Keep On Keeping On

“Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.” Malcom Forbes, Jr.

So, at my desk first thing Monday morning, ready to send out yet another flight of resumes to posting on Dice and LinkedIn, each one sent with a wing and prayer.  And I get a call!  A job that I really wanted three months ago has re-surfaced!  It's a work-from-home job for three months at a really great rate!  It will give me three months of solid cushioning to pay rent and look for more permanent work. 


Of course, this does not mean I'm not sending out the other resumes!  I'm off to do that now.  But I do so with more hope in my heart that the perfect job is out there.  And you never know when something will come up or from what direction.  My boyfriend says it's a numbers game; if you put enough resumes out there, one of them is bound to pay off.


I'm all about playing the odds!

4 Words that Strike Terror: Apply on Company Website

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.  Napoleon Hill

One huge drawback to automation is that each company doing its own recruiting wants you to enter your information into their system.  I don't mind giving them my info, of course, but it really gripes me that I spent hours and hours on my resume only to have to hand enter all the information again into each company's HR system.  OK, not hand enter entirely, because I can cut and paste huge swaths of data from my resume which already has the information, but still.  It can easily take 20 minutes to go through 1 company's HR software, repeating information that is already available in my resume.

All of this BEFORE the possibility of an interview!  It's ridiculous!  I wouldn't mind this tedious task AFTER an interview, when there is an actual possibility of a job, but before the interview is just too tedious for words.  I've gotten to the point where I almost never apply when I see a company website because there are so many jobs on Dice and LinkedIn that do not require going through all those hoops again and again and again.  It's just because the HR team is lazy and doesn't want to have to follow up.  There is no reason that I should give anyone my references until I've had a 1st interview.  There's also no reason to re-create my resume in 5 or 6 different formats every day.


And as long as I'm ranting, those extraction programs need a lot of work.  Maybe I should find the company that sells that POC and offer to upgrade their system.  I give them my resume and they put the information in odd places and I have to just cut and paste it all again anyway into the correct fields.  I keep using it on the off chance that the system may actually work at some time.


What this does is quash creativity.  Your resume must be created in their format, or it causes you no end of trouble.  If your work history is slightly interesting or, in my case, you took a couple of years off for personal reasons, watch out!  Those systems have no way of processing anything other than strict conformity.   What used to set me apart, an interesting, creative resume, is now a liability because I have to enter it into so many HR systems it is turning into a time drain.


*Sigh*  Now that that's out of my system, time to go apply!

"Ability will never catch up with the demand for it." Confucius

This has been a momentous week!  I have not one, but TWO second interviews scheduled!! After 5 months of creating resumes and cover letters, revising resumes and cover letters, applying, applying, applying, talking to recruiters, revising resumes, talking to recruiters, rethinking my strategy, asking for advice on what to change, taking the advice, changing things up, revising my resume and cover letter, applying, applying, applying, talking to recruiters, and never hearing back -- this is the week that forward movement was achieved!

I know interviews are not jobs but I am confident in my interview skills.  Even if neither of these positions is a good fit, just the fact that I'm moving forward is tremendously exciting and a clear indication that I'm on the right path.  I'm taking today off the job search -- sending out resumes and spending 30 minutes after pressing the button with those dreaded words "Apply on Company Website."  I am not suspending the search by any means.  I learned early on in my career to follow the old adage, "You never stop looking for a job until your first day of work."  But after five months, I believe I deserve this day of celebration.

"Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction." Will Rogers

So what's with the guessing game regarding rates for consulting jobs?  During my last job search, rates were  stated up front.  Now, I think there's must be some new incentive to place me at the lowest rate possible.  I've had more than a couple of recruiters balk when I ask what the rate is.  Seriously?  I know the rate is included with the job description, so why are they so reluctant to share that information?  These are consulting jobs, so it's not like a high level of job satisfaction over time will compensate for a lower rate as it might in a permanent position.  The only trade-off in consulting is money for time and expertise.

This rant comes because yesterday I had a recruiter really torf me off.  First she tells me I need to re-vamp my resume before she can submit it. While this is fairly common these days (I seem to have to change my resume for each new recruiter, and sometimes each new job), she had not quoted a rate.   Earlier yesterday I had a long conversation with another recruiter about a job that sounded like a lot of fun, but turned out to be $10/hr under the low end of my scale.  So I'm flinchy about spending time on a job that is going to be nowhere near my range.

I ask the recruiter if the job was within a range, and gave her $15/hr leaway.   This was her response:  "The rate is determined bythe candidate's experience as it pertains to the required skills/needs of the client.  So without having a conversation with you, and going over everything and determining if you are qualified for the position, I could not quote you a rate.  I hope this answers your question."

Seriously???  OK, first, no, that doesn't answer my question.  Second, you contacted me .  Why did you contact me if you hadn't at least glanced at my resume to determine if I was qualified?

Luckily, there are hundreds of other recruiters out there to work with. 

“I can’t go back to yesterday – because I was a different person then” Lewis Carroll

After taking some time off of the job search in December, I've emerged with a new strategy for the New Year.  After bowing to the signs from God that I was not on the right path (ok, after the emotional equivalent of getting hit in the head by a 2x4), I changed up my resume to focus on what I actually want to do instead of what I thought would get me out of my current job the fastest.  That's the AHA moment -- I can get a job doing something I really enjoy.  Hmmm.

So Business Systems Analyst it is!  On the Monday after New Year's, I re-purposed my resume, using the one I used to get my current job as a guide.  I figured that resume got me a lot of interviews, so maybe I did something right with it.  That took all day (my computer crashed in the middle of a particularly creative spell and I lost a lot of time). 

Moving forward, I posted the new resume and updated my profiles on Dice, LinkedIn, and CyberCodeers.  I'm scheduled to complete Career Builders, Hynes & Company, Tek Systems, Strategic Staffing Solutions and a few others over the weekend.  I contacted the recruiters who have worked with me in the past and gave them the new information.  This weekend I will start sending out actual applications.

It worked!  I've got new interest from recruiters and I'm not getting overly spun up about it.  I am very encouraged, and there are lots and lots of BSA positions out there, so the perfect one is waiting for me.

My original plan was to take every Monday off until I run out of PTO, but I've accomplished a lot this week in the mornings, and want to save my PTO for possible job interviews.  Keeping optimistic....

2012 Motto: It's About the Journey!

So here's my motto for 2012:  If you're not enjoying yourself, you're doing something wrong.  Life is about the journey.

A few years ago, I started adopting mottoes instead of making resolutions.  So instead of a list of things I could beat myself up about for not completing, I have a guiding light to follow.

Last year it was Get Healthy.  I embarked on making changes toward a sustainable, healthy lifestyle.  Not a quick-fix diet, but long-term healthy habits.  Last year at this time, it was exhausting to do almost everything and a two-block walk seemed adventurous.  Today I work out with a trainer a couple of times a week.  I've missed sessions (sometimes whole weeks) but I am still going and can really see the difference in my body and my energy level.  I'm started wearing a pedometer.  When I first started in May, my goal was 1500 steps a day, and I was happy to hit it most days.  My current goal is 4000 steps a day for the next month, and increasing from there.  I've been wanting to do the Bay to Breakers for years and years, and for the first time, it seems like it's within the realm of possibility!  I can start with the 2-mile/day foundation and work up over the next 5 months so I can do the whole 9 miles in May!

My 1st motto 3 years ago was No More Drama.  The corollary was:  No drama means taking care of yourself - up front every day, all the time.  It worked really, really well!  By taking care of myself (simple things like making sure my meds were refilled on time and always having healthy food in the house), a lot of the drama that had been swirling around me for years dropped away, leaving me time and energy to work on improving my life.


So this year's motto is about not stressing myself out and enjoying the process.  In the past (I'm already moving forward!) I would put a lot of pressure on myself and end up not enjoying my life.  From the job search to having a few folks over for dinner, I would stress out.  So this year (and I made an excellent start with my Holiday/Birthday party), if I'm stressing out, then I need to change what I'm doing. This year, it's all about the ride.

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

When I started this round of job searching, I vowed that I would stay off the emotional merry-to-round that drove me to the brink last time.  I reworked every cover letter and invested energy in every resume sent out.  At 15 resumes a week average, that's a lot of energy going out!  Then I'd talk to a recruiter and pull out my bright and smart employable TC to chat brilliantly on the phone.  After talking to the recruiter and being submitted for a job, I would go to CraigsList and start hunting for available houses in Alameda.  I examined each one and thought, "Could I live here?  What would making dinner be like in that kitchen?  Can I really afford that much rent?"  More energy leaking out.  And none coming back.  No calls back from recruiters, nothing.

So with this new round, the question is:  How do I maintain enough enthusiasm to keep sending out resumes without draining myself?  I'm still working on it, but have created a couple of New Rules to help me through. 

First, cut out looking at Criagslist for housing.  Jobs, yes, housing, no. No looking for available houses to rent until my 2nd interview.  That ought to free up a whole bunch of energy right there.  To be honest, there's an added extra bonus, because my bf offered to do the initial searching.  He, being smart, thought he'd wait until I got an actual job offer before starting the search.  Me, being emotionally drained and stressed out, was getting angry at him because he said he would do this part, and I was spending hours of time looking through the listings so we would be ready to jump when the job offer came through (which I have yet to have an interview).  OK, I am not proud of this.  However, the bonus is that I'll be less angry with him for, er, no reason.  Extra bonus points for having a bf who will not be angry at me because I'm angry at him for, er, no reason.

Second, understand that this is purely a numbers game and don't get invested in every resume I send.  Still tailor the cover letter, but do it as a writing exercise, not an emotional connection.

Third, let go of the idea that I'll have a job by Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or even July.  It will happen when it happens.  I will continue to do the work, just leave my emotions out of it.  

At least until I get a job interview.