It's taken me just over a year to get over the sudden death of my very much beloved boss, and the resultant redundancy from the company that I lived and breathed for 8 years.  Throw into the mix 3 months of unemployment before finding a temporary job (which is hideous but paying the bills), and then the equally sudden death of an old friend, and it's been quite a year.

I've tried to remain positive throughout all of this, and remain confident that having had what I would describe as a truly amazing job for the last 8 years that, there is an equally amazing job out there with my name on it.  It would have been easy to give up, but that's just not in my nature.  

Yesterday I was interviewed for a fabulous role, and I'm just waiting to hear the outcome.  Please send me your good vibes!!!  And if it isn't meant to be, there'll be another comes along in another few months, and I'll keep at it until the right thing turns up.

QB

In my last job I used to travel to the US for a week every year for a trade show event.  I attended as both a representative of the company and as the organiser of the event, as we always took a group of senior staff and important customers with us and had a very full itinerary.  I must say the US trip was incredibly hard work both in the planning and throughout the trip - anyone who thinks entertaining clients for a whole week isn't hard work doesn't know the half of it - but I loved every minute as I got to visit some great places.

QB

Sounds like a fantastic opportunity - well done and the very best of luck in your new role.  I'll miss your wise words of advice and encouragement.

QB

Happy Christmas from an equally empty office in Glasgow.

I'm so looking forward to 2009.  2008 was one of the worst years for me - I lost someone close to me, I was made redundant from my job of 8 years and was unemployed for 4 months.  I have a new (temporary for 6 months) job which is fine, the people are really sweet but it's not a patch on my old job.   But I consider myself lucky to have a job at all right now!

It would be really easy to feel sorry for myself and disappear under the duvet never to be seen again, but I fully intend to make 2009 a great year.  Lots of stuff to do, and I'm not going to waste time (like I usually do!) thinking about what to do, but am going to get off my ever expanding behind and make it all happen.

Best wishes to everyone, and here's to a good 2009 all round.

QB

I think everyone is entitled to one blip on their CV, no matter how short the period of employment but it's when a pattern develops that it'll raise a red flag to a potential employer and will likely go against you (even if it's an unfair assumption).

My blip was a job for just 3 months where it turned out I was completely unsuited to the company's structure.  I had come from a very flat-structured, innovative company and I moved to something much more hierarchical thinking that I wanted to try something different.  I was strangled with red tape from the beginning and it simply didn't suit me, and my gut feeling on my first day was the same as on my last that it was just a horrible mistake.

I think as long as you're very honest about why you leave a job so quickly, then an employer ought to understand.   And it helps to be able to put a positive spin on it - I always explain that it was a poor decision on my part, but the experience helped me learn a lot about myself and identified the type of organisation I now know I'm suited to (and those which I'm not!)

QB

Susan, I think we might have been separated at birth!  I too use purple folders for the stuff I like (ie my own projects), red for the super urgent things, and any old thing I have to hand for regular files and archiving.

I'm a bit of a stationery geek and tend to get excited by coloured stuff, particularly purple!

QB

Whenever he's in the office we have a 10 min face to face catch up first thing.  He's on the move a lot, though, so we touch base throughout the day by phone, text or email that he picks up as he goes.  Works really well for us.

QB

Sounds amazing.  I just happen to be popping over to Minneapolis from the UK in a couple of weeks ... might look them up!

QB

I love the Josh Lyman, Donna Moss relationship from the West Wing.  Also love Roz from Monsters Inc - she's terrifying!

QB

I'm lucky enough to have my own office, but it's the first door through reception and automatically the first place people will try when they have a question - do I know where X is? / can I sign for something in reception because the receptionist has gone awol? / can I borrow a marker pen ... blah blah.  I don't believe in having my door closed unless I'm working on something confidential or I'm really under pressure, but sometimes the interruptions drive me nuts.

What is it they say about buying a house - location, location, location?.  My office is so in the wrong location!

QB

I guess I'm an optimistic realist, ie totally upbeat (not annoyingly so!) about new ideas and concepts, ready to throw myself into anything that will be good for the company, but tempered with a little bit of realism.  I'm the one in the meeting who'll say "yes, that's a great idea let's go for it, but have you considered xyz ...".  I don't go out my way to look for difficulties, but I feel it's important to identify possible hurdles to success at the beginning so that contingencies can be put in place.  It doesn't make me a pessimist, but some of our creative people find me a bit annoying, particularly when I'm proved right.  Regularly!

QB

If it's something complicated or creative like a briefing report, or an article for the intranet, or the beginnings of a new project, I tend to jot some notes longhand to scope out the content I want to cover.  Bizarrely, I find it easier to be creative on paper than onscreen, and need to do this somewhere quiet for the juices to flow!  Once I have that it then takes shape onscreen.  

With things like letters and spreadsheets I tend to jump straight in and write it in Word or Excel as I go.

QB

I love the knitting spaghetti comment - I can so relate!  I guess I'd have to go for top notch organisation skills (or maybe it should be spinning plates) - being able to keep what feels like hundreds of different things going at once, whether it's planned work or out of the blue emergencies, while appearing totally calm and under control.  Classic duck syndrome.

Different every day, depending on what's on my plan.  I usually have a quick check of email and voicemail, then get my teeth into whatever project I'm working on - I know that they say the post-lunch time isn't the best for productivity but I actually find it's a good time for me.

QB

I've just been to a one-day marketing seminar and this works well for me.  A full day of classroom style training is about all the intensive training I can take.  Otherwise, I'm a big fan of online training that you can fit around your work schedule and go at your own pace.

QB