Extended Vacation

Hey folks, Happy Summer!  I decided to hibernate for the winter, and really have no valid excuse for not updating during the Spring except for my job.  Wowzers--I really had so much more time when I wasn't working full-time.  Well, I'm back. Coming up this week, company time off policies...

Happy New Year! What's Your Resolution?

Happy 2013 folks!  Hope you rang in the new year and slid down the fiscal cliff with glitter and tasty beverages.  I didn't even make it until midnight...a sure sign that I'm getting old.  I've never been great about resolutions, but 2012 was the year of gifts in disguise, so I'm curious what 2013 has in store.  Let's see...I found a great new job, get paid (on occasion) to pursue my passion, and made some great new friends.  Thank you 2012!  Oh right,  I didn't give you all the update.  I got a job in December in my field!!!  Take that people who think you should just settle for less if you find yourself unemployed.

Now, for resolutions...  I l pledge to update this blog on a weekly basis.  And I also pledge to take more pictures this year, since it looks like it's going to be a great year, and I want to capture the special times.  People of the Internet, what's your New Year's Resolution?

A Moment of Interviewing Zen

Two weeks ago I was working as a temp.  Most of my job consisted of searching online databases for records, and either printing those records, or extracting information and performing data entry in Excel.  Boring.  Well, since I don't want to be a temp forever, I am looking for FT work, as you know.  I snagged an interview two Fridays ago after work.  While riding the train to my interview, I called my friend and she wished me luck.  As I was leaving the train, the man sitting next to me wished me luck also.  Yay!  I was truly moved by his kind words.  I don't know what changed between leaving work and walking into the interview, but a calm washed over me, and it was like I just can't get stressed about this anymore--I will not be stressed about this anymore.  I recognize that I'm in a very fortunate position, where there's someone else picking up most of the financial slack and I'm looking for jobs that make me happy.  Like I said, Zen.

People of the Internet?  Has this happened during your job search, where you've decided that it's not worth the stress?  Obviously, be proactive about seeking out interviews, just don't get worked up about it. 

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving!

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!  I might have wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving on the actually day, but on Thursday, I was doing what I hope many of you were doing: sleeping in, watching the parade, eating delicious food, and spending time with your family.  Sadly, I know that at least one person was working--the recruiter that called me at 9 o'clock in the morning.  She spent her morning working.  That's just a shame.  While it's kind of crappy to not have a job, and I am thankful that I didn't have to think about work on a day that should be spent just thinking about family (and possibly next-day shopping sprees).

People of the Internet, were you working on Thanksgiving, stuffing your face with your family, or both?

Job Search Blues

Hey all, sorry it's been a while.  I've been distracted doing other fun stuff.  But I officially have a case of the job search blues.  Here is my conundrum:  Apparently, I'm overqualified for jobs in a field in which I don't have much experience.  The exact feedback is that I might get bored, and the job wouldn't offer enough of a long-term challenge.  Well, let's analyze this.  Employers think that I might get bored, and don't want to waste their valuable dollars on hiring costs like salary, benefits, time, and on-boarding activities, just to see me walk out the door in a few months.  I suppose that is a legitimate concern.  But I'm undergoing a career change, and I have start somewhere, don't I?

To try and keep my spirits elevated I've thrown myself into volunteer work, and freelance music.  Both of these are awesome and extremely rewarding, but they don't occupy enough of my time.  Fortunately, money isn't the concern right now, it's filling my days that is an issue.  So what's a young, eager, aspiring professional to do?  I'm signed up to take the PHR exam this winter.  Sadly, I don't know if that will help.  I'm worried that I'll still have limited experience, and be more "overqualified" than I am right now.
People of the Internet, how do you occupy your time during your job search?

Life Will Rock You Like a Hurricane

For those of you who don't know what's going on about Hurricane Sandy, you're clearly living under a rock. Good--stay there until the coast is clear.  For those on the East Coast right now, lives are being disrupted due to this natural disaster.  The most important take away for those people is to have an evacuation plan, and plan in place to keep them safe in case disaster strikes.

People need to have an evacuation plan in case of natural disaster, but it's also a good idea to have an evacuation plan for other things...like job searches.  Right now, I'm in the middle of a job search which is going well, but just in case things don't go exactly according to plan, I'm putting together an evacuation plan.  My evacuation plan is to become a freelancer.  In my case, it's freelance work that's unrelated to the field I want to enter, but it's something that I really enjoy, so it's a win-win.  Many people do freelance work, start their own business, or some other self-employed option to kick off a career transition.

People of the Internet, do you have an evacuation plan?  If so, what is it?

You Keep Me Hangin' On

I recently read an article that compared the recruiting experience to dating.  You communicate to see if you're compatible, then you meet in person to verify that your first impression was correct.  If you're a good match, you tell them that you want to continue seeing them, if it wasn't, tell them that it's not going to work out.  If you're a really great person, you might tell them why it's not going to work out, but the most important part is telling them.  Don't keep people hanging.

'You keep me hanging on' was a great song by The Supremes, but is not something that I want to experience in my job search.  If you want me for the job, tell me.  If you don't want me for the job, tell me.  Set me free, why don't ya baby...If you're really great you'll tell me why you don't want me for the job, but I won't hold it against you if you don't.  I get it, people are busy.  Again, the important thing here is communicating.  I just recently had an experience with the company where at the beginning of the process everything was rosy.  They called me for a phone screen within a week of me filling out an online application.  Then invited me for an in-person interview two days later.  At the end of the interview, they said the approximate timeline for hearing about next steps was two weeks.  This was where things went from rosy to brown-colored.  Exactly two weeks later, I emailed requesting a status update.  NOTHING.  A week after that I send a follow up email referencing my previous email and request a status update.  STILL NOTHING.  Finally, I decided to call and left a voicemail.  A few hours later, I get a form email saying, "blah blah blah, not this time deary, but we'll keep you on file."  Had I known a status update was just a phone call away, I would've just called.  My issue here is that this company is like the jerk that you have one or two dates with and then never calls.  And then after weeks, he texts you saying, "it's not gonna work out."  Now I have a negative view of the company, I think that their hiring process is a disaster, their candidate experience is terrible, and they now get the label of HOT MESS.  But maybe I'm overreacting.  People of the Internet, what have been your best recruiting experiences and your worst recruiting experiences?