I’d Rather Gnaw Off A Limb…
… than go job-hunting. And yet, that’s exactly what I find myself doing these days. I’ve never been a savvy networker, so reaching out to all two of them didn’t take as much time as I thought. A lot of my freelancing work lately has been writing resumes, so I feel pretty comfortable in that area. And I just got a haircut, so I’m ready for that Go-Getter-Middle-Aged-Female interview.
(I am now officially nauseous).
I signed up on the job boards and found the Usual Suspects in terms of working in the tech field in Denver. I was surprised to see so many jobs, given the news we are all reading about cuts here, slashes there, layoffs everywhere. Perhaps these are job postings that will never get filled – I’ve certainly seen that happen before. But that doesn’t keep me from hitting "Apply Now" button and sending off my Only Slightly Exaggerated Resume to about a dozen employers.
When I left the corporate world, I thought there was about a 50% chance I would never go back. I’d blame the current economic crisis, but that really hasn’t been a big factor. The truth is that I was good at what I did, and despite a burning desire to work for myself, I’m not good at marketing my own skills. There’s another part to this that I’ll talk more about some other day – I had also hoped that I would be able to find something I was really passionate about once I eliminated the stress and noise of a corporate job.
That didn’t happen. And I really, really worked on it. I went to workshops, read books, meditated, kept a journal, drank lots of wine and even did some yoga. I can say that my stress level is so low that sometimes I have to eat a piece of candy just to be sure I’m still alive. But the passion thing – it just didn’t happen for me.
So, any job-hunting advice out there?
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November 19th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
hah – what an honest post.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Thanks for such an honest post, Annie. I find myself in a slightly similar position at the moment but for different reasons, and was thinking about writing a blog post about it. You’ve just motivated me a bit more.
Passion is a wonderful thing and I always advise people to do those things they are passionate about, but we also have to weigh it up with the things we are good at (and not so good at).
As for job-hunting advice…I’m not really an expert, but going directly to companies you’d like to work for even if they are not advertising seems to work well for others.
All the best,
Lisa
Lisa´s last blog post..The Secret Project
November 20th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Agreed, what an honest transparent voice.
We’ve gone so far away from just saying what we mean,
always considering some future consequence.
You will eventually find something you are passionate about enough to earn from it, and want to blog about it.
In the mean time, perhaps you should add some highlights
of your abilities here, so friends can pass it on?
Also, do you follow @BillVick ?
Best,
Ed
November 21st, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Hey Annie,
I feel your job-hunting pain! I hope never to have to do it again in my lifetime. I would rather live an extremely downsized life, getting by on 25% of my previous corporate salary and sacrificing a lot of luxuries, all of which I’m doing now, than go back to the stress of the cube farm.
Interesting point you made about working for yourself: “I’m not good at marketing my own skills”.
Isn’t that what job hunting is about? Marketing your skills to prospective employers? (you can hit me now – lol)
It’s the part I hated, too. But I do have a great resource for you. It’s the single best job hunter’s book I’ve ever read (and I read a lot of them back in the day). It’s called “Ask the Headhunter”, and here’s the site:
http://asktheheadhunter.com/welcome.htm
Hope you find it enlightening, and all the best in finding a job you love!
Barb
November 25th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Thanks for this share Annie. At this point, I’ve worked with many people who have told me they don’t know where their passion lies in their careers, and consistently what I’ve found is that, as long as I’m able to convince them that I won’t judge or ridicule what they tell me, they find that they’re actually a lot more certain of what they want than they’d thought. When we find a compassionate listener, the old habit of holding back from saying what we want — or even convincing ourselves we don’t know — for fear of being rejected or hurt tends to fade away.
The bottom line: I’d recommend that you find someone you trust to just accept what you say without judgment, and have a conversation about what you want. You may find that you have a clearer idea than you think.
– In gratitude, Chris
Chris Edgar´s last blog post..Projections, Part II: How Our Judgments Of Others Can Teach Us About Ourselves
November 25th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Annie, I find myself in the same position you’re in, and with the same level of enthusiasm for the task.
Worst part, for me, is the ‘helpful’ gentle pushing I’m getting from family members. I’m in Denver, too–do you recall if strangling a relative is still a felony here?
Just weighing my options.
Rick´s last blog post..Shock to the system
December 8th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Sorry to hear about the job-hunting — any luck yet?
Denver does have the better, more lucrative jobs, but I hope you find a place that is more Seth Godin-like than cubicle-oriented!
SpaceAgeSage´s last blog post..Myth, Supersition, or The Real Thing?
December 11th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I’ve got a job interview tomorrow. While I can’t understand why some people actually want a job, it does seem to be necessary for an awful lot of us.
Hunter Nuttall´s last blog post..Does Work Suck? Fix It With ROWE!