Change ahoy!

Yep, that's right, you heard it here first! Carly has decided that it's time to change.

It's time to change from being a physio to being a hard nosed lawyer/barrister. Why, you ask, is this now so final? Well, let me tell you.

I went to Bath on Tuesday for that interview, which, as usual, meant hours of travelling in crappy weather, plus the expense of the journey, plus having to deal with a moody mutt who huffed because, "Rain makes my hair all wavey!" I got there, as usual, a little early. The interview was scheduled for quarter past 1. When half past had came and went, I naturally started to get a little concerned. But i was told to sit down and relax; they were running late. Wonderful. So I have someone waiting to give me a lift home, and they're already 15 minutes late. My interviews take ages as well, because of all the questions they like to ask about "how do you manage your working day, being blind and all."

So, I went in, did the interview, and came out thinking i'd done all right. They said there were 3 candidates after me, but that they would let me know by the end of the day. The phone call came less than an hour later. Quite frankly, I was surprised. They'd managed to interview 3 inside an hour, when the normal interview lasts half an hour, and when the next candidate hadn't even arrived by the time i'd left? Oh, and what's that? You had lunch as well? Hmmmm, I smell a rat, I do.

They gave me feedback, and you know the only reason I didn't get that job? Because I said that osteophytes result from rumatoid arthritis, and they felt they were more commonly associated with Osteoarthritis than Rheumatoid. Um, hello, they occur in both conditions! I also have a sneaking suspicion that I was prevented from doing a practical element of the interview. I heard one of the pannel tell the candidate before me to go across to out-patients and sign in there, but was I told to do it? Of course not!

So, i've had it. I know that the main reason i'm not getting jobs is because of the blindness. ok, I don't know it for sure, but i'm pretty damn sure it has a huge sway. That's the sixth interview that's given me an idiotic reason for my not getting the job. Friends have told me to fight it, to cry descrimination, to raise hell. But to be honest, I can't be bothered. How can you prove discrimination when the pannel insist they found someone better able to meet the needs of the post? how can you prove that they're nit-picking at everything to find the smallest of reasons why you shouldn't have the job? You can't, so I refuse to go there. I don't want to be seen as a whiner, in any case.

So i've done something about it.

This morning, I went on the Law Society's website, and got some really good information about courses. I didn't know it, but apparently you can do a conversion course inside a year, which enables you to practice law just as though you'd done a degree. The work's very hard, it's self funded, and Oxford don't offer the course which is a pity. But, the application deadline isn't until February, which means that I could potentially be starting in September. Or, I wait, hope that Oxford has clearing for law, put in an application, and start in September to complete a 2 year degree. This gives me a second BA to my name, and it means I can get a student loan to fund it. But it does take two years instead of 1, and there's the potential that I might not be able to start until 2010.

After the academic side, you have to train for 2 years on a practical level. The Barr course is so, so expensive, and competition is apparently fierce, but really, i'd want to be a barrister rather than a solicitor. That decision's at least 18 months off though, so i'm not worrying about it yet.

I've started the application to be accepted on the 1 year CPE/GDL course, but will apply to Oxford as well. So there you go. I've done it. And you know what? I'm happier today than I have been in months. Again, I have a chance to prove i'm not a failure. In the meantime, i'll keep applying for physio jobs, but only the ones I really want, instead of taking anything and everything that pops up. Law, here we come!