I finally got a job!

The reason I have not updated this blog in over a month is because I finally got a full-time job. I was debating whether or not I wanted to keep blogging and take it in a different direction or just end it all together. I’ve decided to end the blog as “an unemployed college graduate” and wait until I have something interesting to blog about to come back. I enjoy writing but I learned that rehashing my experiences during the recession was kind of depressing. It’s easier for me to stay positive if I just keep moving forward. 

I started my new job two weeks ago. It’s kind of bitter-sweet because the pay is very low considering I have a bachelor’s degree and experience. It should take about three to four months for me to get caught up on my bills and even then money will still be tight. I may have to look for a part-time job until I can go back to school and put my student loans into deferment. The main thing I’m happy about is having health insurance again.

I can feel it

I’m sad to say that I don’t have much to report. No interviews in the last two weeks. I ended the first part of my temp assignment last week and the second part started today. I really wish I could talk about what goes on there but I’m not allowed. I’ve been evaluating test scores for standardized tests in Florida and Colorado. We are prohibited from talking about the questions and answers for obvious reasons. Oh the stories I could tell! Let’s just put it this way, I fear for the future of our children even more now. 

I quit working at the restaurant. That was way over due. I just couldn’t justify driving 30-45 minutes and risk not making any money anymore. It’s actually a huge weight off my shoulders. I really hated working there, with a passion. 

For some reason I feel like my time is coming. Not my time to die, my time to get a job of course. I don’t know why, I just do. As much as I enjoy writing this blog…I would be more than happy to see it come to an end.

I wish horoscopes were true

Almost every day I read the local newspaper. My parents have it delivered daily so when I go over for dinner I read it. I like reading my horoscope at the end of the day so I can see if it was right. Sometimes it is but most of the time it’s not. Today I read it a little earlier and I really wish it was right. 

“Today is a 7. You’re entering a busy phase. This ought to be interesting. Did you get a new job recently? If not, that’s likely to happen. You may even design it yourself. That’s perfectly acceptable.”

It’s likely to happen huh. Well one can dream.

Update: 

Here is my horoscope on 4/22 “Today is a 6. You should start feeling better soon, especially if you’re getting rest. You’ll certainly have enough work to keep you busy in the coming weeks. Make sure you take care of yourself.”

Again with the busy. Today I slept in until 9:30. I stayed in my PJs looking for a job and networking on the internet all day until I went rollerblading before dinner, which was the only time I left the house. I guess working the temp assignment for 3 weeks made me forget how much it sucks being unemployed. Not only do I need a job to earn money and pay bills, I need a job for my sanity! Luckily the second half of my temp assignment starts Monday.

I hope this week is better than last

It’s Sunday night and I’m wondering what this next week will have in store for me. This past week was such a mix of good and bad that I really don’t know what to expect. Monday was a typical day. Temp job boring me to death and a typical case of “the Monday’s.” When I got off work, however, I had a voicemail about a job I had applied for. I returned the call, had a quick phone interview and set up a face-to-face interview the following day. Great start to the week! Tuesday I went to the interview and it went well. He had questions, I had questions, nothing too eventful. The rapport was good and he asked when was a good time to call me about a second interview. I thought this must be better then just saying “if” they wanted a second interview then they would call me.

Since the interview was out of town (hour and a half away) I visited a couple friends I don’t get to see often. I met the first for coffee and afterwards they filled up my car with gas. Next I had dinner with another friend and they paid. All in all it was a great day. Wednesday came and no call, but the next day is a little too soon to be expecting a call anyway…at least I hope. That night I received a call from a friend saying they had an extra ticket to see The Flight of Conchords live and I could have it for free. Plus, the seat was in the VIP section and included a $20 bar tab!! The show was great and I really needed a good laugh.

Now Thursday was when it really became rocky. Went to the crappy temp job in the morning. No call about a second interview. After work went bike riding with my 2 best friends and went back to their place for dinner. Third night in a row spent with great friends and free beer. When I got home Thursday night I had a not so great email. About a week and a half before an old ex-boyfriend contacted me about writing the copy for his new photography website he was having built. He’s also a graphic designer so the plan was that in turn he would forward the website to a bunch of people in the biz and see if it could turn into more work for me.  Needless to say, his new wife was not happy about our new endeavor and he had emailed me to say we couldn’t work on the website together. What upsets me about this is that I asked him if she would be OK with this since we used to have a relationship and he said yes. However, if I were to go on to explain this whole situation it would be different blog post all together. 

After having such a good day Thursday and then being let down by that email, I went onto Friday with the attitude that all I had to do was make it through one more day until the weekend. So I got up early to do my radio show-fun! Then I went on to my temp assignment-not fun. Even though I had been up since 4:30 am, I drove clear across town to pick up a shift at the restaurant that someone had asked me to cover for them earlier in the week. Now again with the mounting evidence that almost everything in my life goes wrong: when I got to the restaurant, no one knew who I was supposed to be working for since everyone for the night sift was there. I had only received a text and didn’t ask who it was that needed their shift covered. So we started going through the list of employee phone numbers and found out that a hostess had texted me. I drove all the way out there to make $12!!!

So the weekend went by, I caught up on sleep, celebrated Easter with the family and even got another email from the ex saying his wife had a change of heart and would I please reconsider helping with the website. What’s a girl to do but press on and hope for the best…while preparing for the worst.

Slight relief

I received a call from a temp agency yesterday and I’m going to start an assignment tomorrow. It will last for 8 weeks which is helpful. It only pays $10/hr though. For this assignment I will be a score evaluator for standardized tests. The position requires that you have a Bachelor’s degree. So why pay only $10/hr? I’m assuming the pay is so little because of the amount of people needed for these assignments. They hire about 600 people per assignment. The sad part is that all these people with their advanced degrees are most likely there for the same reason I will be, they have been laid off and can’t find anything else.  It will be nice to have some steady employment for a little while.

What is it going to take?

I am so stressed this week that I actually smoked a cigarette. And I really hate smoking. Nothing seems to be going right. For the last year and a half I’ve been able to stay afloat, but now I am sinking. I’ve told my roommate that I won’t be able to afford rent anymore. I hate to do this to them but hopefully they will find a new roommate. So that means I’ll be sleeping on my parents couch. I haven’t been able to pay my student loans for the last 2 months. I’m also not really sure if I’ll have enough to make my car payment by the due date this month.  I never know how much I’m going to make at the restaurant. 

I’m very overwhelmed right now. I’m not sure what else to do.

So frustrating!

The last few weeks have been a real letdown. I’ll start with a phone interview that I had unexpectedly. They called and said “do you have a few minutes to talk about the position.” I said yes thinking maybe they would just ask a few questions. No, they put me on speaker phone and proceeded to ask me full on interview questions. Needless to say I didn’t get that job. 

Next was a position that one of the temp agencies I am signed up with referred me to. It was a great job (although the pay was a little low) and being referred through an agency was a plus. The interview went really well but towards the end I was told that it was a new position and they had not been approved to hire anyone yet, but they still wanted to give interviews. The agency told me the position was temp to hire. I was a little disappointed but decided to stay positive until I got the final word. About a week later the temp agency called and said they spoke to the woman who I interviewed with. She told them how wonderful I was but that the position was not approved and they couldn’t hire anyone at this time. Thanks for getting my hopes up people!

I also had another phone interview, which I knew about in advance and could prepare for. They said they wanted to do a second interview but have rescheduled twice.

It was worth a shot

My $100 Facebook ad credit ran out over the weekend. While it was a good idea for some extra exposure, it didn’t lead to anything.

To make matters worse, I have a horrible sinus infection. I’ve missed 2 days of work at the restaurant (which they’ve cut everyone’s schedule to 3 days a week) and I had to pay $70 to go to the doctor and get a antibiotic.

I’m unemployed, not stupid

My Facebook ad has been up for a week and I’ve used about half of the $100 ad credit I received from the Visa Business Network. So far I have received responses telling me that my ad was a good idea and solicitations for “investment opportunities.” While I appreciate the words of encouragement from some, the people who are trying to pull me into at home business schemes or sales jobs should be ashamed. If I am struggling to get by, why would I have an extra $100 to “invest” in an at home business? And if I wanted to go into sales, wouldn’t I mention something about that in my ad or resume. If I wanted to be in sales I would have no problem finding a job, especially from companies that only pay commission. I’m sure the people who contacted me about these “opportunities” knew that this was not what I was looking for at all. They probably just thought I was stupid and would fall for lines like, “I too was in your shoes until I found an opportunity that changed my life” and “I don’t have a J.O.B. to offer you, but, I have been blessed to find something to do to work from home that shows others how to earn residual income.”

So please, if you clicked on my ad and are now thinking about contacting me with something other than a real job that is in my field, dont.

New networking idea

Today I have tried a new way of networking to help find myself a job. I took out an ad on Facebook to get people to look at my resume. I read about this in an article on creative ways to find a job. The way this is supposed to work is that people will click on my ad that will then take them to my LinkedIn profile. Hopefully if someone knows of a position that I would be good for, they will contact me or forward my LinkedIn profile to the appropirate person. You have to pay per click for the ad but I got a $100 ad credit by adding the Visa Bussiness Network application to my Facebook account. You can read an article here about how others used this as well as a step-by-step on how to set up the ad. I’m interested to see if anything will come of this.

On a happy note, my tax return is supposed to be deposited into my bank account next Friday!