Here We Go Again!

Happy New Year!

It’s 2011 and wow, am I excited! If you are one of the regular readers of this blog, you’ll know I started this whole thing as a sort of knee-jerk reaction to getting laid off. And, because my life-changing experience happened at the same time our entire country was devastated by a plummeting economy resulting in bad news, bad news and more bad news, the theme of this blog was good news.

And even in the darkest of times, with unemployment climbing, house sales and spending in general plummeting to historic numbers, there has never been a shortage of good news to report: from the cast away, two legged puppy miraculously learning to walk upright to Wishing Star recipients teaching us about the real superheroes to others in our community staunchly determined to look for the good around us, and finding it.

I took a soul-searching trip back to my roots and took all my readers along in my pocket, sharing the guilty pleasure of the lip-smacking, never-to-be-replaced-by-the-Colonel Chicken Mary’s (or Chicken Annie’s) fried chicken, the exuberance of my dog Payton’s leap into one of the few remaining Kansas strip-pits and the simple joy of rekindling old friendships and revisiting the past.

I told you about my disappointments, how it felt to be laid off, unemployed, one of hundreds of applicants for each and every job posted. The agony, worry, dashed hope; hours spent searching, dreaming, writing dozens of resumes, hundreds of cover letters. I created my own company, took on part-time, temp jobs, worked on projects and freelanced for magazines and newspapers.

Today, I am sharing some more good news: I have landed a job. A real job, the job that seemingly was made for me, one of those Mary Poppins jobs, “practically perfect in every way.” Starting tomorrow, I will assume the duties as Special Sections/Project Editor for the Idaho Business Review.

I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am, but maybe you already know. I keep pinching myself but with each re-reading of my SIGNED offer letter, the words sink a little deeper.

I.Have. A. Job. THE job.

Practically perfect in every way.

Thanks for tagging along with me on this journey. I hope you will keep the good news faith. I’ve got a feeling there’s going to be more where that came from.

And, of course, I have a gift or two for you. Here are a few of the more popular First, the Good News Videos from 2010 and 2009.

Blah blah blah…

Sorry it’s been so long, the good news: I’m working! Yay!

So far during this lay-off experience I’ve been able to put on a dozen or so hats: public relations guru, author, editor, salon manager, television assignment editor, television producer, video journalist for a day; technical writer, aerobics instructor, workshop presenter and blogger.

Now, I’ve entered the corporate world and am writing for a big corporation. It’s still through an agency, no benefits, but it the money is good and look out, I’ve got my toe in the door!

So this is just a catch up for you, dear readers, and also a check-in. Recently, I traveled to the midwest — HOT AND HUMID! Now I’m back to the dry heat of Idaho, but I’m telling you, the dog days are here!

Just for fun, let me know how it is in your part of the world. I care. I really, really do.

And I’ll try to keep you posted regularly. Until I have a real j-o-b!

Testing… one, two, three… testing

Another crick in my neck from poring over my computer and filling out applications. Sending resumes. Cover letters. Why do I want this job, you ask? Please. Pretty Please. I’m not really begging, just being polite. Sometimes I just want to write something like, “come on, you’ve got to hire somebody, just give me a chance.”

Glad I’m keeping up with aerobics (“Highway to the Danger Zone” and “I Wanna Be Sedated” on today’s playlist) otherwise I’d be like a hunchbacked job-hunting pretzel.

Took the Census Bureau test last night (three hours??!!). Good news: I scored 97 (they called today and told me). That means I’ll probably be hitting the streets (fingers crossed). They said before we left last night that we would only be called if we scored 90 or above. Nice to know some of my brain cells still work.

But maybe Joey Ramone had the right idea…

Back to the job hunt grind

Seriously. This job market sucks.

Even when I was working as a temp for a few weeks, I kept sending those resumes out there.

I keep sending and sending and sending them. Got a few phone calls (very exciting!) from a couple of employment agent types last week. Thought I was on to something and they both said I was a good match and the company they were contracting for would “move fast.”

Wa-wa.

This is a getting-your-hopes-up-and-then-smiling-when-they-get-dashed-on-the-rocks kind of time.

When I last wrote about the job hunt, I was wailing about my car breaking down. The truth of the matter is, cars break down. Unexpected whatevers happen. They just do.

It only seems like a why-me situation when you’re down in the dumps. Can’t get a job. About to lose that 18-month-long COBRA ride. That’s when the car breaking down/have to get towed from Caldwell-blues can really hit hard.

But no worries — this week I’ve got a part-time temp job, receptionist at a salon. It’s nice to have a place to be.

I know this rollercoaster ride will end sometime. Hope I don’t puke at the end.

It’s like rain… on your wedding day

I really felt like I was in that Alanis Morrissette video, you know the one, she’s singing in her car? About how isn’t it ironic?

Yeah, that’s how I felt when my car broke down yesterday. At 5 p.m. On my way home from work. In Caldwell.

And later, too, when the tow truck came.

And today when the repair guy called to tell me it would cost about $650. Pretty close to what I made. Working in Caldwell, that is.

Isn’t it ironic?

(Yeah, I know, it’s not really irony, but… it IS like that video.)

Pay day

I just wrapped up a whole 40-hour work week, my first eight-hour-daily-for-a-paycheck stint since getting my pink slip. Unbelievable. And eye-opening. Working as “the temp” inside of a years-old company culture is … interesting to say the least.

My job, of course, was to work on a project nobody else wanted to do and I did it proudly, with gusto. Basically, my “technical writing” expertise was refined and reduced to typing up a quality manual for the steel enclosure industry, complete with many intricately-fashioned form templates. Fascinating work, but hey, somebody had to do it and I’m just glad nobody else wanted to!

But work, schmirk, what was really fun was getting to know my three trailer-mates (the office is inside a construction trailer, a first for me): April, Cindy and Gomer. Well, in a week’s time you don’t really get to know someone — it’s more like a fly-on-the-wall experience. But that’s a plus to typing along at 55-60 wpm in a 15-by-20 foot room divided by wobbly cubicle walls: you can pick up on some pretty juicy office talk.

One day, for instance, a delivery guy came in looking for the person who’d ordered gopher food. Almost lost my coffee on that one. Cindy, limping all week from too much dancing fun at last Saturday night’s trek to the Buffalo Club, regularly updated Gomer on her Facebook friends’ witty updates and sweet April slipped me a printout of inspirational Christian quotes and invited me to church. I tried not to read anything into that. Gomer (yes, that’s his real name) took the prize for most entertaining temporary office mate, though, when he downloaded the Hamster Dance ring tone on his cell phone. It rang a lot.

It was a great ride and for a few days, it felt so… comforting and safe. To have some place to go to, a reason to get up and on the road to Caldwell by 7:20 a.m. I packed lunches and took a book to read at lunch. And my office mates actually started to see me by the end of the week, saying “good morning, Jeanne” and asking me if I wanted something when they went to the convenience store up the road.

I’ll miss that.

Frustration, depression — damn you recession!

It’s … just so frustrating. Sent out 14 applications/resumes this week. Had to go to the library for one, you HAVE to use Windows and Explorer sometimes. Got three “thanks but no thanks” form rejections. Called 17 employment agencies. Made ONE appointment.

I’m going to drown my sorrows with green curry now.

Later.

Unemployment FAQs

In an attempt to set the record straight, here are some “frequently asked questions” about what it’s like to be laid-off, let go, fired, unable to find work, jobless, etc.

1. Don’t you get tired of eating chocolate and watching soap operas and Oprah all day long?
This is a myth I’m sad to dispel. For one thing, I think chocolate has a lot of soothing qualities and it tastes so good. And I admit, I love the idea of rich, beautiful young people having a life even more messed up than mine (soap operas) and who doesn’t love them some Oprah?! But truth be told, being unemployed is a full-time job — and then some! Which leads us to the next question:

2. So… what do you DO all day long, anyway?
Some days I wonder how I was EVER able to fit a 50-60 hour work week into my schedule! First you sit down with a cup of coffee and search ALL the job Web sites for new listings (yes, there are many besides Craig’s list and the Labor Dept., plus a whole heck of a lot of companies — cities and schools included — only post jobs on their very own Web site, so you must be diligent, early bird catches the worm or so they say).
Craft your spectacular resume and tweak it for each and every job you send it to. Ditto for your cover letter(s).
Get on Facebook and check out any possible networking functions.
Ditto LinkedIn.
Go through your contacts and (gulp) contact them. Don’t worry, 9 times out of 10 you won’t hear anything back.
Be sure to log into Twitter several times a day to see if anything is going on and to let your Tweeps know you are fantastic. Which leads us to the next question:

3. What do you mean, “networking?”
To the unemployed, networking sometimes seems like a magic bullet. If you can have coffee (try not to schedule lunch, you’re on a budget!) with just the right in-the-know person, you might hear of a job — wait for it, wait for it — before it’s even posted! You can also attend monthly meetings for folks in your career field but you’ll likely be spending those two hours with other unemployed saps — people with a job can’t just leave work for two hours!

4. Don’t you get tired of being at home? Do you have an office in your spare bedroom?
This is a two-part question and through the magic of wi-fi and laptop computers, you don’t have to spend all your sad, mopey, unemployed time at home shuffling around in your robe and flip-flops. You can take your show on the road as long as you have enough change for a fancy cup of coffee. Set up your office at your favorite coffee shop for a change of pace AND possible networking — bonus!
To answer the second part of the question: I haven’t really settled on an office at home yet. I’ve set up temporary digs in the kitchen, on the couch, in my hubby’s office (that worked for about three hours), back to the kitchen and now I’m trying out the basement. It’s a little difficult to get the feng shui figured out, though.

5. Don’t you get depressed, hearing all the bad news, more people out of jobs and work than ever before in the history of the human race; your unemployment is gonna run out pretty soon and that spendy Cobra insurance, too… does that make you feel depressed? How do you cope?
First of all, it’s really true that being laid off is one of those experiences, like death and divorce and moving, that bring out all those emotions you have whenever you go through the grieving process: Denial. Disbelief. Sadness. Despair. Anger. Confusion. Self-blame. Desperation.
You tend to want to drown all your sorrows in a bottle or take some happy pills or watch mindless television (see question 1.)
But, for me, at least, getting laid off is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It has given me the opportunity to spend some time in self-reflection. I looked into myself and remembered that exercise made me feel better so now I teach 80s aerobics five days a week. I’ve had some interesting pick up gigs: picked up some freelance writing jobs, taught a social media class, helped write and edit a book — and started this blog.
But I admit, every once in a while, I plunk down for an episode of “General Hospital” on my self-imposed lunch break. C’mon, those people are SO miserable and SO beautiful — how can I resist?

More FAQs to come — feel free to send some in!

Bleak-er street

Went to the Unemployment office (Labor Dept.) and for the first time since I’ve been going there, there was a take-a-number machine and rows of seats. I thought things were getting better… guess not.

Good news: I am now on the federal dole. Bad news: 13 weeks to go.

Hoping the economy/jobs thing turns around.

On a positive note, I taught a great aerobics class today, 80s-style, legwarmers and all. Better than Prozac.

Taking a break…

The funniest thing about the Absolute commercials is the hairdos.