Job...

Just how do you go about hunting for a job? I must confess I don't really know.

I found out about my first job (as a Saturday lad in Dixons) when two schoolfriends were arguing about which of them was going to get it. I went along, filled out an application form, had a ten minute interview and started a four-year part-time career in the Dixons Stores Group, first in Stevenage and then in Manchester, subsidising my measly grant and staving off the need for a student loan in my first year.

Towards the end of my university life, I started looking for graduate trainee programmes in Management Accounting (it seemed like a good idea at the time) to apply for but I never really put my heart into it. I had half a dozen interviews and attended a couple of selection centres over twelve months or so but nothing came of it. In the middle of this search I'd moved back home after graduating and signed up with a temping agency, who found work for me instead.

They sent me back to Dixons, in the IT department at the distribution depot, this time, for a couple of day's worth of menial work, addressing a large batch of letters. When I got there I found out the guy who wanted me had discovered how to use mail-merge the previous evening and had done the majority of the task already. Typical. After half an hour I'd finished the rest of it and they were scrabbling around for something for me to do for the rest of the day. I ended up staying for eight months.

Meanwhile, someone my Mum worked with said that her niece worked for a company in the city that was looking for graduates. I sent off my CV and waited to hear from them. Which I did, five months later. Still, better late than never, isn't that what they say? I had another ten minute interview (which consisted of the question "when can you start?" and a load of small talk while I finished my tea) and began the commuters lifestyle. From there I fell into the job I currently have, following an off-hand remark that I wasn't entirely happy with my employer.

So you see, I have never, with any success, gone out and actually searched for a job. I don't know how to do it. Let's hope I never have to.

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Right, it appears Friday's hunt didn't seem to cause you too much difficulty. Did you enjoy it? Did you have to think about it too much? Let me know and you may find yourselves doing it again before the end of the month. I'll score each of the four valid entries (sorry NiC, rules is rules) separately.

BW, for the blog title you get 7 points (you would have got 4 for the post) plus bonuses of 7 for the obscurity of the connection and 4 for the search term, giving you a total of 18.

e, you get 2 for the date of the post plus bonuses of 6 for the obscurity and 4 for the search term, giving you 12 in all.

Harriet, 10 points for the post plus 3 for the obscurity Easterr bunny is a fairly obvious connection) and 2 for the search term means you get a total of 15.

Gary, 2 points for the post with an extra 9 for the obscurity (like Harriet said, great connection) and 3 for the search term giving you a total of 15.

That's quite a good illustration of how the results can be affected by each of the different bits. If e or Gary had produced more up to date examples... Anyway, BW wins the day and e slips up a little. Will that have affected the overall scores? Probably not a lot but we'll see when I publish all the total scores tomorrow...

Today's hunt is back to normal, just searching for the target itself, which is: 'Sunrise'

Good luck and happy hunting!