FOAK: Interesting places to head for, in the US

Grimly Curmudgeon emerged from their own little world to say

It's interesting to note that VSO says "We no longer send school-leavers -
today the average age of a volunteer is 38 and most placements are for two
years" on http://www.vso.org.uk/about/

Good on them.

 

Thanks, Grimley.

Bookmarked.

 

And looking at the jobs they want people for and the skills they only
want experienced professionals as well.

 

There must be a call for it. I'm disappointed to see that you need
degrees to do most of the jobs. It is interesting to note that the
vacancies that require no high level qualifications have all gone. I'm
not a builder, for instance but someone that's done it all their life
with no "high level certificates" would be more valuable to me than
someone that's done it for two years but has loads of paper
qualifications.

 

They've probably been snapped up by all the pre-uni,post-school types.

True enough, but like any job you need to be able to prove what you
can do in order to get it. This is why employers ask for stuff like
degrees, it's so they know that everyone they see is going to be at
least a certain standard. Experience is the best thing to have but
it's a lot harder to prove than qualifications.

 

True. Lots of young and nubile nymphs

Yes. I can see why the degrees would be important. I suppose the only
way you could "prove" experience is to ask the right questions in an
interview, but that would require the interviewer to have a lot of
experience, too.

 

The problem I see is with a good friend of mine. He passes degrees by
fiddling[1] his attendance, speed reading the course notes and sitting
the exam while he still remembers the info. Never gets a 1.1 but always
passes.

I was with him when over two weeks he had learnt from zero to passable
French. Sufficient to talk the knickers off of a very attractive young
lass in French after about 9 days.

Annoying isn't it!

[1] Minimum attendance or checks in and out to get an attendance mark
etc.

 

And for the interviewer to interview _everyone_ as well. You'd have
to see every person "just in case" that person was what you wanted.
That's not possible so numbers are cut down by asking for specific
bits of paper.

It's not always fair but it's often the only way to recruit.

 

Use WMD and start with Washington.

 

They've been on my list for years.

I may do a tour based on daft place names...

Start in Twatt, perhaps?
--

Cheers!
Fr Jack
96 Tiger.
FRJACKUKRM AT GMAIL DOT COM
skype: fr.jack (without the dot)

 

Fr Jack says...

Then on to Pratts Bottom

 

Well, you've already been to Willies.

 

Sounds like he learnt all the French that was required for the task in
hand.

 

Via Wetwang and Kirkby Overblow...
--

Cheers!
Fr Jack
96 Tiger.
FRJACKUKRM AT GMAIL DOT COM
skype: fr.jack (without the dot)

 

There's Pissy, about 4 miles outside Amiens...
--

Cheers!
Fr Jack
96 Tiger.
FRJACKUKRM AT GMAIL DOT COM
skype: fr.jack (without the dot)

 

Lynsore Bottom probably after Lynsore Court
But caught on what?

 

Austrian Weissbier - one of the few beers that *doesn't* give me a
migraine..

Phil

 

Boston, Mass and NY, NY.

 

Many of the national parks are well worth seeing. I would particularly
recommend Crater Lake, Oregon. (It's within easy striking distance of
Northern California, if you're up that way.) I was also very impressed by
Yosemite. If you're there, you can also take in Mono Lake.

Information on all of the National Parks can be found here:
http://www.nps.gov


Also in California, I'd highly recommend dropping in at Julia Pfeiffer
Burns State Park. It's extremely picturesque.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=578

Accomodation out of season and away from holiday weekends can be quite
cheap. Sometimes, there is accomodation actually within the parks but
that is a bit more expensive. There's also camping in the larger parks.

 

Indeed it is, and the trip down there if you're starting from the Bay Area
is pretty spectacular, too.