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Well just completed my entries into the De'Longhi Australia photo creative competition by the skin of my teeth. Overcame missing statues, protests in the CBD and PC crashing. Sigh I was hoping to get some pics with the bronze statues at the Docklands, Habour Town with Dame Edna and Dame Melba however they went on holidays a few days ago without telling anyone. Even information didn't realize. I spent two hours looking high and low for them. I found a group of mates thou willing to share coffee and a scrumptious fruit tart instead. It was an adventure and fun day of comping. :) I'm exhausted!!!!
Can check out the entries at Mark Johnstone on Facebook and/or add as friend if wanting to be tagged for competitions, or comment here what you think. Please don't comment on Facebook at least until after judging please. :)
X fingers now for the $4000 coffee machine.
Lemond
17 Apr 16 5:08 PM
@Annaar Pick was at luna park big face in the background and holding up a coffee with the caption cappuccino drinkers go on... Lick the lid. Funny thing I didn't even consider the innuendo. hehe
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=520555614796545&set=rpd.100005263328072&type=3&theater
@Annaar Did you do the De'Longhi Australia photo creative competition for Sydney? You never know your luck. I just thought that lacked creativity/originality according to the terms and conditions. Most entries were the same, done on the spot. So unless it's a stands out somehow.
Most people who entered probably were not aware of the competition and T&C's and had just wondered past and noticed the great free coffee or maybe checking out the baristas :)
Be up to the judges all subjective. Just hope gave myself a good chance by doing something offbeat then most of the other entries. Thou it wasn't my intention enter a possible controversial pic. hehehe OMG
@Lemond, my patient is still in a stable condition. Given the age of patient, and when it's time, euthanasia is probably the kindest thing. Moreover, I suspect there is a logic board problem. Oh well, nearly time to pull the plug...
toxicgherkin
19 Apr 16 7:09 PM
@Lemond, great win there! Get thee to Scorptec post haste and get that SSD installed!!!!!
toxicgherkin
19 Apr 16 7:10 PM
@toxicgherkin Yes I will do a pickup they suggested instead of having it delivered to St Kilda. They are just up the rd on high st in Malvern about 20 min tram if that. Not having it lost in the post. It would make a good backup drive. Good idea to have a backup OS on another drive if one crashes.
How's your laptop going?
@Annaar Nice accidental comp then. Well you know me I read the terms and conditions. They weren't far from me just a quick tram into the city and the weather was great when they were in Melbourne.
I think they are due to message the winners tomorrow and announce on FB on the 22nd I think from memory. So X fingers least one more bad day of random daily points. I had lots of fun with the competition thou. :)
Anyone looking for the bronze statues of Kylie, Graham Kennedy, Dame Melba, Dame Edna etc in the Docklands Harbour Town they are on holidays. Due to upcoming construction.
@Lemond I read T&C as well, but when you stumble into a comp you don't ask questions, wasn't time to get creative.... Now I would have, post interview, mind was elsewhere
Missed out on interview as I couldn't answer a question about the company today. They got me as I just walked out of the interview... Needed time to decompress... Made notes at home, but was far away from notes when the phone rang ... Oh well
@Lemond I read T&C as well, but when you stumble into a comp you don't ask questions, wasn't time to get creative.... Now I would have, post interview, mind was elsewhere
Missed out on interview as I couldn't answer a question about the company today. They got me as I just walked out of the interview... Needed time to decompress... Made notes at home, but was far away from notes when the phone rang ... Oh well
@Annaar You had up until last Sunday 5pm. to enter if read the T&C's. You Just had to keep the cup/s for the creative photo to do later. I don't think the baristas would of known the T&C's. More focused on showing off the plug "Primadonna Elite" coffee machine.
Hope you enjoyed the relaxing coffee. :)
My main idea was to get a pic using Dame Melba one of Australia's finest prima donnas and or Dame Edna which is a more colorful statue. I was going on that angle but alias not to be. More gave me a chance to check out Melbourne Docklands. I need to go back to a good wonder. They have an Art precedent all about the Docklands.
Damn. Guess if really want that job or a particular one need to really familiarize yourself with the company. Sounds got put on the spot and panicked a bit. Guess like creative competitions takes practice.
Photo/creative competitions don't usual enter. Definitely need more practice. Some lessons learnt lighting and shadows spoiled a lot of pics I took. I did think about what subjects to take pictures of and why, and how that related to the competition. I was more focused on the "creativity" of subject. Thou being questionable "suggestive" skipped my mind completely. Also despite researching the statues there was no mention about being moved.:( It happened like a couple of days earlier. Doh! Didn't think about time of day and lighting enough. Basically know nothing about photography apart from a quick google on the way there tsk. I did send the pics to a good friend to quickly check a couple. A way to learn another hobbie/skill and comp at the same time maybe even add to a resume.
Hopefully can relate all that to your job interviews. Like the blogs and forum get a feeling what is required and tips etc for competitions. Nothing is guaranteed, it's about improving your chances making to the final few. Then it can get subjective on the judges on the day. Job interviews is just another skill based competition. :)
@Lemond, Mac laptop is remarkably still in a stable condition...just waiting for that next indicated reboot for thing to go pear-shaped again. It always does...
toxicgherkin
20 Apr 16 10:02 AM
@toxicgherkin Note things to keep under the bed. A handyman, a lawyer and IT help. hehe.
Looks like I have to head to South Melbourne as they merged the Malvern office with the South Melbourne office. Just finished a chat with "plug" Scorptec Computers exchanging my details etc. Just waiting on confirmation when I can pick it up. X fingers can score a free mug as well as broke the last one from them. lol. That's my $99 worth of free plug for them. hehe
@Lemond re interview... Spent best part of the day concentrating on the physical job I was going for, remembering a co I read up on almost 2 weeks ago & getting the call as I walked out of the interview wasn't going to happen. :-)
Took & uploaded the coffee photo & put it out of my mind lol Next time will put some thought into it ...
Job interviews are becoming ageist. If you aren't in your 20s your odds of winning are 400/1 or 1000/1. Depending on the company.
Not only skills but being part of the 20 something group come into play.
@Annaar You never know your luck with the competition. Sometimes keeping it simple is best. Over thinking might looked a bit staged. It comes down to the judges and what they are looking for. The main tips mentioned in the blogs about including the promoter in the answer etc etc. Aim was to do something that hopefully stands out from the crowd and have fun. :)
I understand what your talking about if age means fitting into their "culture".
You need to turn that thinking about and use experience/wisdom to your advantage. Depending on age there may be government incentives for employing older people. Don't let the "competition" dictate your prospects of perusing your goals.
@Annaar The competition seemed too good of an opportunity to pass down. Would be around 100ish entries, most looking the same with one or two with any "creative" input. So if ticked off the boxes and put any effort in the odds looked good, especially for a valuable prize. God you can get 1,000 entries for a candle lol.
The competition had enough "hurdles" to keep the odds great. i.e. They only made about 3,000 cups of coffee in Sydney according to their FB page. Of those a small percentage were told about the competition as most were probably passing by and were just interested in the free great coffee. Took their pic on the spot then got rid of the cup. Then an even smaller percentage had read the T&C's and kept the cup for later.
I can see why some compers get regular wins with skill/creative competitions, especially if got a natural flare or talent for the particular competition. Like cooking competitions some are just natural with great ideas.
One comping secret must be spotting these type of hurdles that automatically get rid of most of the "competition".
Overall must be under 1/10 chance if I managed to tick off some boxes.
Now you can use that same thinking for jobs. Like of 1,000 people who makes the effort etc. Ie. good resume which is appropriate for that job being applied for and not just a default one, actually read the application requirements and researched the company, actually has the skills required etc. Breaking down the big problem of getting that job into a series of smaller hurdles to overcome. EG. Age just being one hurdle that you flatten out with the right approach. Turn that frown/bottle upside down. :)
In IT all about ability of breaking down a large task into a series of smaller ones. Then breaking it down even further into simplest form. Maybe you need to do a list, breaking down what is required then tick off each hurdle. Each time look how you can improve for that hurdle for next time or what worked well.
@Lemond The problem I've encountered is that I get interviewed by 20 something I'd be working with and not management... they dictate.... then again if I have a problem I start thinking of other ways of digging myself out of it. A 20 something year old usually passes the buck :-)
Need to keep on trying and hitting my head against many doors till one opens lol
@Lemond They did a good promo for the coffee as I walked by... majority of us got nice cups and not cups with labels on them... may be it to discourage us from entering a comp lol
Aust Sq has a statue, should have placed coffee by it if i thought of it at the time, but I didn't... the coffee didn't even take the edge off the massive headache I managed to get by the end of the interview ... always a next time.
Sometimes it's easy to be creative on the fly, other times it takes some thinking :-)
Regarding CV... if the ads were honest I would have been able to play word games with my CV prior to applying. Since most ads are generic, word games are impossible.. Computer scans for certain words and if you hit certain % a human looks at it, if not it's auto rejection.
