Chiswick contined.

So. Internship over. Part-time work about to start. I should state at this point how indebted I am to Aleka and Colin. Not only did they not have to take me on as an intern, they also did not have to take me on as part-time staff, because to be honest, they probably could have done without me. There were literally times when there wasn't work for me to do, and Colin would have to think up some random work for me to do, whether it be writing case summaries of arbitration cases he probably knows from cover to cover, or admin stuff that isn't really urgent.

Having said that, it was good for Natalie that I was there, meaning she could take days off, knowing full-well that Colin wouldn't be stranded, as I could type and send whatever emails he needs to send, print out his emails for him, and do other admin stuff, like make invoices. Working in arbitation is definitely a viable career option. You automatically invoice £150 for every nomination you get (everytime a party sends you an email asking you to be the arbitrator on a case), and most of the time, the dispute settles without you having to do any work, and you've earned the easiest £150 you can ever get! And once you have contacts and are established, you can get as many as 3 nominations per week! And also, for every email you get/send, you get to bill the client/ I learned a whole lot about being a self-employed arbitrator, and don't be surprised if when I retire- and build up my contacts-that I become an arbitrator. Free money! Haha. That said though, it is really hard work, like Colin will testify! I definitely will consider it many many  many years down the line. I even did this "Introduction to Arbitration" course at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, thanks to my dad, and I can even become an Associate Member, if I pay membership fees. See, that's the beginning! ;)

So yeah, with Chiswick being a part-time role, I obviously needed to focus on getting a more permanent role. Pretty much what I was doing before Chiswick, but Chiswick being there to keep me sane! I'd learnt from Johanna (lecturer-friend) about this shipping law case- the Cendor Mopu that was being heard in the Supreme Court (former House of Lords) towards the end of August, which I went for. Not like I had anything better to do, anyways! It was a 2-day hearing, and I went for the second day. There were a few people there, who I knew from Uni, one being Jennifer Lavelle, one of only two English people on my course. We chatted at lunchtime, and I found out from her that her employment contract (as a Research Assistant at the Institute of Maritime Law, University of Southampton) was running out, and she wasn't sure whether she'd renew it. I was pretty interested in her job, to be honest. She said she wasn't really sure if she'd stay on or not, but she did say that if she didn't stay on, the job would get re-advertised on the Uni jobs page. Would you believe I actually bookmarked the page and kept checking pretty much everyday, in case something would come up. (As usual, I've got my dates wrong, and it was actually end of July! I'm like a month out of sync, what's going on!?). Anyways, kept checking the page since the hearing, end of July, like a stalker. Oh, and like a proper stalker, stalked Jennifer's facebook page, just to see whether she'd mention anything about it.

So that's how August rolled by, September, then October, then November. You'd have thought I'd have given up by then. A similar role did apply on the website, but it wasn't in maritime law, and I didn't get it. Then sometime towards the end of November, I got a message from Johanna, telling me that Jennifer had gotten a job in Geneva, at UNCTAD, meaning, obviously, that her position was vacant, and that it'd be up on the website. Got home later that day, and no surprise, the job was already advertised. I swear the role was perfect for me! I felt that I ticked all the requirements, and there weren't asking for any experience! And even if they were, I was working at Chiswick as a Research Assistant (well, seeing as I was self-employed, I could pretty much call it anything, but the role advertised and what I was currently doing to me seemed similar), so that was experience! Boo-yah!

So perfect role, not to talk about great pay! Definitely the highest paid job out of all the ones I'd applied for previously, so I was hoping this was definitely 'the one' (it's amazing how many jobs I've hoped and prayed were 'the one's'). So yeah, the advert said latest day for applications was 20 December, meaning I had close to a month. Enough time,  one would think! And it was a pretty simple application process. CV and cover letter, basically. But as it was an academic role, you need 3 referees.And none of them personal referees, I think- either professional or academic.

My cv was ready, and having used it a million times and re-edited it a million times, it was near perfect to me (or maybe it wasn't, seeing as I didn't get that many positive replies from applications!). All that needed doing was the cover letter. It wasn't really a cover letter, it was just a question which you had to answer, but the answer was pretty much what your cover letter would cover. The said question was this:

"Please explain how your experience and skills are relevant to this post, referring to the person specification."  

I had to think long about that one, because you want your answer to be perfect, ensuring that you didn't leave the tiniest bit of relevant detail out, and that you didn't include any irrelevant information, even though there wasn't a word-limit.

The other thing I had to do was find three referees. I was going to use Johanna as one of them, seeing as she works at the Uni, but she advised against it, on the basis that there might be someone who doesn't like her at the Institute, so she didn't want to jeopardise my chances. I had two other referees I could use- Colin/Aleka, and my dissertation supervisor from Southampton- Prof. Rob Merkin. Seeing as he's as well-known, if not even more, than Aleka, I really wanted him as one of them. So I emailed like 3 or 4 of my teachers from UH, to ask if they'd help out, although I left it so late, I didn't even hear from any of them until after the deadline had passed!

So the important question. Did I get my application in on time?

I don't understand myself sometimes. This was a job I wanted badly, that I'd checked the website day after day for almost 2 months, and as late as 19th December, I wasn't ready to send it off. The 'cover letter' wasn't even halfway done! My excuse was that I wasn't to leave it as late as possible, giving me more time to think of relevant stuff to add. But in the end, I managed to get it all done in time, and sent it like in the early hours of 20th December. Talk about leaving it to the last minute! Seeing as I hadn't emailed my UH teachers on time, I had to use Aleka and Colin as 2 separate referees, with Rob being the third. So at this stage, I'd done all I could you, the rest being in God's hand. With interviews meant to be held on 15th January, all I could do was wait. And ensure I enjoyed Christmas!


Gosh, it's almost 1.30am! I really ought to stop now, and go to bed! This post is pretty much done, anyways. Next blog post will be about Christmas, then! Not like much happened then, but well, Christmas comes before January! ;)