Cheers to a fiver!

This past weekend Kyle & I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that it has been five years already! It has been a busy five years though. We've managed to live in Virginia, Washington State and now Scotland- not to mention 4 different apartments, our own home, 6 different jobs, 3 cars and two dogs (..."and a partridge in a pear tree")! Marriage suits us well and we're enjoying our life as a pair. Here's to many more happy anniversaries!

-Stacie

Candidate Survivor

My MBA experience is rapidly progressing. I've already sat for two final exams and I'm currently revising for two more. At this point I'm well over half way through the program (or programme for our British friends). Stacie and I will spend spring break with friends visiting from Virginia, visit London and cap it off with a trip to Cairo, Egypt. I return to school to take several intensive one week courses (9 - 5 M-F), and conclude an external consultancy project with the Edinburgh office of a global investment analytics firm. The project concludes in late June and I spend July/August writing a 15,000 word dissertation on a relevant business or career topic of my choosing.

One of the main goals of any MBA'er is to leave the course with gainful employment. Ideally your new job will utilize your new knowledge and produce a positive step change in your career trajectory. I've been fortunate enough to interview with a couple companies for MBA Associate programs recently and I have to say I didn't fully appreciate what it takes to get hired post MBA. I thought hey, I'll submit an application, they'll call me in for a chat, I'll put on the charm, drop a few references to lean operations or Levin's Marketing Myopia and bada-boom....hired. Uh, no!

In reality, one must literally run the gauntlet to get hired. No amount of charm or BS will get you a job, especially in this economy. Here's the process, lets call it Candidate Survivor:

1) On-line application. This process sounds quick and dirty but after answering several 2000 word essays (why work for us? what drives you to succeed? etc) and tailoring your resume to each application and crafting that unique and eye-popping cover letter...you get the point. These things are a time suck!

2a) This step happens 98% of the time...letter in the mail "Oh gosh, you are such an amazing candidate that we are still tingling from reading your application. However, everyone else who applied happened to go to Harvard, flew F16's in the Royal Air Force and speaks seven languages so all we can offer you is this nice letter on official letterhead and our best wishes."

2b) The other 2% of the time...a phone call from the company recruiter congratulating you that you are now eligible for round one of Candidate Survivor, prepare to have your every fiber tested!

3) Round one of Candidate Survivor, ability tests. These test are taken on-line and usually comprise three sections: numerical, verbal and diagrammatic. The first two are self explanatory however the tests are designed so you cannot get a hundred and you cannot finish. The point being they want to see how you perform in a situation where you're in over your head. Here is an example of the diagrammatic section:

Looks life fun eh?

4) If you score satisfactorily on these tests you obviously move on. The recruiter calls you with the good news that you passed and when you come to interview you get to retake similar tests, just to prove you didn't have your genius friend take it for you. Candidate Survivor rolls on!

5) At this point you may get to interview with an actual person, but the advanced version of Candidate Survivor requires that you endure an hour long Gallup interview. The Gallup interview profiles your personality, strengths and weaknesses. The company has an idea of the type of person they want and apparently Gallup can tell them if you're it. The interviewer asks random questions, and only asks questions...no explanation or follow up. It goes like this:

Interviewer: "Do you think you are more capable than your peers?"
Me: "Yes I do"
Interviewer: "Give me an example"
Me: "Example A"
Interviewer: "Another example please"
Me: "Example B"
Interviewer: "If you saw a charity box unattended would you take money from it?"
Me: "heck yeah...just kidding, no I would not ma'm!"
Interviewer: dead silence........................................"Are you dependable?"

And on it goes for an hour until your mind is so broken down you're willing to tell the interviewer your deepest secrets just to get to the end of the interview.

6) Good news! Your personality matches the company wish list (at this point the process feels a bit like on-line dating). You're still on Candidate Survivor and you actually get to meet a real person. This part is the standard interview that anyone would expect. No real surprises in this round.

7) This is where they turn up the heat...you've been invited to an assessment center. This means that maybe 10 - 16 candidates remain (for two spots) and you are all coming to the same event to compete against one another. The twist is that most of the time you are split into teams necessitating a delicate balancing act of working together yet standing out as an individual. In my assessment center one task included analyzing a Harvard Business case that pitted two companies in a negotiation scenario. The teams assumed the roles of the opposing parties and had to pick up where the case left off and negotiate to their ideal conclusion...lets just say it got heated! Other scenarios where more fun but all day long 6 assessors watch your every move, just looking to kick someone off Candidate Survivor!

8) Candidate Survivor has whithered from hundreds of hopefuls to 3 or 4 desperate MBA'ers. At this point you're invited to spend a day at the company shadowing last years MBA Associate survivors and see what they do. At the end of the day you're enticed to a nice dinner attended by managing directors, VP's and the CEO. Sounds cool right? No, these folks have come because your final task is to make a presentation to them on a topic they've assigned to you beforehand. Undoubtedly they are experts on this topic and you are not, so as your presentation draws to a close the sharks will begin to circle. As you as you muster the confidence to utter 'I'll now take any questions' it's game time! You're under attack and they want to know if you will fight or run. Fight, and you're in. Run, and you're out.

9) Congratulations! You've been offered a job! You are the winner of this year's Candidate Survivor! Well, that's the hope anyway.

Okay, I know that this post has been a bit long (I may be venting a little). I'm currently at stage 7 with one company and am eagerly awaiting a phone call to see if I'm invited to stage 8 with another. I was voted off the island at stage 6 with a 3rd company a few weeks back. As tiring as it is to be a contestant on Candidate Survivor, while trying to complete projects and revise for exams, it's pretty exciting. I'll keep you posted if I make it to the next step with either company.

Spring is almost in the air in Edinburgh and Stacie took a few pictures while walking in a park near our flat last week. It's nice to see some color again!

Daffodils near our bus stop

"The Meadows"

Deacon enjoying the sun!

More spring color at the Meadows

That's us for now.

Cheers,
Kyle

A game of British English pictionary

We've been here about 6 months now, so I thought I would give another update on the local lingo. Here are a few pictures of things you'd see all the time in America. However, if you call them by the name that pops into your head, the person you are talking to looks at you like your growing horns out of your head. I know, because it happens to me quite frequently.

You may want to call these pants. However, they are called trousers.

These are pants:

That's right, women's underwear are pants. This can be very confusing when you're telling your friend at work about the new pants you bought and she is looking uncomfortable and concerned about you sharing too much personal information with her. Whoopsies...

This is called a jumper, not to be confused with a little girl's dress which is what I would call a jumper. Interesting...

This is a vest. Not a tank top. Silly Americans. What will we think of next?

This is a body warmer, not a vest. Makes sense, but still. When I asked a friend what a body warmer was she described it as something that farmers wear over their jumpers. Needless to say, I had a very confusing image in my mind after her explanation.

This is called a rubber. One day at work my colleague asked me if she could borrow a rubber. Enough said.

Finally, the grocery store can be quite confusing. My two biggest that I have run across are for cucumbers and snow peas.

Observe:

Courgette

Mange Tout

It's enough to make your head spin. Well, not only are different words used for different things. They also change words. Just a touch though, just enough to mess with you. Our two favorites are 'orientated' instead of 'oriented' and 'envisage' instead of 'envision'.

Drumroll please........my personal favorite Scottish saying is, and I quote, "Suck it and see". Which just means "try it and see", but if you ask me sounds very unrefined.

-Stacie

A Highland Coo

This weekend I went to visit a few old friends from my childhood up in the Highlands of Scotland. The farthest north I had been previously was Edinburgh, which if you know your Scotland geography is not north at all. I took the train up 4 hours to the town of Inverness and then traveled another hour north by car to the small village of Dornoch where my friends James & Jennifer are missionaries. The scenery was breath taking and refreshing after 6 months in the city. My most exciting citing of the weekend were seeing my first Highland Cow and going to Loch Ness.

Two young Highland Cows

Me posing with Nessie!

Beautiful Loch Ness

In Scotland, 'loch' just means 'lake' so it is really just 'Lake Ness'. I never realized that growing up when I heard about the Loch Ness Monster (aka Nessie as they call it here) but it makes sense.

On our drive up from Inverness to Dornoch we stopped and enjoyed the local scenery. Which in Scotland means a Castle or two.

Urquart Castle off Loch Ness

Coastline of the North Sea

Typical scenery of the Highlands

On Saturday, Jennifer took me on a hike to a local waterfall. It was great to be out in nature and hike around Scotland.

Waterfall #1

Waterfall #2

It was nice to see old friends and get a break from the city. Kyle spent the weekend studying and getting ready for his finals that are starting up in a week or so! There are only three weeks left in this semester and then Spring Break- time is flying!

-Stacie

Our weekend in Dublin

On Friday morning, Kyle & I set off on our first trip since we've been here. We decided to spend the weekend exploring Dublin. It's only a brief 45 minute flight from Edinburgh. It was our first time flying on a budget airline, Ryan Air, but the experience was a good one. They even played a victory song when the plane arrived on time in Dublin.

Kyle getting ready for our flight to Dublin

Neither on of us really knew what to expect of Dublin. When I think of Ireland, I think of lush green landscape. But of course, it wouldn't be like that since we were in a city. The city itself was had a great atmosphere and much bigger than Edinburgh. There is a river running through the center of the city that divides it by north and south.

Liffey River through Dublin

This weekend Ireland played England in the Six Nations rugby tournament, so the city was full of festivities and people. We bought our tickets for the hop-on-hop-off bus tour and tried to cram in as much as possible in our two days! There are quite a few impressive churches in Dublin. Christ's Church and St. Patrick's Cathedral being the two most famous. Kyle & I visited the grounds of Christ Church.

Christ Church

Here we are in front of Christ Church

I think the thing we were both the most excited about visiting in Dublin was the Guinness Storehouse. Both Kyle & I really enjoying visiting breweries so were excited to visit the Grandaddy of them all in the homeland of famous beer!

Here we are at the gates of the Guinness Storehouse

The tour itself is quite impressive. It is a self-guided tour through seven floors of the original Guinness warehouse that was started by Arthur Guinness 250 years ago. We even learned that stock from the original barley seed is kept in a vault at the storehouse for future generations. These people are serious about their brewing...

Guinness Vault replica

Kyle & I sampling some Guinness

The 7 story maze of the warehouse

As some of you may know, I am not a beer drinker. However, the Guinness from the brewery was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed my sampling experience!

After our tour of the Guinness Storehouse, we did a bit of exploring around the city. Dublin's cultural district is called the Temple Bar area. This area is lined with cobblestone streets and full of pubs and restaurants.

An Irish Pub in Temple Bar

We also took a stroll around Trinity College. The University was founded in 1592 and has around 15,000 students. It is also ranked 49th in the world rankings of Universities. Just a bit of information since I didn't know much about the University until our trip. The campus itself is located in the heart of Dublin and is quite beautiful.

Trinity College

Another interesting thing we saw on our Dublin Bus Tour was the President of Ireland's home, also known as Aras an Uachtarain (did I mention everything in Ireland is bi-lingual? All the signs read in Irish or English). The current President of Ireland is a woman and is serving out her second 7 year term. Looks similar to another house of a President...

The Aras an Uachtarain

A trip to Ireland would not be complete without some Irish Whiskey. So, Kyle & I jumped on the bandwagon and went to the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. The original distillery located on Bow Street in Dublin. The distillery is no longer in use, but has been turned into a museum and had quite an interesting tour where we learned all about the whiskey making process.

Inside the Jameson distillery

To make my father proud, I volunteered to be one of the 8 visitors who got to participate in the whiskey sampling. Each of us were given a sample of Scotch Whiskey, Irish Whiskey (Jameson of course) and American Whiskey (Jack Daniels). I choose the Scotch Whiskey as my favorite and received an official diploma deeming me an "Official Irish Whiskey Taste Tester". Needless to say, Kyle was very jealous.

Me and all my whiskey

The last tour we took was a tour of Kilmainham Jail. Built in 1796, Kilmainham Jail is now a museum. Check out more here. We learned about some of the prisoners who were kept at the prison and also about the hundreds of executions that took place here.

Gate near Kilmainham Jail

Inside the jail

One of the corridors

Many of the political prisoners of the 1916 rebellion were brought here to the Kilmainhaim Jail. Fourteen of the leaders of the 1916 rising were executed in the yard of the jail. A black cross stands in the spot today to commemorate their deaths.

Black cross for the leaders of the 1916 rising

Dublin was an exciting place to visit with lots of rich history and cultural atmosphere. We had a great weekend exploring a bit of Ireland. Next weekend I'm off to visit friends in Northern Scotland so more then! Here are the rest of our pictures from Dublin if you're interested.

-Stacie