Overwhelmed

Recently, I have joined a bunch of things to help with the job hunt. I've been a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) since I was a college freshman, but have finally been reading the emails they have been sending me. They have actually been pretty useful and I have gotten some good information from them, like a guide on how to write a resume and cover letter and tips on interviews. I have also signed up for Brazen Careerist, which I found out through NSCS that has some forums and tips for job hunters, which brought me to a link for CareerEnlightenment.org, which had even more tips on how to use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to job hunt. It has all been incredibly interesting and useful, but sooooo overwhelming. I definitely need to take a second to let all the information soak in a bit before going to work on actually utilizing this plethora of information.

The thing I have an issue with is that most of these tips they are giving me are more for people that are looking for a long term job in something they are passionate about, but at this point I am just looking to sustain myself for a few more months in San Diego until I go abroad. I decided this after I looked at my bills for this month and then looked at my bank account, and realized that I would not be able to sustain myself much longer than that. So today I have officially stopped all unnecessary spending and the only things I spend is food (from the grocery store! Only allowing to go out for food once a month), rent, bills, and gas. Hopefully that will help me stay in the area longer... well that and getting a job!

I wasnt sure if I wanted something long-term or not, but I realize now that I really just want something fun and low key to allow me to chill with my friends while I wait for them to graduate. After that I have no real reason to stay in San Diego. I really do enjoy this location, but I don't really think it is the type of area I want to go to work. I think eventually I want to move back to the Bay Area or even apply for a job at any big city across the country or maybe even internationally. I think it is time to maybe move out of my comfort zone, which I think I have started doing a little more since I started job hunting. I've been auditioning for things I was normally to scared to do. I mean I even started this public blog, which for some may be not that crazy, but for me its a step towards allowing myself to open up more. For now, just baby steps ...

Here is the tentative plan:

1. Network to find places I could potentially get work.
   
2. Get a couple temp/part time jobs so I can stay in SD until June... maybe til end of August.. depends on if I have a job to sustain me that long.
3. Go to New York then France in September.. visit friends in Europe...potentially move to Paris with friend for a few months
   
4. Return to states and get job I love. Maybe even move somewhere I have never been before!

If you are reading this and know of any job I would love to know more! I am pretty open to do anything :) I am a Jack-of-all(most)-trades!

7 hour interview?

So this morning I woke up and checked my email as I normally do. I was expecting nothing as usual, but instead I got 11 new emails! Very exciting... though as it turns out none of them were for any of the jobs I applied to, and most were from Facebook telling me that a lot of people commented on my wallpost about this blog I started last night. So yay people read my blog! and boo still no new job interviews :( Anyways, today's blog is about part two of my job interview from yesterday, which would be a full day of shadowing a top manager at this mysterious company.

This morning the lady at the office called me to remind me about my interview. When I got off the phone with her I realized I forgot to ask her if I could leave early today (I'm going out with some friends tonight to this bar that apparently gets really crowded early so we needed to be there early, so I would need to get back home at around 8:15-30 at the latest to change and stuff before heading down to celebrate my friends 21st). I figured I would just ask her when I got there or not worry about it too much because even if I left at the end time they told me (8:15) I would still be able to get home in time for a quick wardrobe change.

When I got to the office I noticed 2 of the 5 people I saw come in the day before to interview. The lady at the front desk asked me to sign a waiver stating that I would be there the whole time until 8:30 with no compensation. That prompted me to ask her about leaving early because the day before everyone I talked to said it would last until 8:15 at the latest and I've got places to be and people to socialize with. She went to ask her manager if that was alright and as I'm waiting I hear a bunch of guys laughing and socializing with loud music playing through the door she just went through. I comment to the others about them having some sort of party back there to lure us in. I mention that this is really weird that we have to be there the whole day and one of them mentions that "what if we dont like it? are we allowed to leave?" We ponder it a bit and the office lady comes back in. She tells me that there is no way to be able to leave early and if I want I can reschedule. She told me after this there would be a third interview! (A 3rd interview! my goodness! I was starting to feel like this was sorority recruitment all over again!) I ask her what exactly we are doing that we would need to absolutely be there the full 7+ hours and she just says to shadow... I mean I have trained people in less time than that.. I don't see the point of having a full day shadowing.. I think someone would get what goes on after a couple of hours and not a full day. I then asked her if these were the normal hours and she said that yes they normally came in at noon and worked until around 8. I realized at that moment that I really did not want that job. She once again asked me if I wanted to reschedule and I stood up and told her that "You know.. I really dont think I want this position," and walked out the door.

I almost wish I would have stayed to see what they were going to show us, but I really did not want to get stuck out and about in san diego doing face-to-face house calls or whatever this company actually did that you needed to be wearing comfortable walking shoes.... I just decided that this is something I really am not interested in. I dont want to have those hours... being done at 8 everyday is so late. I mean I wouldnt mind it one or two times a week, but if I want to keep doing stuff like taking classes at the gym or going to rehearsals for plays or even just going out to dinner with friends, I couldnt enjoy having a job like that. Plus I feel like I would be wasting my day coming in so late... I work so much better in the mornings. I am work-lethargic by the afternoons/evenings.. all I want to do is play or relax after a certain hour.. not be working. I really hope that I will be able to get another interview soon for something better.. Mmmm something that had free food would be ideal :D

Speaking of food I'm getting hungry so am gonna go grab some food, hunt for more jobs, and head to that kickboxing class that I thought I was gonna miss! More to come as the job hunt continues....

Month 1

Ok so I have decided to write my very first blog ever to keep me sane while I start my job hunt post my December graduation. I really don't know what I want to say exactly so this first post may be just a lot of rambling.

For the last month or so I have spent a lot of time on my couch in front of the TV replying to Craigslist ads and trying to contact temp agencies. I think I reply to about 6-9 job postings a day, but still barely get any response back, and when I do they seem to be scams with the people out of the country and not able to talk to me until 3 weeks after I start working for them and paying me via money order... I don't know... it just seems fishy to me...

A week into job hunting I actually got a response and I went in for an interview for a part-time receptionist position and after talking a bit she tells me that they are hiring for another position that would be full-time and a little more advanced. She said I seemed to be more than qualified and asked me if I was interested and of course I said YES!! Better pay, less time for me to sit around and be bored? Sign me up! She told me to go look at the Craigslist posting when I got home and gave me some interview questions to take with me and told me that she would set up another interview in a couple of days. Excited, I went home and checked out this other position and researched it a bit and it sounded really cool, so I sent her a follow-up interview e-mail to thank her for the e-mail and tell her I was very interested in this other position. I waited a few days and didn't hear back from her, so I checked the Craigslist ad and it had been removed by the poster... The little bitch went and hired someone else and didn't think to call and let me know! I mean shit I'd understand if they hired someone else, but come on, tell a poor job hunter that its a dead end here, so they arent sitting around hoping that they may actually have a potential job prospect. Common courtesy people!!

After that I really upped my game and started sending out more resumes and networking with random people. In the meantime I started looking into other activities I could involve myself in so I wouldnt drive myself crazy sending all these resumes out and having an empty email box. I auditioned for a play and got cast. I joined a gym (if you know me this is crazy cuz I am super lazy and never go to the gym.... However I was sold on the fact that I could take multiple classes... since then I have tried out Step, Yoga, Hip hop, and Pilates there.. I have yet to check out the Kickboxing class... or even utilize my free hour of personal training, but I am looking forward to them both... I hope that I keep up with this, cuz I tend to start something and then get bored with it a couple weeks or months later...anyways, back to what I was talking about). I have also started cooking more. Just the other day I made croissants and they were sooo delicious and flaky. My roommates told me I should open a bakery.. who knows that might actually be something I look into if I dont get a job soon.

A picture of what my croissants would have looked like had we not eaten them all.. Imagine melted chocolate on the inside... Mmmm :)


To be honest I really have no idea what type of position I'm looking for besides something that can provide any sort of income so I can actually stay in San Diego for a bit longer. For now I guess I'm looking for a receptionist or administrative assistant type job to hold me over until I get bored of the area. I am planning to go to France in September, so unless I have a really flexible job which will allow me time off for a couple weeks, I will probably have to quit whatever job I have then, but we'll see what happens. I suppose if its a job that I enjoy enough I would be willing to give up the trip abroad. I mean.. I've been to France before.. it wouldn't totally awful if I didn't go.

But anyways, back to the job hunting... Today I went to an interview for a job as an account representative... whatever that is... the job description was so vague and the company didnt even have a website or anything really that even proved its existence... however I was desperate and went to the interview anyways because even if it turns out to be a scam or something really crappy I dont want to do at least I will have gotten some more experience in the interviewing process... seeing as this was only my third job interview I have ever had in my life. The first job interview I ever had though went pretty well since I got hired and worked there for over 2 years. Thats probably why I am having such a tough time now. I have always had an easy time getting a job in the past. I have either known them or my mom knew them.. ha or it was my mom! but in any case it has been much more difficult here where I have little to no connections in the job world. In the meantime my moms friends keep sending me info on jobs back home and at this point I am almost tempted to move back so I can at least have an income, but I've decided I'm not ready to resort to that yet.

But yeah so in my interview today my interviewer asked me what my long-term goals were.. I definitely had a moment where I was like "shit I have no fucking clue, but i cant tell him that!" I ended up saying some bullshit answer off the top of my head, but it really got me thinking about what I really want to be doing. The more I think about it the more I realize that I picked a shitty and remarkably vague major that has really not prepared me for any specific type of job. I am really wishing I picked something like environmental systems or computer science or electrical engineering (i dunno!) cuz even though it would have been hard at first at least it would have had a specific thing I was trained in. I dont know what I can do with my major without having to do more schooling and I really do not want to do that!

I brainstormed some future life goals with my roommate and here is what we decided: I will be a foster mom on welfare who poses nude for art classes and moonlights as a go-go dancer. It will be fantastic...ly awful. I need a new goal... TBD

Ok well thats it for today... more later after my very strange part 2 interview for account representative... apparently I will be shadowing them tomorrow from 1-8p... wtf! I am totally going to miss kickboxing again this week... maybe i'll play sick and leave the "interview" early.. who has a 7 hour interview anyways? this is ridiculous!