:: Chris Turner's Journal ::

:: Thursday, April 06, 2006 ::

Progress

Phew! A busy week has meant I haven't had time to write anything in my journal. I've now sent off my application for the Met - it was absolutely huge, and my wrist ached for ages after filling that one in. It'll be a while before I hear anything, but hopefully it'll all go well. Both Sally and Cass reckoned my answers to the competency questionnaire were very good, so I'm hopeful - it's like the main part, where they ask for examples in your past of how you've acted in the face of aggression, etc, so it can be quite tricky...most of the rest of the form is just for HR reference.

I'm back up running again and can now manage *3* laps of Ealing Common, which I'm rather pleased with. A month ago, I could only manage 1 - so I'm quite chuffed with myself. Each lap takes about 15 minutes at a normal jogging pace, to give you some idea of size. I can't remember when I last ran for 45 minutes, so I'm quite proud. On the main fitness test, I'll only have to run for 3mins 40 seconds - but it'll be at a slightly faster pace. Still, I'm not too worried about that now.

Yesterday was the Assessment Centre for the Civil Service Fast Stream - something else I applied to some time ago...its taken over 6 months to get to this stage because they're so damn slow. I was rather surprised to get that far - I've had to come through 3 rounds of selection to get there, and it's only the final 5% of us that get to the centre, so I'm quite proud of that too. It was a painful day - starting at 8.30, finishing at 5, with lots of exercises and not much break in between. Very intense...I left with quite a headache. Nice people, though, which made it much easier - the assessors did genuinely want to see us do well, and the other candidates were very friendly. Mind you, we were all carbon copies of each other...white, middle class graduates from the same universities and the same schools - so much for the Civil Service's diversity programme! I expect it'll be another month or so before I hear anything from them. I'm not expecting to get any further (quite how I got that far in the assessment process is a little beyond me), and it's not like my life depends on getting this job - but it would be nice to get some positive feedback.

Didn't see Sally last night as I was far too tired to do anything. Am off to see parents and friends down the Running Horses tonight, then seeing Sally on Friday for the rest of the weekend. She has quite a long time off from work now, so we'll be able to do plenty of stuff together. She has a hospital appointment on Monday for a knee examination - something she's been waiting for for months - so I've got the afternoon off work to go with her. Hopefully everything will be alright.

Life at the moment is very good...I'm very happy, lots of things are happening - and it's my birthday on the 14th!

:: Plod 07:23 [+] ::
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