Juggling jobs!

This afternoon the temp agency called and they have a role for me, starting Thursday! The pay's okay, not amazing, but not too bad. It's reception for a company that manufactures drugs to treat cancer, which could be interesting! I don't even have to interview for it - I just have to turn up. I said I needed to talk to the other place first because the woman at the place that I was keen on from Friday had said to call her if I got any offers. I called her and she said she'd see what she could do. A little while later I got a rather formal email saying that her bosses wanted her to interview some more people and she couldn't promise I'd get a second interview and therefore it would be in my best interest to accept this other job and good luck with my new role! I was rather deflated, to say the least, at that response.

So I called the temp agency back and asked some more questions and it turns out they really don't know how long the role could go for - their receptionist has left and they need someone to fill in while they look at reorganising the role. So it could be 2 weeks or 2 years! They can't promise anything. On that basis, I emailed the other woman back and said that I had neglected to mention that it was a temporary role that I was being offered, that might only last a fortnight, and therefore I would like to still be considered and to hear from her when she's conducted some further interviews. To which she replied: "That's great! Will keep in touch." Which was encouraging!

A separate issue is that I don't feel comfortable taking on a job without having met the people or seen the workplace. What if it's a total dump and the people are really awful! I called the temp agency back again, and said the other job couldn't give me any guarantees so therefore I was interested in the temp job on offer, but that I'd like to go to the office and meet the people before committing to the job. She told me this is not usually encouraged but she'd see what she can do. I should hear tomorrow if I can pop in to meet them.

So it looks like I managed to juggle things reasonably well - I'm still in the running for the job I'm keen on, and will have some temp work in the meantime. Phew.

Positions applied for: 24. Interviews: 3. Job offers: ONE, at last!