LM portfolio as at 03/03/2023:
| Code | Sector | Date Bought | Cost | Value | Gain/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LM053 | ETF | 09/01/2023 | £1280 | £1290 | 0.94% |
| LM054 | Banks | 09/01/2023 | £1270 | £1330 | 5.01% |
| LM055 | General Financial | 11/01/2023 | £1280 | £1420 | 11.52% |
| LM056 | Media | 11/01/2023 | £1270 | £1310 | 2.50% |
| LM057 | Gas, Water & Multiutilities | 12/01/2023 | £1270 | £1330 | 5.01% |
| LM058 | Support Services | 17/01/2023 | £1270 | £1190 | (6.35%) |
| LM059 | Industrial Transportation | 30/01/2023 | £1260 | £1270 | 0.29% |
| LM060 | General Retailers | 06/02/2023 | £1270 | £1250 | (1.94%) |
| LM061 | Aerospace & Defense | 20/02/2023 | £1270 | £1280 | 0.64% |
I'm rapidly approaching the end of my current contract and, unfortunately, it can't be extended anymore due to reasons beyond my manager's control. This is the life of the contractor - nothing lasts forever and as you come to the last month of one contract it is time to find another.
Ideally you secure a new assignment to start the following Monday after finishing on Friday. If you are smart and have saved up lots of cash then you can even take a few weeks' break.
Sadly I am not smart at the moment - i.e. highly skint - so I need to get something ASAP. No breaks for me.
While it would be ideal if someone were to notice my supreme magnificence from my CV and offer me a position from that alone, life isn't that simple.
The CV serves purely as a document with which to secure an interview. And mine is usually quite good at doing that perhaps because I paid for it to be professionally written a few years ago but more likely as a result of having 20 years' experience in my specific field.
In the last month of a contract I will publish my CV on a handful of websites and await the tsunami of phonecalls from recruiters. Last week I received a phonecall about a suitable position on the Wednesday. The money was good and the job sounded like precisely what I had previously done to an excellent standard in a contract that lasted over 2 years. I told the recruiter I was happy to be put forward for the role.
Consequently on Friday morning I sat in the spare room with a suit on and joined a Zoom meeting.
Perhaps I am being too negative and remembering only the worst of the next 45 minutes but I clicked the "leave" button once the interview had ended and then once I was absolutely positive I was no longer online I sighed and spoke out loud to myself; "what a frosty DISASTER".
One day I'll attend an interview where I rapidly answer questions with slick knowledge and pure confidence, dazzling the interviewers. However, that's not how I would describe what happened in this case.
The first issue I came across was when I specifically said that I didn't have experience doing one particular process (most likely because it is a process fraught with issues and other companies tend to avoid it). Seems like every question following that was related to how I would follow that same process.
'Well, John, I would start the process by cancelling all plans that had been made before I arrived and setting out a NEW plan to do it the PROPER way, which is...' - is what I should've said. But I didn't. I was polite and tried to the best of my knowledge to describe a reasonable action plan.
I shudder to think now about the moments where I spoke for a while... then finished... and then the three interviewers sat there silent, looking at the camera, obviously expecting more whilst I was most certainly finished with that question.
Or the moment where one interviewer spoke for a little while, then his voice broke up slightly so I missed a few words, then he sat there as if his screen had frozen. But it wasn't that, it seemed he had asked a question that wasn't obviously a question and expected an answer. I then had to sheepishly ask - 'sorry, was that a question?'
All in all it was a very disappointing experience and I came away thinking that it was less an interview and more an exercise where one interviewer wanted to boast about his technical expertise to the others by asking lots of questions.
Whilst the interviewers were all polite, I couldn't help feeling like I'd made a fool of myself. Not sure why I cared because it isn't like I'll ever see these people again but it was an embarassing ordeal that I'll likely remember for a while.
Usually good news comes through quickly in these scenarios and bad news is normally conveyed via silence.
As I've not heard anything at all, I imagine I am not in the running for this one.
Reminds me of an interview I had years ago at a government agency which consisted of a normal face-to-face interview with two very pleasant chaps and then a very strange series of "role-play" scenarios. One in front of a laptop with an interviewer and then another where the interviewer left the room and phoned in. In both case I was to pretend I was the employee and the interviewer was the customer. It was extremely awkward and very embarassing - for me and I imagine also for him.
I left that experience escorted back to reception by a member of the team who said something along the lines of "you did well just to get the interview as we are very picky" which I knew really meant "you definitely didn't get it mate, but we're so fantastic that you should be happy we even considered you".
That interview process left me very annoyed as I was certain I would've been able to flourish in that role. I was also disappointed to have missed out because it paid really well.
A few days later I started another contract and came to realise that I'd had a lucky escape. The whole role-play interview process was obviously the idea of a team that were dazzled by their own brilliance. I wouldn't have enjoyed working there and the icky feel I had when leaving that building was a big warning sign.
Times have changed and Friday's interview was a remote one so I didn't have to suffer the post-interview 'walk of shame' out of a building. I didn't have to waste time driving to another town, parking then finding the building and remembering not to slouch in the reception.
I clicked "leave meeting" then got changed out of my suit and went to relay to my lovely partner how ridiculous the interview had been and how badly I had messed up.
It's so much easier to fail an interview now we don't have to travel.
The portfolio
One new position opened yesterday. As per usual it was a UK share that had hit a new 52 week high.
Everything else appears to be treading water for now. I can't say I've spent much time looking for potential new investments as the stock market isn't exactly powering upwards.
What has happened is that I have resigned myself with the fact that I won't be able to contribute anything to the LISA in this tax year. All the projections I did when I started the project will need to be recreated to take this into account but also to take into account something else I discovered this week - once I am 50 I will no longer be able to pay into this LISA.
All of the calculations I had made assumed that from age 50 to 60 I would still add £4,000 per year even though no bonus would be added. That won't be happening now so the LISA will need to make greater returns to hit that million.