The first week

So, first week of work at the new job is nearly over (I write this on my lunch hour) and all I can say at this point is that one must take the good with the bad. Overall the job isn’t bad … in fact it might be a lot of fun once I get into it. But there are small things about it that I am less than pleased about …

First off, I still do not, at the end of the first week, have a computer that’s issued by the company. I’ve been using my own (well, technically it’s Chris’s laptop since mine cratered a couple of months ago) to do things like check email and read contracts and such. That’s fine except … it’s not really fine, KWIM? At least I can keep up with what’s going on but at the same time, it really sucks that the process isn’t smoother to get a company issued machine. You’d think a company this big (somewhere in the 80-100,000 employee range) would have this figured out by now, but … no. They don’t. Wonderful.

The other thing is that the work hours are less flexible than I would have expected. I’m a bit put out over this one, honestly, because I think the issue could have – and should have – been addressed during the whole interview process phase. If I hadn’t been dealing with a contracting company I can assure you it would have come up before I walked in the door. But the contracting company refused to address it with their customer, and so now I pay the price with a schedule that’s not really convenient for me. I don’t mind having to work every weekday (I was accustomed to having every other Friday off) but I do mind a great deal the 8-5 schedule because it just doesn’t fit with my lifestyle. I know that there are a lot people who don’t understand why this is such a big deal to me or why I even really care, but it IS a big deal to me.

The good thing is, at least this office is fairly close to my home. The problem is that with the hours that I’ve been told to work, it will take me much longer to get to and from work than it should. If my hours were shifted to one hour earlier (and still completely within the “normal” hours of this company) my commute time would be less than 30 min as opposed to the near hour it will now take.

Yes, I know I should be happy to have a job and maybe I sound ungrateful; I’m not. I’m just used to being treated like an adult, and having the chance to set my own hours, within limits of course, is what I’ve been used to doing. I think what really bothers me about the whole thing is that the hours were determined by someone who will not be around much in the coming months and who works a later schedule than anyone else in the group. I hate to say it but I’m hoping that once he takes off for his temporary assignment I will be able to work an earlier schedule. He’s the only one I’ve seen who comes in that late and stays that long. Almost everyone else is gone by 4:30 at the very latest.

Oh well … maybe things will get worked out soon. It would be really nice to have a computer at least … I will say this – it’s darn nice to be able to get away from the office for a little while every day if I feel the need. Having a car makes that MUCH easier.

 

The Final Chapter on housing & unemployment

Well, ok, so it’s not TRULY the “final” chapter, but it is the BEST chapter. I am SO excited and happy to report that the house payments are CAUGHT UP – both loans. I am STOKED. We also made April’s payment today – I am less stoked about that because it means our housing costs are nearly $1900 a month. Yeah, that totally sucks, but … it’s ours. I’m pretty happy about that. So YEAH!

I go back to work on Monday – new job, closer to home & more money. What could be better than that? Well, yeah … winning the lotto WOULD be better but … how about this weather??

Anyway, I am so very happy about the housing situation … so to celebrate I’m going to take a trip to Lowe’s or Home Depot tonight and pick up some paint to paint the kitchen and maybe the upstairs bathroom. And maybe some lamps … but don’t tell Chris!

 

Choose wisely

My whole life, practically, I heard people say “It doesn’t matter WHAT your degree is in, as long as you have it.” Well, I hope the young people of the world will sit up and listen to what I’m about to say. That, my friends, is a complete load of crap. It DOES matter what your degree is in, as countless millions have learned after it’s too late to do anything about it. That is the lesson I’ve been learning for the past three weeks. It does matter, and employers do care. Your degree in underwater basket weaving isn’t going to help you score a job as a COO, and my degree in project management isn’t making my own job search very easy.

The employers who list the type of jobs that I’m looking for all seem to think that in order to work with numbers, you have to have a degree in finance or accounting. My many years of experience working with accounting and financial information seems to count for very little. I have to admit I’m a bit frustrated and it has caused me on more than one occasion to consider returning to school to get my degree in one or the other. Accounting, I think, would be the one I’d pursue, for no other reason than I think I would enjoy it more. The thought has also crossed my mind to pursue a doubt major in both. The fact that I would even CONSIDER returning to school – whether that thought is just in passing or takes root and begins to drive me – should be sign enough to those who know me that I’m becoming increasingly frustrated in my job search. I finished my project management degree at the end of 2006 and swore never to return to school again. Back then, however, I didn’t consider the fact that I’d be out searching for a job a few years later, during a time when the economy is the worst it’s been in many years. Today, however … going back to school to get an accounting degree doesn’t seem all that horrible.

Even more frustrating to me than the fact that my degree doesn’t attract a lot of attention from the financial gurus of the world is the number of positions that request or require an MBA. And considering the number of MBAs running around out there, I’m sure they’re getting them. These are not jobs that would require a great deal of seriously advanced knowledge; they’re positions like Accounts Payable Supervisor. Why does an AP Sup need an MBA?? Someone needs to explain this to me, because I was an AP Sup when I was 21, no education outside of OJT required. And guess what – all the bills got paid, my accounts balanced, and the world didn’t tumble down because I didn’t have a college education.

But I digress.

I’ve known people who do not work in the field in which they are educated, but I cannot say that they have all had what they call productive, fulfilling careers. I’ve had people work for me that had degrees in psychology, history and a slew of other liberal arts who couldn’t get a job in their area of education for one reason or another. I think by far the worst was the young woman who worked for me at a hospital. She had not one, but two degrees in psychology – her bachelor’s and master’s – but could not find work in that field. She worked for me – a high school graduate with little college under my belt – because she didn’t have experience in any field. I know it was disheartening for her – it was even for me because I liked her so much – but she had been advised that if she wanted to work in psychology she would need to go “all the way” and get her PhD. Newly married and hoping to eventually start a family, her student loan debt was weighing down on them and she took a job making $10 an hour in an attempt to get some of it paid off.

It does matter what area your degree is in; don’t let anyone tell you differently. You’re not going to be an engineer with a degree in history. No one will hire you to work in a medical lab if your degree is in British Literature. And if you want to change careers at mid-life, or if you have to start over … remember that you may have to go back and get additional schooling/training.

I have hope that someone will recognize my work experience for what it is instead of focusing on what my degree is called, but that hope is diminishing even as I type this.

 

It all hinges on one thing

Today I got a phone call about the interview I had yesterday. This was an interview set up by a headhunter in the industry from which I recently departed but it is with a different company. The job sounds really interesting, it’s something I think I would be good at doing, and I would really love to have it. I’ve been trying to keep my hope damped down just a bit because if I don’t get it, I don’t want to be completely crushed. But it’s hard not to get a little excited when it’s something you want so badly you can practically taste it.

Anyway, I got a phone call about that interview this afternoon. It was a bit cryptic, sort of vague, but I was assured it was good news. It seems that the manager who interviewed me really liked me, and is very interested in me, but they’re having trouble with their HR department. I’m not really sure what that means, but the headhunter told me that hopefully it will all be worked out tomorrow and that I may be getting an offer soon. The manager who interviewed me did mention yesterday that his preference would be for this job to be a direct hire, not a contract job (it was pitched to me as a contract job for a period of time and then an offer of employment would be made if it was a good fit). I think he may still really want to put someone in that position in an employee role, and it makes sense, considering the type of work it entails. It’s only a guess, but I think that makes sense based upon what the headhunter told me today. Maybe soon I will get a definitive answer.

Over the last couple of weeks, Chris and I have been talking about what we’re going to do about our living situation in view of everything that’s been going on. We decided to withdraw my 401k and use it to supplement my unemployment benefits until I can find a job, and as such, he contacted the realtor about the house we really liked a few weeks ago. You know, the realtor who called him last week and asked if we were ready to move in. Today Chris called him and told him that we’re ready to put down a deposit and start moving, to which the realtor replied, “Well, I have someone coming into town this weekend who wants to look at it so you’ll have to wait till Sunday to see if it’s still available.” Uhhh, really?? REALLY??? This called for some serious discussion, as I’m sure you can understand.

We sat down and started looking at our options. The house, the apartment (where they want a double deposit, and we would have to move Travis to a new school), another house in the area, and … our current home. Yes, that’s right. Our current home. We agreed to think about ALL the options and discuss the pros and cons of each of them, and this IS still an option, I think. To my knowledge, there hasn’t been anything done by the bank to start foreclosure. If I were to get this job I want so badly, and with Chris’s new job … this would be a viable option for us, if we use the 401k money to get it all caught up. Yes, it will still be expensive. Yes, it will still be too big. But it’s ours. And we can do with it what we want. And most importantly with an additional $40k in income, it becomes much more affordable to us. Of course, this will really only work for us if this job comes through for me, so right now it’s very conceptual. And if we can get the 401k money before foreclosure proceedings are started. I’m sort of afraid to call the mortgage company right now to talk to them about it because … well, I don’t know what’s going on with the job. But if I find something out tomorrow … maybe I can get them to take a payment now as a good faith gesture, and let us get it caught up when the money gets here? What are the odds that they want this house as opposed to letting us get it caught up and staying here?

I’m not really sure whether this will work or not, but maybe with the market like it is right now, if I DO get that job, the bank will be more than willing to work with us to get the house caught up and back on track? I think maybe it’s worth a shot, don’t you?

 

Searching for a job these days is different

Job hunting has changed a lot over the last few years. It’s not an insignificant change, and it has become much like internet dating. You see an ad online you like, and you send a response. It has to be something snazzy (as my mother would say) and a little off beat to get attention … it seems that 11 years with the same company is one of those off beat things. You exchange a couple of emails to try to get a feel for each other. Again, you’re putting your best foot forward, virtually, of course. Then comes the invitation to talk over the phone. You try to sound like you’ve been awake for hours and that you’re dressed in your business best. In reality, you rolled out of bed five minutes before the designated “meeting time” and haven’t brushed your teeth yet. But you sound like the well groomed, pulled together professional you’re trying to portray, and that leads to the invitation to meet in person. A few times, I’ve been asked “where is it convenient for you to meet” and this has sort of floored me a bit. I always choose their office, unless it’s a one-man operation, because it seems wrong to discuss work ethic in the middle of the afternoon at Starbucks. If the first meeting goes well, you might get invited back for a second interview and an offer to meet others within the organization (sort of like meeting a potential mate’s friends).

And sometimes if you’re very, very lucky, you will find that the spark you thought you felt in the emails and the phone conversation translates into real life, and you sit by the phone waiting for days for the call that will tell you .. Yes, I want you! Everytime the phone rings, you hope that it’s THEM calling you to tell you how much they need you and how they can’t live without you.

*sigh*

Other times, it’s a “just for now” type of position. You’ll court it, you might consider a fling, but you know it won’t be long term. You feel a bit guilty about leading them on, but darn it! You’ve been unemployed for WEEKS now and you NEED that paycheck. You know it won’t last but for the moment … you hang your head in shame and you hope that you don’t get the call because you know you won’t be able to resist saying yes, even when you know you should say no. Under any other circumstances, you’d SAY no. But it’s been soooooooooooo looooooooooooooong.

And then occasionally there’s the job that you just KNOW you don’t want. At first it sounded great. You thought it would be entertaining. Even though it’s not really what you are looking for, you thought maybe … just maybe … but after a couple of face to face meetings, you decide that it just won’t work out. You want to tell them that it’s just not for you but … should you? Could it maybe be better than you think once you get started? You COULD start and then make up reasons to be gone while you look for another job. You know that’ll just piss them off and eventually there’ll be a huge showdown and a lot of drama. So you decide to just let go and tell them not to call anymore. You wonder if you made the right decision, but then you get another call from “the right job” and you know that holding out was the right decision. Maybe they’ll make a decision soon, and they will choose you!

The whole process is a roller coaster ride of emotions. It’s exhausting, and frankly it reminds me of why I love being married.

Uhhhh …. did I just say married??

I MEANT that it reminds me why I stayed with one company for 11 years. Yes, yes. That’s what I meant … why I stayed there for 11 years.

See, I told you that today’s job hunt is a lot like dating …

 

Would you, Part 2

So yesterday I asked if you would consider taking a job you’re not really interested in and the response was overwhelmingly “Yes”. I wonder if popular opinion would change based upon the following information …

This job would entail a decrease in income from the position I held of nearly 50%. Now, I don’t have a problem with taking less money in theory, but if I do it better be a job I truly enjoy doing. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of taking a huge pay cut? I know what you’re thinking – that half the money is better than none of the money. And I would agree, most of the time. But to take this job, I would be looking at less money over the next six months than if I stay unemployed and continue to look for a job to which I am better suited. By “better suited” I don’t mean “more money.” I mean a job that I will enjoy and will stay with for a while, at least, regardless of the pay scale.

People have mentioned that just because I take a job, that doesn’t mean I can’t keep looking, and this is true – to a point. But when you’re working 8 am till 5 pm Monday through Friday, just when are you going to go on interviews? It sounds so easy – keep looking for a better job – but it’s really not that simple in practical terms. Unless you’re just going to start off your new job on the wrong foot and be out a lot … in which case, you won’t hold that job for long anyway … the only open times to interview will be in the evening. Being that I’m in Houston, and it takes at least an hour to get anywhere in the city at 5 pm … I’m going out on a limb here in my thoughts that most people will not be interested in setting up interviews at 6:30 in the evening. Unless the interview is very close to the new job, lunch time meetings are out. So … if I take the job, I’ll be stuck there until at least the point where I can take vacation so I can look for another job. Considering that I’ve only had one real interview with the principle of the company, things like vacation have not yet come up, but I’m betting they have a policy of no vacation for the first six months (it’s fairly standard from what I’ve been told).

Remember, no offer of employment has been made. There is no guarantee of course that an offer will be made. I am still uncertain about continuing the process knowing that if I do get the offer, and turn it down, it could affect my unemployment benefits. I am also concerned about how miserable I will likely be in this job. My sister and I have talked about how I wouldn’t mind taking less money than I was making before … IF the job is something I think I will enjoy. Is it really worth it to take a 50% pay cut for a job I’m fairly certain will send me over the edge in a matter of months?

I think the answer is probably … No.

What do you think? Would you take a job you know you would not stay at for 50% less money than you were making before, and that would be less than your unemployment and planned savings usage? Would 50% less money change your mind about taking a job you know you won’t like?

Oh … I forgot to mention that this job is with a non-profit, so there would never be a chance to take my pay anywhere near where it was before. In fact, it tops out at about $20k less a year than I was making … and even at that price I’m not sure hating my job would be worth the money …

 

Do you, or don’t you?

Today, I had two interviews. I was pretty excited about them both – they were both sort of last minute. One I knew was probably going to happen – it’s the second interview to the one I had on Friday, and the other was one who called me this morning on a resume I sent to them last week … or maybe two weeks ago (I can’t recall). Anyway, I went to them both.

The job that sounded so great on Friday … doesn’t sound so hot on Monday. It’s a decent job, in a very small office, for a UK based company. But the job itself doesn’t sound like anything that will hold my attention for the long term. I’m afraid that after a while I would be bored with it, since 90% of the work is solo. There’s no room for growth, either. And the pay doesn’t sound bad to start, but considering how many times the hiring manager told me they have a “very small” budget I’m concerned that I would be stuck at whatever pay rate I start. Finally, I was under the impression that this would be a “quick hire” since that’s what the headhunter told me, but the hiring manager is going to be out of the country for the next two weeks, and he is planning to have someone else come in to interview the final candidates after he gets back. So at the earliest, they wouldn’t make a decision for at least three weeks. I don’t know if they figure that the economy is so bad, they can wait that long to hire someone, or if they are just that slow.

But now … what should I do? Chris says I should go on with the interview process because if nothing else comes up, I may be offered the job. I think that if I really don’t want the job I should just stop here. I’m not really sure whether to continue on with the interview process or say no thanks and move on to something that interests me more.

What would you do?

 

When it rains …

Well, it’s not truly pouring, yet. Sometimes I just want to run screaming down the street, but so far I’ve managed to keep my cool and avoid that fate. I keep telling myself that “life happens” and I just need to roll with the punches, but darn it – it’s hard to do that sometimes!

Remember the house we looked at a few weeks ago? The one that would keep Travis in the same school but the realtor was unsure if the owners would rent to us because of our house/credit situation? Yeah, that one. The realtor called Chris last week and asked him if we were ready to move in. Uhhhh … what? Seems that he’s been working “so hard” to get us approved and he managed to do that. Chris was stunned, understandably, because it’s been almost a month since we last talked to the guy. And of course, our situation has changed, what with me not working and all right now. He told the realtor he’d have to get back with him on it, and then came home and told me. I was pretty discouraged because we just cannot move into a new place as long as I’m not working.

However … things may be looking up on the job front. I had a very promising interview with a headhunter on Friday morning; she thinks I’m perfect for the job she’s trying to fill, and she said I was the first one she’s talked to who seems to know the oil & gas sector so well. She’s going to set up an appointment with the director of the firm for me; I’m hoping that happens on Monday. She said this guy is very much a fast mover, so if he likes me he’ll probably make an offer pretty quickly. Fingers crossed on that one! Then I got a call from a company who is interested in my resume (sent to them at the prodding of a friend). I sent it but really didn’t think I’d hear much from them – I mean, how many people do you know who submit unsolicited resumes to get a call? But I got a call and I’m set to meet with them on Wednesday.

If I manage to get a job offer this week, we have decided that we will move next weekend. It’s going to be a really tight timeframe, but it will be worth it just to keep Travis in the school he’s already attending. And then I’ll have to start a new job on Monday, probably. Ugh. But in the long run, it would definitely work out. It’s likely I’m going to be making less money than I was before, so a cheaper house is a great start to cutting expenses.

Wish me luck this week; I’m going to need it!

 

Who’s got your back?

Someone told me a little while ago that I am extremely naive, and that it really isn’t my fault. I am, he told me, a product of my background. I believed that hard work and diligence would pay off, you see, but he disagreed. He told me that today, it isn’t what you know, or even who you know. It’s who’s got your back. That is the single most important thing in the business world today, he proclaimed, and then he asked me, “Who’s got YOUR back?”

Now, months later, unemployed and frankly a bit jaded, I have to say that my co-worker had a point. Your success is in great part related to who is looking out for you and who’s willing to go the extra distance to ensure you get a fair shake in the business world. At least, he was correct about that with my previous employer. It was very much that sort of environment … and without a strong sponsor, my ability to succeed was greatly diminished. I’m not laying the blame for my failures at someone else’s feet, or in this case, no one’s feet. But I do believe that the lack of a strong sponsor – someone who was willing to make sure I had the tools to be successful and who would advocate for me – was the beginning of the end for me. I didn’t really understand how much that sponsorship meant until recently, but I believe that it really is the cornerstone to being successful, particularly in a very large company with thousands of employees.

I didn’t always lack a sponsor at my last organization; quite to the contrary, I had many people who were very strong advocates for me, and who were happy to see me successfully promoted to a new position with more responsibility. They were thrilled to see me move into a new role, and I believe the person who put me there felt like he was doing me a favor, and at the time I thought he was too. In the eight or so years I’d been with the company, I’d never received a promotion. And this promotion took me away from administrative work into a world of project management – a dream I’d had for many years. I was put into a controls analyst position, and I thought I had finally been recognized for all my previous hard work and dedication.

The position was not without its drawbacks. I’d never done this type of work before, and the agreement was that I would be in a “junior” type role for three years as I learned the ropes and got my bearings. I was assigned to work on a team with another controls person who had many years doing that type of work, and I was set. However, she was a contractor and unfortunately for me, the company person who hired me moved into a new position just six short months after I started. Apparently somewhere in the transition, the plan he had for me and another junior analyst either weren’t conveyed or were ignored by the new management of the team. I lost my advocate, my sponsor, and I had very little in the way of direction from the company in what I should be doing to continue on the path I was set upon before he left. However, the first year went well, overall, and I felt like I was learning how to do the job at a very rapid speed. The following year … well, I’m not really sure what happened.

I do know that I butted heads with the new management of the team, and we were at odds over stupid things, like meeting times. I wasn’t trying to cause trouble or anything like that … it was just a conflict of personality. I felt then, and still believe, that the team leader to whom I reported didn’t have a very good grasp of what the job was that we did, or else he wouldn’t have turned things like meeting dates into a conflict. Over time, it became more and more difficult to understand his motivation, and after a while I stopped trying. I decided to just keep my head down and do my job. What I should have done was attempted to get out of that situation and out of that group. I didn’t, though, and I paid the price. I really can’t say more than that about what happened, but what I can tell you is this – the moment I ran into management that was no on board with the plans that had been made for me previously, I should have jumped ship and moved on.

My pride and an inability to back down from a challenge compelled me to stay. I had been a long-term employee with a spotless record; I figured that over time I would win over these people and they would come to love me as much as everyone else had in the past. I was wrong. They didn’t want to love me, they didn’t want to advocate for me. Much of the time, I felt they were working against me.

I did eventually move into another position, and the manager there seemed to really like me. He told me multiple times what a great job I was doing and how I had met all of his expectations. But again, he didn’t advocate for me. I had already lost my sponsor; he was “warned” about me before I went into the job, and it was only supposed to be for a couple of months anyway (it turned into nearly a year). But I thought when he told me that I was doing a good job that he would advocate for me; he apparently did not.

That sponsorship was particularly useful when it came to a “committee” who decided how well you performed over the previous year. These are people who don’t know you, don’t know what kind of work you’ve done. They just look at what your manager has said about you on paper and make a determination about how well you did, supposedly in relation to the rest of your “peer group”. So someone who did a fine job for their manager, who did everything required of them but who did no “personal development training” the year before can still be ranked below someone who did a mediocre job but who did all sorts of training. And it’s all in how your manager writes up your review. You could be an ok employee but because your manager really likes you, come out sounding like Joan of Arc.

So … I’ll ask you this question. Who’s got your back? Who’s making sure you get a fair shake in the business world? And who’s willing to go the distance to help you when you need it? If you answer with anything other than the name of someone you know is advocating for you … one day, you may be the one writing this post.

 

Unemployment

On Monday, I lost my job of more than 10 years. In fact, I was creeping up on 11 years since I started on contract there. I won’t lie, it was a shock. I wasn’t prepared, mentally, emotionally, or … well … frankly, I hadn’t thought about looking for a job outside that company since the first day I crossed the threshold. Today I will share with you some of the things I have learned in the last three days.

1. Keep your resume updated, always. This seems so simple, doesn’t it? But honestly, most people don’t do this as long as they are content in their job. I know that I didn’t, and I really wasn’t all that content. Even if you don’t plan to use it, it’s a good idea to keep the resume updated because if you ever do need it – whether it’s for looking for new company, or just a job within your current company – you don’t want to have to try to recall what you did in a job you had five years ago. Trust me, it’s not that easy. Which brings me to the second thing I’ve learned.

2. Maintain a list of accomplishments. You’d think I would have done this throughout the years, but … not so much. I mean, I worked for a company where performance is judged by how much you outdid everyone else in your paygrade (well, honestly, I just figured that one out), so keeping a list of annual accomplishments would have made sense. It also makes sense if you ever have to fill out a job application that asks you, “Please list any accomplishments you think will enhance your value to this company.” Yes, “enhance your value”. Hmmmm … what HAVE I done other than show up for work everyday for 10 years and do what’s asked of me … ???

3. Dress the part, whatever the part may be. I was quite successful at maintaining a wardrobe that said, “Smart, professional, qualified” .. ten years ago. But about eight years ago, I went to work in a department that didn’t dress in a way I would really term as professional. They were all dressed … and most of them dressed in business casual. But in a male dominated environment, business casual is usually Dockers and a golf shirt. For men, that’s fine. For women … I’ll be honest here too. I got too casual in my appearance, primarily because it was me and three other women in a department of 30 men who wore Dockers and golf shirts and laughed at my business suits. But the reality was, I was still working for the same company, and even if the group I worked for was business casual, many others were not. Over the years, I dumped the suits for slacks and t-shirts … a VERY bad decision, indeed. Now I’m scrambling to find suitable clothing for interviews. Note to self: If you claim to be a “professional career woman” then DRESS like a professional career woman, even if the men around you do not. The only thing my current wardrobe is suitable for is Good Will. Or weekends. Even when I saw women in my most recent department dressed well, I continued to dress like one of the guys … and I wasn’t the only one, but in the position I was in, I shouldn’t have been doing it. From now on, it’s suits, nice slacks and blouses, and no more jeans at the office. The most casual I will allow myself to be will be khakis on Fridays. With a nice shirt, of course.

4. Regularly surf the internet to see what sort of jobs are out there. Be prepared for the unexpected. Just because you’re looking, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to jump ship. It just means you’re checking to see what other companies are looking for, and the talent they expect people in your line of work to possess. If you want to be bold, you can put your resume on several of the job search sites without your name to see if you get any hits. You may be surprised at what kind of response your resume generates; don’t be surprised if you NEED it to generate something meaningful and it doesn’t … test the waters before you need to jump in!

5. Keep an open mind. I thought for many years – probably about two years after starting with my last company – that it would be my last. I was obviously wrong. I should have kept my options open, and I should have made sure to learn as much as I could about the jobs that others were doing. I do have a very broad, diverse background; I’ve done everything from medical secretary to project manager. But there are gaps in my education … I should have been more diligent in making sure I knew what others did within my own team. If I had, I would be a much more rounded person and more valuable to a potential employer.

I think I will be ok, and may not have a terribly difficult time finding a job, just because I do have that wide, diverse background. But I’ve lost time by not being prepared – I spent two days looking for clothing to wear to interviews, a day building my resume (which I have twice had to go back to and add information I’d forgotten!), and tomorrow I’m going to just sit back and relax a little bit before I jump in full steam ahead on Monday. I’ve put some feelers out already, and I’ve gotten positive feedback, so I’m hoping to start seeing some real progress next week. If you’re in the same place, I feel your pain. If you’re not here, just … make sure you have the basics covered just in case. In this economy, you just never know.