hoping we are on to better things!
I hope Christmas cards arrived, I mailed them a bit later than I should of, and given the Irish postal service they may not have arrived at all, but they were sent out, I promise.
Work is going well. Not too excited to start back, could definitely use another couple of days break, but the trainees got extra time off, so I am grateful for that. The next section of the program has us split with two of us working in the main Dublin branch, one of us in a regional branch and one of us placed with a member company. So it will be a bit lonelier around the office and whoever is in placed in the Industrial Relations/ Human Resources rotation is going to be completely swamped with work...eeps. But, all that aside it is a wonderful experience and far and away the best job I've had. There are moments as with an job which are a bit trying, but the organisation is very invested in the program.
The week before break I carried out my first adjournment. Employment law does not run through the normal court system here, but instead through a set of quasi-judicial bodies: the Labour Court, the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the Rights Commissioner Service, and the Equality Tribunal. For the Labour Court, adjournments must be filed and carried out similar, though less formally than they would be in a normal court of law. So I had to request and adjournment, which is normally a pretty straight forward process. Not this time...twenty minutes of integration and being given out to by the Chairman, just my luck. It was kinda of a buzz, though and even though it was something small, it's the first time I've formally presented in front of any of the Employment Rights bodies.
I'm sure some of you heard about my house excitement. We were burgled by someone who had a key to the house a couple of weeks before Christmas. My housemates and I had our laptops stolen and it was a pretty upsetting. Definitely a wake up call in terms of trusting the people you live with, since one of the people in the house seems to have had some involvement in the whole thing. The individual who was the problem is gone, the locks are changed, the alarm is fixed and the rules of the house have been changed, thanks to fighting with my landlord for ages. It is all sorted and no one got hurt. A few of the people I work with were also burgled before Christmas, so upsetting and there isn't really anything the police can do about it. I find it ironic that of all the traveling and moving I've done, Ireland is the only place I've ever had a problem.
Onward and upward though.
A quick thank you for the Christmas wishes and presents that made there way over here. It is so sweet and much appreciated. Shout out to Aunt Pam, the Beadazzler will be put to excellent use! Thank you notes are on there way soon, but again, with the post system there's about a 75% chance of arrival.
Wishing you all the happiest of New Years, I know a lot happened in the last couple of months and here's hoping we are on to better things!
Monday, November 26, 2012
Update
Hiya all. It is absolutely freezing here, I cannot believe how abruptly winter arrived. The Dublin Christmas tree was lit last night. Beautiful, old fur tree. It was really sad though, because it was pouring rain last night, so almost no one was there to appreciate it. A ton of work went into it, they had a choir, people in costumes, Santa, etc. Mince pies in the shops and mulled wine. Went to the Galway Christmas market this weekend and had a corn dog!!! They don't really have corn dogs here, I know they aren't very Irish, but can't turn one down. Sam enjoyed having his first one as well.
Started taking the bus, it's sooo convenient and only costs 1.70 each way, though half the time they only charge me 1.25. Not to bad compared to the cost of a tank of gas.
Work is going well. I just finished my stint in the Employer Relations Information Unit. It's the section in charge of answering simple questions, reviewing handbooks, policies and basically making sure companies do things right so they don't have an industrial relations dispute on their hands. I got to answer phones on Friday and deal directly with member companies, which was pretty exciting for me. I also have an article published in HR Databank, the publication of the ERIU unit. Only members have access to it, but I was pretty excited. It was on temporary agency workers and tenure.
Now I am in the industrial relations section. This is the meat of the internship, but sadly not as appealing. I don't mind the case preparation, but I find sitting in on cases to be incredibly uncomfortable. A lot of people self representing who don't really know what their doing and are annoyed at their employer or ex-employer, but don't really have a case. So you just feel sorry for them. And sitting across the table from someone sitting on their own trying to make their case is just a bit sad. I don't know...not really what I was expecting. But, I do enjoy writing submissions, which is the case that is then read out to the Rights Commissioner or the Employment Appeals Tribunal. This week I'm down in Galway for a pretty major case, so it will be interesting to see how that pans out.
Hope all is well with everyone!
Started taking the bus, it's sooo convenient and only costs 1.70 each way, though half the time they only charge me 1.25. Not to bad compared to the cost of a tank of gas.
Work is going well. I just finished my stint in the Employer Relations Information Unit. It's the section in charge of answering simple questions, reviewing handbooks, policies and basically making sure companies do things right so they don't have an industrial relations dispute on their hands. I got to answer phones on Friday and deal directly with member companies, which was pretty exciting for me. I also have an article published in HR Databank, the publication of the ERIU unit. Only members have access to it, but I was pretty excited. It was on temporary agency workers and tenure.
Now I am in the industrial relations section. This is the meat of the internship, but sadly not as appealing. I don't mind the case preparation, but I find sitting in on cases to be incredibly uncomfortable. A lot of people self representing who don't really know what their doing and are annoyed at their employer or ex-employer, but don't really have a case. So you just feel sorry for them. And sitting across the table from someone sitting on their own trying to make their case is just a bit sad. I don't know...not really what I was expecting. But, I do enjoy writing submissions, which is the case that is then read out to the Rights Commissioner or the Employment Appeals Tribunal. This week I'm down in Galway for a pretty major case, so it will be interesting to see how that pans out.
Hope all is well with everyone!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Settled in
Hiya,
Hope everyone is keeping well! I've more or less settled in to Dublin. Started the job last month. We had three weeks of employment law training, for a certificate in employment law. So that counts both as training for our job, and as a recognized certificate to add to my list of college endeavors. This is our first week of actual job placement. I'm on the Health, Finance and Technology team. Case loads of companies are divided into different teams; so each team is able to specialize in their area. The people I work with are lovely. I adore the other trainees and the whole office is extremely helpful.
Right now they are easing us into the whole thing. I have a company handbook to review. 54 pages of HR speak, ugh. It's not the easiest, or most interesting, but it is a great way to reinforce our employment law knowledge. We basically read over company handbooks to see if the wording is ok and their policies line up with what is required by statute.
Next week or at the end of this week I'll start writing submissions for cases. I'm more than a bit nervous about that undertaking. Basically, we write what gets turned into the court and presented as the case! Eeeps! Of course someone will be looking it over so we don't do anything terribly wrong, but a lot of pressure still.
Perks of the job so far include, free tea, a super fancy cappuccino machine, 75 cent soup for lunches and a ridiculous amount of experience. We get to do basically everything the actual employees get to do, all with someone talking us through it. What a great experience!
Hope everyone is keeping well! I've more or less settled in to Dublin. Started the job last month. We had three weeks of employment law training, for a certificate in employment law. So that counts both as training for our job, and as a recognized certificate to add to my list of college endeavors. This is our first week of actual job placement. I'm on the Health, Finance and Technology team. Case loads of companies are divided into different teams; so each team is able to specialize in their area. The people I work with are lovely. I adore the other trainees and the whole office is extremely helpful.
Right now they are easing us into the whole thing. I have a company handbook to review. 54 pages of HR speak, ugh. It's not the easiest, or most interesting, but it is a great way to reinforce our employment law knowledge. We basically read over company handbooks to see if the wording is ok and their policies line up with what is required by statute.
Next week or at the end of this week I'll start writing submissions for cases. I'm more than a bit nervous about that undertaking. Basically, we write what gets turned into the court and presented as the case! Eeeps! Of course someone will be looking it over so we don't do anything terribly wrong, but a lot of pressure still.
Perks of the job so far include, free tea, a super fancy cappuccino machine, 75 cent soup for lunches and a ridiculous amount of experience. We get to do basically everything the actual employees get to do, all with someone talking us through it. What a great experience!
Friday, August 31, 2012
Settling in
Hiya,
Soooo, it's been ages since I've updated. Everything is going swimmingly here, so far.
I just got back from visiting a friend in Berlin, which was an really interesting experience. Berlin was honestly not what I expected at all. I would definitely go back to Germany, but would probably try some place like Cologne or Munich. Berlin was large, dirty and everyone was a bit rude. Dora, the friend I went to visit, lives outside the city about 30 miles in a village. Her home is within walking distance of a gorgeous lake, which used to be a resort spot for East Germans before the reunification. I had a wonderful time, went to museums, the zoo, swimming, enjoyed the sunshine! But, as a location the city leaves a bit to be desired.
Might be heading over before my job starts to visit another friend in Bristol, before he moves to the Caribbean. He has a job working at a museum there, sounds amazing! But, that means my last friend from Olaf is moving away from Europe :(
Other than that just been enjoying Galway! Found a place to live in Dublin, it's not amazing, but it works. Nearly impossible to find a six month lease, so I was a bit limited in my options. Haven't met the housemates yet, so we'll see. The landlord is lovely though, the location is great and the whole house has been recently updated.
My job doesn't start until the 24th, so I am enjoying some down time and what remains of the summer weather.
Hope all is well with everyone!
Soooo, it's been ages since I've updated. Everything is going swimmingly here, so far.
I just got back from visiting a friend in Berlin, which was an really interesting experience. Berlin was honestly not what I expected at all. I would definitely go back to Germany, but would probably try some place like Cologne or Munich. Berlin was large, dirty and everyone was a bit rude. Dora, the friend I went to visit, lives outside the city about 30 miles in a village. Her home is within walking distance of a gorgeous lake, which used to be a resort spot for East Germans before the reunification. I had a wonderful time, went to museums, the zoo, swimming, enjoyed the sunshine! But, as a location the city leaves a bit to be desired.
Might be heading over before my job starts to visit another friend in Bristol, before he moves to the Caribbean. He has a job working at a museum there, sounds amazing! But, that means my last friend from Olaf is moving away from Europe :(
Other than that just been enjoying Galway! Found a place to live in Dublin, it's not amazing, but it works. Nearly impossible to find a six month lease, so I was a bit limited in my options. Haven't met the housemates yet, so we'll see. The landlord is lovely though, the location is great and the whole house has been recently updated.
My job doesn't start until the 24th, so I am enjoying some down time and what remains of the summer weather.
Hope all is well with everyone!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Internship?
So it's been an interesting past week. Tuesday company I applied for an internship called me and told me I'd be wait listed for the position, ie I was candidate number 5 for 4 slots. So that was a huge bummer. But, onward and upward, right? So I found a place to live in Galway and applied for jobs like crazy and got a pretty promising lead on a position for administrative assistant at a multinational toy company. So job and house pretty much sorted. Then yesterday, I get a call from said internship telling me that one of the 4 dropped out and offering me the position contingent on my references and a physical (which is standard practice in Ireland). So now I am super excited, but also a bit nervous that something is going to go a bit wonky with internship and I'm gonna end up back a square one. So we'll see.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Still waiting...
Hiya everyone,
So got my visa and have started my course for the FE1s. The FE1s are equivalent to the Bar in the U.S. except you only have to sit four subjects at a time. Once you pass those 4 you have 5 years to pass the other ones. I'm currently taking a review course, since all of this material is new to me. I am up to my eyeballs in homework and trying to memorize case law. I'm prepping for torts, equity, company and contract. Still waiting to hear back about IBEC. Fingers crossed on that one. Other than that just finishing up my term of service with Americoprs and enjoying the beautiful weather. Went to the one of the beautiful beaches this weekend with a friend, played some bocce ball and gave a new bar a try, so work hard play hard :) Hope all is well with everyone!
So got my visa and have started my course for the FE1s. The FE1s are equivalent to the Bar in the U.S. except you only have to sit four subjects at a time. Once you pass those 4 you have 5 years to pass the other ones. I'm currently taking a review course, since all of this material is new to me. I am up to my eyeballs in homework and trying to memorize case law. I'm prepping for torts, equity, company and contract. Still waiting to hear back about IBEC. Fingers crossed on that one. Other than that just finishing up my term of service with Americoprs and enjoying the beautiful weather. Went to the one of the beautiful beaches this weekend with a friend, played some bocce ball and gave a new bar a try, so work hard play hard :) Hope all is well with everyone!
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