TheBanyanTree: Sunshine Out Your A$$

[Margaret R. Kramer]

I watched the movie “Juno” this week for the second time.  I love it when
her father is telling her about what relationships are about, everyone has
weird quirks, but if someone still thinks the sunshine comes out of your ass
no matter what, well, then, that’s love.  And that’s true.

Ray and I both had our quirks, that’s for sure, but we could always see that
light coming out from our butts.  To each other, we had the brightest and
shiniest butts in the universe.  

This wasn’t a bad week, but it sure was a wild one.  I didn’t work my
part-time job this week.  I believe they’re waiting for some contracts to be
signed before we start surveying again.  I don’t think they were running a
weekend shift this weekend, and I’m not sure what is going to happen on
Monday.

I miss the money, but I didn’t miss going in.  Not working in the evenings
meant having time to take the dogs for walks, making dinner instead of
eating TV dinners, and having writing time for NaNoWriMo.

I managed to fix two things here at the house by myself.  First, a smoke
alarm was chirping, and I knew that meant the batteries were out.  I took
the smoke alarm down to see what kind of batteries it needed and then I
bought them at the store.  I put them in the smoke alarm, and magically, the
chirping stopped.

The second thing I fixed was replacing a broken thermostat on a baseboard
heater.  Ray was going to do this, but he never got around to it.  Joe
bought the thermostat for me last year and it’s been sitting in a bag all
this time.  I finally installed it all by myself last night, and it works!
I didn’t electrocute myself or burn down the house.  Amazing!   

I started out the week by attending my first job networking group.  It was
great to be surrounded by other unemployed people, not feeling like I was
the only one in the world who didn’t have a job.

And then it got totally crazy.  I met with a new recruiter on Tuesday.  He’s
very excited about me.  I’m going to do a video interview next week.  I
guess that’s the new thing – give the client a little look/see before they
make the decision.

I had a phone interview with an HR person for a company.  The interview went
very well and they scheduled me for three interviews with the hiring manager
and others.  I had a phone interview with one, and after that was over, I
had to drive to the company and interview with the manager and then a peer.

The interview with the manager went well, but the peer, well, the peer was
one of those who use the interview scenario to talk about herself.  Those
are tough interviews, because I don’t want to have wrestling match for
control, but at the same time, I don’t want her going back to her boss and
saying I didn’t say anything about the job.  I learned about her declawed
kitten, her husband who’s been out of town all week, how tired she was,
etc., etc., but not a lot about anything else.  

I was tired, too, especially on this third interview and looking forward to
a tough rush hour drive home, but I got through it.

Now, it’s the waiting part.  I didn’t hear yesterday, but my status on their
job website still states “interviewing,” so that means they haven’t made a
decision yet.  I’m not sure how many candidates they were going to interview
or when they were going to make their decision, but I hope it’s soon.  The
job was a good fit and I have most of the qualifications they’re looking
for.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed.  It’s like waiting to be asked out on
a date or something.  I just hate it.  I wish it was back in the day when
companies just hired on the spot.

I also took a few webinars this week.  One webinar was for advanced uses for
my favorite social networking site, LinkedIn.  I just love that site.  It is
like the whole professional world is at my finger tips.  I took another
webinar about how to design interfaces and another about project
negotiations.

Finally, on Friday, after seeing this event listed on LinkedIn, I went to a
new job networking group.  It was lunch, just for $9, and three speakers.
One speaker was a recruiter, another was a marketing director, and another
was financial planner.  They were all excellent.  I learned a few new
things, which is always good.

I’m the biggest introvert in the world, so it’s very difficult for me to
into these networking situations.  I’m extremely uncomfortable.  But I force
myself to talk to people.  I made business cards for myself this week, so I
have something to hand out.  I also learn a lot from each person I talk to.
Many of these people have been unemployed for months, but all of us are
seeing activity picking up.  I wish I could start a company and hire
everyone to work for me.
  
Going to these networking groups is kind of like going to grief group.
You’re with people who understand what you’re going through.  You have a
chance to make connections.  And hopefully, it’s a brief time you’ll need to
be a member of this club.  But I know I need to make face-to-face
connections and not depend entirely on social networking sites.

When I got home yesterday, I immediately went through the business cards I
collected and asked people to join my network on LinkedIn.  The recruiter
who gave the presentation emailed me this morning and asked me to send him
my resume.  He might have a position for me.  How cool is that?  Networking
at its best!

Next week is even going to be more wild.  I have a job fair on Monday.  I
have to make that interview video on Tuesday.  I’m meeting my former
co-workers for lunch on Tuesday.  And I have a webinar, too.  I’m having my
physical exam for my life insurance policy on Wednesday.  That means no
eating for 12 hours before.  At least, my appointment is at 8:15 am, before
I really lose it from hunger.

I’m busier now than when I was working.  All I think about is the job
search.  I think all the tools we have available now make it more
encompassing than it was before we had the internet and computers. 

I was telling Asher that when I graduated from college back in 1980, we
didn’t have answering machines or caller ID, so if you missed a call, you
missed a call.  Of course, there were no cell phones.  Now you can email
quick questions to people.  You can research a company online rather than
going to a library.  It’s easier, but more work, too.  

In five weeks of unemployment, I’ve learned a ton about my job and other
people and employers and recruiters and unemployment pay.  I’ve met great
people on this journey, but I’ll sure be glad when it’s over.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com
www.polarispublications.com
www.linkedin.com/in/margaretkramer

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are
conscious of our treasures. 
-Thornton Wilder