Resume of Career Catastrophes

I am still getting nowhere near enough hours with my present job. In fact, I have now been waiting seven days for some information to complete a project.  I have sent emails (as this is currently my only way to reach my employer) and have been told that the request will be attended to and then… it is not.

I can’t wait around hoping that things will change.  I’m not going to let someone tell me that I am the problem because I’ve been very communicative and available and it’s done not one bit of good.

I think the issue is that bosslady wanted an assistant and bossdude did not feel it necessary, but hired someone to make bosslady happy.  Bossdude has been consistently rude and dismissive.  Also, if they wanted someone to perform manual/physical labour, they should have specified that in their advert, which they did not.  I don’t do heavy lifting, I never said that I would and have no intention of doing so… and if that is what costs me my job, so be it… at least I won’t have a herniated disc in my back.

Also, there were several tasks at the S office that needed to be done.  I spent a couple of hours on a Saturday taking pages of notes of instructions.  Part of it involved going back to the S office to pack things up, etc. Well… I found out that Dragon Lady Office Manager was told to do all of the tasks I had been instructed to do.  I offered to share the bosslady’s explicit instructions with Dragon Lady and she was totally uninterested.  So, yeah…  I think it’s time to admit to myself that this really isn’t working and do what I need to do.

It’s really too bad, too. This really had a lot of potential.  I’m not quitting, I am just going to look for another job and if this one comes up with some hours, great… if not, I won’t be looking to sell my kidney on the black market to pay the bills.

I have an interview scheduled for this afternoon (Monday). I am a little freaked out by that.  It’s not that I am not happy with my current job, it’s more a matter of the current job not providing enough hours and my being a workaholic.  And current job not understanding quite where my skills lie. But I am learning a metric fuckton (it’s a legal term… the attorney I worked for used it all the time) of new things.  Anyhoo, it’s just up the road from current bosslady’s house and I think it would be a nice, solid, stable income to rely upon that I could supplement my current income with and still not work more than 65 hours a week. Which I know sounds horrible if you work a 40 hour week on the regular and want nothing to do with working more hours but for me, at this point, I NEED that income.

Why, you ask? Well, I am getting ready to sign yet another year’s lease at the place I am currently living. Which is, for lack of a more politically correct terminology, the ghetto.  I need to get out of here. I would like to be able to, at some point, afford my own car.  I need to start digging myself out of debt.  Annnnd, I thought I had an expense ending in November that ends up will be dragging out until July.  Sigh.  So, working 2 jobs is sortve necessary and having something with a reliable paycheck will be nice. Plus, it’s hedging my bets on what the current bosslady’s real plans are.  I know that sounds pessimistic, but it is actually just realistic.

So, there you have it… I’m interviewing. It’s a little scary.  We’ll see what happens.

I am not one who lives by my horoscope.  I think that horoscopes are interesting and entertaining but I don’t plan my life according to my horoscope… However… today’s horoscope says:

“Your current interactions with others are the source of both good news and bad news now. The good news is that opportunity comes knocking at your door. The bad news, however, is that you might be so entrenched with what you are doing that you don’t stop to let it in. Opportunity won’t just stand there waiting forever, so jump up and embrace it joyfully while you have the chance.”

And, well… here’s the thing. I do like (most of) my new job.  But it isn’t providing nearly the hours I would like and then today I got a call from an agency who has a contract job for, well, LOTS OF MONEY.  And I told them to go ahead and submit my resume.

Now, I am not someone who is totally governed by the Almighty Dollar.  That being said, I DO have bills to pay and things have been really, really tight since I lost my job in July so the opportunity to (FINALLY) make some good money is very attractive.  Plus, it’s another MAJOR corporation name for my resume and it will help me when I need to do salary negotiations next.

What will it mean for my current job? Well, to be honest, I am not sure. *I* happen to think I could do both because I am not pulling anywhere near full-time hours with my current job.  Plus, to be honest, I am having a great deal of doubt about whether the boss looks at it as a long-term relationship or if I am disposable and there are reasons I am feeling that I am, perhaps, disposable.

So, I had already determined that I was going to allow myself to be open to the possibilities that are out there and then this big money opportunity comes along… And maybe horoscopes are a bunch of hooey, but it does make me wonder what’s in the stars…

Yes, folks… the clock has reset and switched from “Jobless Since” to “Workin’ Since”… HUZZAH!

And, no, I did not end up with one of the temp agency jobs.

I am working at slowly shifting my schedule to get back in sync with the working world.  While I am not having to be to work super-early in the morning, I am shifting things so I have time to more gradually wake up and get my head together in the morning.

And, I am working on having myself together to be able to be organized and get things done.

It’s good to be working again… I just wish I’d had a couple of transition days to be able to tie up loose ends. Maybe over the Thanksgiving weekend, I can work on that.

So, I had three interviews late last week. I had a phone screen today and have an interview set up for Thursday.  I am finally scraping the bottom of the barrel and heading off to a temp agency tomorrow. Oh… and I got submitted for a job that will be a substantial pay cut but I honestly think it’s another one of those things I will not hear another peep about.

The job I REALLY want contacted me again tonight asking me how my job search is going. This is madness and there is a part of me that wants to tell them to either offer me a job or take a flying leap. I do NOT have time to play games. This is my career and livelihood on the line here, people.  The sad thing is that I really, really like the person and I really, really want to work for/with the person but if this person cannot make up their mind, I have no choice but to cut my losses and move on.  And honestly, maybe that’s what I should do.

I am SO over all of this. And being with a temp agency is only going to prolong the agony. Because they’ll send me on all these short-term assignments and then I’ll be without a job (and income) until something else comes along.

The first part of this week was slow. I got a call and there was a brief phone screen type interview and then a couple of days later I got a rejection email. No real surprise given the interviewer’s line of questioning during the phone screen (if they choose to dwell on the negative whilst questioning, they are usually not interested but are fulfilling a quota or something).

I had three interviews this week. Two with agencies and another that was to be a direct hire. I was supposed to hear something by the end of the day about the direct hire position. I didn’t hear anything.  Even though I felt I presented as a strong candidate, I overheard the applicant ahead of me being offered the job. I am not really sure what the point of interviewing me was, but I suppose she didn’t want to say she’d offered the person just before me the job and I could leave after making me fill out several essay-style question filled pages of questions pre-interview.

I don’t suspect I will hear anything from either of the agencies, either.  Call it a gut feeling or intuition but there was just a “vibe” that shook my confidence in each situation.  However, I scored well on the testing that they’d made me take pre-interview, so I feel marginally happy about that.  Marginally happy because if it doesn’t help me to get a job, what’s the point?

So… another week down. The clock ticks on.  Back to Square One on Monday.

Yet another week has passed and I am still not going to be in a new office on Monday morning.  We’ve passed the 100 day mark now and I have to admit I am perplexed.  I can’t seem to “close the deal” and it is frustrating.  A job I’d interviewed for in early October is still in limbo. A job I’d interviewed for and was told to “alert” my references to receive a call still has not contacted any of my references.

Friday ended up being a horrifically unproductive day that started early and is ending late.  I have a long task list for this weekend.

I need to do something fun/relaxing this weekend.  Let’s hope I can accomplish that.

The clock keeps ticking… soon it will be 100 days.  Panic set in about 60 days ago… now I am at a point where I just don’t know what to do anymore.  It is hard to not just sit and be sick with worry (which I know is unproductive).

I had an interview the other day. I wrote my follow-up thank you letters. I was told to let my references know that they were going to be contacted.  As of 5PM on Friday (a full 2 days after being told to let my references know that they would be contacted), not one person had been contacted.  I am not impressed that I was told to contact my references and tell them to expect contact and then have them not be contacted.

The week ended without any contact from the agency that set up the interview and so I am still “in limbo” and am not really sure what to expect as far as that position goes.    I am trying to not dwell on it but I can’t help but feel frustrated.

It’s late, though…. and I should head to bed.  100 days won’t get here any slower if  I don’t sleep…

Today was the first time I can recall having gone to an interview and walked out hoping against hope that I did NOT get offered the job.  I had an interview today that was just SCARY.  I sortve imagine it must have been like the meeting you have when you are considering joining a cult.  And I want no part of it.

BUT…

I’m far enough into this (almost 90 days now) that I am sure the unemployment folks are chomping at the bit to cut me off for the slightest reason and I would have to take this abomination if they offered it to me.  And I really can’t imagine myself being anything but miserable working there.

On the other hand, I had a wonderful interview the other day and I’d really, really like the job.  I’ve done all that they have asked of me and now am waiting to hear their decision. It is agony waiting.

And I am sure you realize by this point in the post that I was not murdered at my questionable interview the other day.

I need some sleep… goodnight.

Another week has passed and I am no closer to being in an office on Monday morning.  *sigh

This morning’s project was making my office actually look like an office and not a livingroom.  I am mostly done with that project now.

My pet peeve of the day is this… I missed a phone call regarding a job.  I return the call and get voicemail. I leave a brief, polite voicemail and now it’s 2+ hours later and I haven’t gotten a return call.  I did try again an hour after my first call and got voicemail again. Here’s the thing.  Yes, I am unemployed.  But that does not mean that I have nothing to do other than sit and wait for the phone to ring.  And I know that you, Mr./Ms. HR Person, have a job to do, as well.   But really, you aren’t going to give me a call back just because I wasn’t sitting around waiting for the phone to ring?

I do have an interview tomorrow (yes, on a Saturday).  I have mixed feelings about it.  On one hand, it could be a very fun job.  On the other hand, this was a posting on Craigslist and the person wants to meet on a Saturday and it’s at their “office” but what if they really just want to steal my kidney or something?  Yes, I know that I am probably being ridiculous… probably because I read far too many “true crime” books.  Assuming that I am not murdered, I’ll let you know how it goes!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!