Amstel dam

The cold crisp breeze stirs through the park. A path of wavering grass and the rustle of leaves is left in its wake. Occasionally the sun will steal through the clouds, the rays warm the skin and the goosebumps subside. It's already quite late in the morning and the locals are awake. They are occupied with their usual Sunday morning park activities; exercising, walking the dog, strolling with kids or on their way to somewhere important. Then of course there's me. In a defiant protest I sit in the park for other reasons not so common to theirs. I've just woken up. In the middle of a park. In Amsterdam. I have stooped to a new level of homelessness.

In my defence, I was only asleep for 10 minutes but what a glorious 10 minutes it was. Rewind 24 hours. 3:30 am, my house mates are still out partying as I gather my backpack and head off to Baker Street to catch the National Express to Stansted Airport. One of the reasons for the relocation to London was having the luxury and opportunity to travel around Europe. This would be my first of (hopefully) many weekend adventures. This weekend's destination as you may have already figured out is Amsterdam.

The flight from London to Amsterdam took a little under 50 minutes. We were immediately greeted by a cooler than London climate, plenty of canals and the biggest collection of bicycles I have seen in my life. Our day was spent visiting the major tourist destinations each reached by tram: The Van Gough Museum, Anne Frank House, shopping around Kalverstraat and finally an early evening tour of the infamous Red Light District. The evening was capped off with the Sensation Black 2008 party held at Amsterdam Arena where we partied into the early morning.


Fast forward to 11 am Sunday, so having been awake for an unhealthy 31 hours I find myself sitting in Vondelpark. It should be noted that, some of us did not organise accommodation for this weekend adventure. Our lazy afternoon was spent in one of Amsterdam's traditional Coffee Houses before boarding our flight back home. I haven't quite got used to the fact that "home" is now London and have on many times re-corrected myself "I'm from Sydney, well London".

Waiting on the river

Over the course of the last couple of weeks I have invested the majority of my time sitting exams, participating in phone and on-site interviews with three main companies. The roles that I have been interviewing for are roles I probably wouldn't apply for if I were back home in Sydney but something a little different. Put simply, my current job situation is analogous to a game of Texas Hold'em Poker.

Thursday 3rd July:

9 am: Final round Interview with Company 1.

1 pm: Final round interview with Company 2.

5 pm: Job offer from Company 2.

I receive a call from one of my recruiters "Congratulations, company 2 wants to offer you the job, do you want it?". Awesome, my first employment offer. Still waiting for feedback from the other two companies I tried to buy myself some extra time: "Great, would it be possible to get back to the company at the beginning of next week with my decision". Couple of minutes later I receive a call back from the same recruiter "They want a decision by 3:30 tomorrow, they have another candidate that they want to offer your role to".

Friday 4th July:

9 am: Call my respective recruitment agents from Companies 1 and 3 to find out what's going on.
They both tell me that Company 1 recruiter is bluffing and that they just want to make a placement for the week. It's unreasonable for any company to force you to make a decision within 24 hours, or is it?

12:30 pm: Company 3 recruiter tells me they want to speed up interview period in reaction to the offer that was made. I'm called in for an immediate interview.

1:00 pm: Company 1 recruiter tells me that my application was unsuccessful. 1 potential offer remaining.

1:35 pm: Rushed over to Company 3, was 5 minutes late due to late notice. Interview wasn't crash hot, I'm not so confident about progressing.

3:00 pm: Get a call from recruiter representing Company 2.

"So what's your decision, they need to know". I thought about perhaps verbally agreeing and then waiting for the contract to buy myself more time. Conscious kicked in and I called his bluff. "I don't want it". Those four words escaped my mouth in slow motion, 7 weeks of job hunting and within the space of 24 hours I had gone from having an offer to having none. I've eliminated 2 of the 3 companies, now I wait for the river...