Been a while...

So, even though the market is improving and I am seeing more jobs out there, I am still unemployed almost 6 months after term date. That really isn't surprising given the economy, but very frustrating. Seeing lots of jobs for Masters' Degrees and JD's...prolly means I should go back to school, huh? If I could and could still support my family, I would in a heartbeat. Will have to look at what options are out there and what I want to do.

Outta sync...

Realized that it's been a week since I've posted...not great for writing, but since my readership is maybe 3, I'm not that concerned (for you three, however, I'm SOOOOOOOO Sorry!).

I think the reason for the lack of writing is that I may have found my next step: Insurance.

With that in mind, I have been shifting my brain to more of a soon to be employed mindset instead of unemployed. That limits my searching, and focuses more on selection of when's, where's and who's. I'm looking at two companies, both looking for agents in my fairly rural area and I am looking at what is being offered and what the potentials are. Hopefully I can make my choice this week and start moving on it.

Reinventing yourself

Given the world economy, I think this topic bears a bit of talking about. One of the most difficult things I am finding is breaking out of my rut. I know what I am capable of doing, but without concrete "skills" to show for it, it becomes a very hard thing to prove to a potential employer. This has become especially true when specialized skills are the norm and the age of the jack-of-all-trades has all but disappeared.

So, this brings me to the concept of redefinition. I have almost 20 years of experience in sales and support. So, naturally given the state of employment I have currently, which is to say none, I look for jobs that tap that skill set. Herein lies two problems for my particular skill set:

1. Those jobs start at low end of pay
2. They are always the first group cut and are usually not being hired for.

That forces me out of the comfort zone of what I know and how I have come to view myself as a worker. Not a fun prospect, let me tell you. I took stock of two things...what I am good at and what I want/don't want from a job...I guess that's technically three things, but no matter. Here's what I came up with:

Good at: Working with people, active listener, proactive, pattern recognizer
Wants: Control/Decision making, time flexibility, close to home, higher pay, risk/reward balance
Don't wants: Mindless work or unnecessary product/service, low pay, schedule-locked, heavy travel

So, armed with that knowledge, I started looking for new options. I'm good with computers, but not specifically trained in IT/Helpdesk work....hmmm. I have management experience but within support and sales only, not in IT, ENG, or other areas that ARE currently hiring management...Hmmmmmmmm. Time to go back to the list...

The brain seeks patterns and tries to continue them WHENEVER POSSIBLE...even to your detriment. I have been in Customer Service and Support for so long that my brain has actually been telling me that that is the only kind of job I am capable of doing. WTF?!?!?!

Enter a weird email from a representative from an insurance company looking for people who may be interested in being an agent. For some reason, I send in my resume and hear nothing back for a month. Two weeks ago, I get a call from them saying "Hey are you still interested, can I send you some more information?" Now, I say yes and start thinking bout what that could mean for me. Let's look at the list: Working with people, useful product, good pay, own boss... Man, this is starting to sound too good to be true. So I set up an interview and had a great time with that to the point of seriously considering a career in insurance sales. Nothing definite yet, mind you, but seems like a potentially good way to go.

Suffice to say this: If you are unemployed right now and have some time out in the workforce, do not be afraid to put all of that aside and look at something totally off the wall where your previous skills may be a value add instead of the main selling point. All of my skills fit in nicely with the concept of selling insurance and almost all of my wants are there too. As much as people say to look outside the box, it really is true. You have to see yourself in a different light in order to package yourself well for hire.

A Day at the Fair...

...the Job Fair that is.

Now, I'm going to walk you through the day because, as always, there are things to be learned here. Pay attention, there will be a short quiz afterward...

After getting the teens to their bus and grabbing mornnig chai, I got home to get ready. I had decided to have OfficeMax print up my contact cards (table tent cards with all vital info and contact data for me) on the way to the ferry. I got dressed and realized that I really need a new business wardrobe if I'm going to be a shirt and tie kind of person again (heaven forbid!). I finished up the cards and got out the door only about 15 minutes later than expected...not too shabby.

I get to Office Max and after about 15-20 minutes of haranguing, I find out that they cant print up my cards because the stock on them is too thinck for their machines and it will jam 90% of the time. I'm thinking "Holy crap, are you serious?" followed by "So I have wasted how much time here?"
I make a beeline for the boat and get there in plenty of time to wait all the while trying to breathe and get my frustration level down. More than being late, I hate when I make a plan and have to alter it due to my own bad planning or someone else's ineptitude. Today was more of the former. I get on the boat with my 50 resumes and proceed to calm down...ferry rides are very calming for me...not sure why, but who am I to argue. Pulling into Seattle, I looked at one of the last buildings I worked on when I did Sheet Metal and smiled, remembering how many times I almost did a glider run with a 20' siding panel off the top of that thing.

Now the Job Fair is touted at being at Safeco Field...for those not familiar, this is a baseball stadium...fairly large. It also says dress to impress and bring 20-30 copies of your resume. I'm thinking this is going to be a good day for hunting...possibly get some prelim interviews. Nothing could be further from the truth.

First off, the walk to Safeco from the ferry is about a mile...not bad, but I realize that the shoes I am wearing, while nice looking, are bad for walking. I get there and the event is upstairs in a box seat lounge area...not terribly big. My heart begins to sink a bit. There is a line to get in (cost was free) but its moving steadily. I check the time: 10:35am. The event has been going on for 35 minutes...good haven't missed much and should be able to get things going here. Then I realize why the line is movng. They are only letting in people as people leave and people are leaving at a decent clip.

Hold up! It's 35 minutes old and people are bailing already???? Oh, this is not good. when I get in, I get a bag to hold all my information that I will collect and turn the corner to see 15-16 hirers present. This isn't a job fair, it's a job meet or a job tent. A fair denotes having lots of activity, many sights to see, maybe even rides and exhibits. This had none of that unless the truck driving school was the ride. I grabbed some information from a couple of employers and left by 11:00am.

Now I'm not trying to bag on the people who put it on. My expectations were higher though which gets us toward the lessons learned section of today's blog. While I didn't get inetrview time or even much time at all from folks there, I did get some things that are worth sharing.

• Do Your Research - Look at which employers are attending and get a sense of them before going. Look at the venue and get clarification from the event host on the exact location. You may get an idea of size.
• Be Prepared - While I'm glad I had my resumes ready, no one was collecting them. I wished I'd had my Contact cards done, though, as I think those might have been better used with other folks in the room. Also, check your wardrobe ahead of time so you are not surprised when you can't button the top button on your shirt anymore. The 7 P's will keep you on track.
• Act/Dress to Impress - OK, funny part of this morning...my comic relief. Two different groups of young men, all wearing polo shirts or trendy urban wear down to the sagging pants. One group was ogling women as they left the fair and making comments. I was behind them in line and had to stifle my laughter because if I were an employer. there is no way I would hire ANY of them. Wrong attitudes, not ready for serious corporate type work. That said, dress like you want to be treated like you are the shiznit...it helps.

Some other more personal things I got
Exercise (along with shin splints in one leg from the bad shoes)
Some new places to hunt online
Taste of a Job Fair (leaves a slight sour/bitter aftertaste)
Good lunch (World Wrapps' Thai Chicken Wrap gets a MAJOR A+++ from me)

That's the day in a nutshell...kind of a wasted morning for what I looked for, but still got a morning with no kids and a chance to see what is out there. Oh, what are the 7P's you ask?

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
Truer words never spoken...

A bit behind...and OK with it

Life interrupts again...
Lots to juggle when you're unemployed, and while you think you should have enough time to do it all, it doesn't work that way. Tonight's topic: The Stigma of unemployment.

I remember the first time I heard Everlast's song, "What it's like" and understood the depth of the social commentary. People without jobs are considered to be lazy or unmotivated or even unskilled. Even in this economy where MBA's are finding it difficult to find work in some venues, this mentality still applies. I find it galling when I have a degree, have been gainfully employed for almost 20 years non stop and I would be put into that bracket. Now, employers aren't thinking that way at least not with the folks looking for work. They may have a similar mentality with people in their employ, but that's a separate topic for another time.

When I went down to my local WorkSource office, it was depressing...the stigma is less placed on people by others now and more by ourselves. I've been feeling it creep into my days lately too and I've only been unpaid for like two weeks. It is a sinister thing that finds its way into the background thinking and preventing you from looking outside the box of scheduled work and at other soul-healthier things that can make money. I'll give you an example.

Right now, a publishing company is about to do an anthology and is looking for submissions. It is a company whose books I read often and enjoy and is on a subject and genre in which I am well-versed. Synopsis and sample are due by end of July, so I've been working on it. As far as plotline and what I want to have happen, I'm doing well. But the moment I start to actually "write" my editor in chief starts in and it s far nastier than it used to be. I started listening to it and what it was really saying last night and it was tapping into the "you got let go, you have no skills...look no one is calling you" motif. Once I heard that I was thinking that I now knew why I wasn't really writing. Writing is fun for me, and if I could do that for a living, I think it would be awesome! Not sure if I'm ready to do that which is why I'm starting with the short story to test the waters. It's also why I have been blogging a lot (though not the last few days).

At any rate, end result for those on the hunt for new work. Do not listen to the voice in your head telling you what you are worth. That voice knows only that it cannot do anything itself and wants to take your talents, your dreams, and your goals and flush them. Dabble in those dreams while looking for work and you might start seeing ways to work and be happy doing it. No one else right now thinks badly of you if you've been laid off. Most folks know someone personally who has been affected by the economic downturn. So buck up, and get ready for a new day.

Days 6-8 - Dead ends

So, one of the problems with job hunting is hitting obstacles...lots of them. The biggest one is not getting responses from the people you apply to. Government jobs, with the security clearances and bureaucracy involved, seem to take longer than most. It is here I find myself at this point. Now, while I started the blog a week ago or so, I have been searching for work for about a month. I filed several resumes to the government (USN predominantly) and am now about to start reapplying for positions.

This is the frustrating part of being unemployed...not getting the callbacks. And I know more of why it happens to more people theses days. It goes a little something like this:

• You submit a resume electronically
• Their computer scans it for specific keywords and then rates it according to those keywords.
• If you don't have many, you disappear

So the trick now is to tool your resume to have the keywords that each individual job wants. How whacked out is that? You could have the credentials to do the job perfectly and the experience to excel at it but if your resume isn't playing the same game as their scanning, you're hosed! I find this both exciting and irritating. Both? Yes, on the one hand we have the technology to do an optical scan and pick out words exceptionally well but on the other it weeds out potentially good applicants from even getting face to face with a person. Ahhhh well...one more thing to learn while I am collecting unemployment I suppose ...

Day 5 - Life gets in the way sometimes

So, today was a bust...
And I mean that in the most visceral sense of the word.
Life prevented me from hunting today (of course, I'm blogging now when I could be hunting, but that is NOT the point!).
Quick recap of last night to present:
Bed at 1:45
Family situations including a very awake 4 yr old monkey boy lasting until 4am
6:30 wakeup call to get teens to bus
9:00 little kids to bus
9:30-10:15 errands
10:15 Sit down to hunt (get major hunt spots rechecked and beginning new ones when...)
11:45 pick up boy from bus and begin kid care time...

You get the idea...

So, right now I have two choices...beat myself up for not getting things done today or look at it as a day that was re-planned from stage 1. I think the lesson for today was that when you try to force things to happen in a specific way, Life (with a capital "L") will conspire to mess you up. It honestly never fails. I am choosing the second as this is nobody's fault and will shift things over to tomorrow...no big deal.

Ooooooooohhhhhhhhmmmmmm
Ooooooooohhhhhhhhmmmmmm

Day 4 - The Unemployment office

So, today was my first visit to an unemployment office...technically, this is an outplacement resource center focused on getting people into new work, but they are tied into the state, so it counts. You have to keep logs of who you contact for work and how you do that. They offer assessments and classes to build skills you may not have. Very nice thing.

What I found most enjoyable was being the only smiling face in the room. Another noob was ahead of me when I got there and he had a lot of questions and wanted to sign up for a lot of classes, so I ended up waiting for about 10 minutes or so before I got any help. I asked some questions about how to get my benefits (call in Sunday night and set up direct deposit, though for last week need to do it tomorrow), what I need to do to keep the bennies coming (maintain the log and be active in my searches), how to follow up with the Navy (no can do, just gotta wait)...that kind of thing. All the while taking down notes and being really friendly.

Now, I got there at about 10:15am...by 10:45 when I finished my questions, there was a line of very frustrated people behind me...another person was just getting to the front desk to help out, but I noticed that the air in the room was very negative...not surprising given that everyone in the room is out of work. But even the people working there are affected by it, so I decided to be upbeat and treat the front desk like a happy person and it worked! Got a smile and a non-pat answer from her and watched as she started paying it forward to other people. Bit of sparkle when she spoke to her regulars, more patience in her voice. Was really cool to watch the transformation.

I popped outside to look atthe class offerings while they both cleared the line down then hopped back in and signed up for three classes. Front desk woman was very happy to help and got me signed up lickety-split and gave me as many tips as she could cram into six minutes. I left happy to get started on the process and to hopefully have made a positive impact in some one else's day.

Weekend Post #2 - The Reality Check-In

So, it's Sunday night and I am preparing to make my first sojourn to the unemployment office. I have already filed online for benefits, now I need to go n and claim them and see if I qualify. I plan to have my list of jobs applied for available, learn how to fill out the paperwork, have my networking cards handy...Networking cards you say? What are those?

Glad you asked...Basically they are a mini-resume in the size of a business card. now I chose to make mine out of table tents since they fold to the same size but give me twice the space for data. All I need to do is take a picture, and add it to the template, do a little cut and paste and I can start printing them out. For those who may be in the same boat, I recommend them...if for no other reason than to give yourself a little project that helps you move forward. The Avery 5302 cards are what I used and they provide a free MS Word template on their website. Very nice and should help get my info into more people's hands.

So, what does this mean, well hopefully it means that I have the ability to collect my first unemployment check and get some info on how to follow up with the government jobs. If all goes well, I may be able to pursue what I've already looked at a bit more this week. That would be nice. As much as I like the freedom, the financial security is nice too. will give the first impressions tomorrow.

Weekend post #1 - Passion at work

Weekend posts will probably be more philosophical I think regarding work in general...

I have been pondering the concept of work and why there is this concept that says that a job is just a job and you aren't supposed to enjoy it. Who made that rule? It would seem to me that loving your job might make you more productive and more involved in making it not just good work but great work. Many of my jobs over the last ten years have started as jobs I had passion for that turned into just jobs. Why does this happen? What kills passion?

The answer that I keep coming down to is money...at base root of all companies is the need to make money and support the bottom line. No money = no company, right? Tough part is that no passion = poor quality = bad product/service = no money...am I missing something in the equation here?

Passion involves different things for different people. Some people like to have accomplishments recognized, some like getting raises and promotions, some like solvnig problems, and some can get off the phone with a happy customer and glow for a week (These people scare me, BTW). But most companies fail to find more ways to get people that little bit of passion that spurs them, and in theory the company, to greater heights. This I think is the major failing of corporate America.

A good freind of mine works for a major software company and has made a solid name for himself there. He LOVES coding and managing despite the different challenges in both areas. He has his passion in his job so he thrives. Another of my friends holds a similar position and is miserable because he hates the management side...he wants to code. Why is there no way to reward this person in a way that doesn't hurt his effectiveness?

These are questions I don't have answers for...but ones that I am looking for as I go through this process. I do not want to have a "job" in the most basic sense of the word. I want to wake up happy to do the things on my plate and balance my life effectively. Here's hoping I find it.

Day 3 - Altogether different

So, today, Friday, is a day that normally has very little job hunting in it. This is for two very distinct reasons:

1. People who make decisions about hiring generally aren't "in the office" on Fridays, and
2. My 4-yr old son has no school, so he becomes my shadow.

We tend to make Fridays errand days...running around taking care of bills, shopping, and other assorted gobbeldy-gook. So, nothing new filed yet today though I have a couple of places to submit to later tonight. Suffice to say, it has become somewhat of a tradition.

Today was Bank, Post Office, a couple of stores looking for mineral supplements, Orthodontist's office, and food shopping along with one kid pick up and a stop at my local game store to see what was new. All in all a lot of hustle and bustle. Tomorrow is the dump, Costco, and maybe a couple of other things...we shall see.

Monday, I will be heading in to see about getting unemployment benefits...looks like ~$600/wk as long as I am being active in my quest for re-employment which I will be. will also make use of their center to get some new places to search and follow up (If I can find one for the USN...).
Really fun part of my day is coming up not that people are heading to bed, the cool air starts blowing in, and my creative juices start flowing. Hopefully I can get some more scriptig on my short story concept and some more fleshing out of adventure material. We shall see.

Days 1 & 2 - The Beginnings

So, this is what unemployment feels like...

I thought it was suppose to feel bad.

I do have some fear about supporting my family and moving forward with prepping for college for the kids, property taxes, and any number of other things. However, given that I have worked non-stop for almost 20 years, a break has been a good thing for my brain...almost like a system reboot. A lot of creativity has crept back into the mix and I am feeling more like a me of 15 years ago when I had a lot more adventure in me.

Days 1 & 2 of unemployment felt like all the days of the transition period...Job Hunting in the morning and then kids and errands in the afternoon. I currently have about a dozen apps out still active, most with the governmental bodies since that is where Obama is putting a lot of money these days. Since I live in a heavy governmental run area (USNavy is #1 employer in my county), I think it may have better traction that trying to find work in the private sector. The jobs here based in Corporate America are not high paying for my current skill set nor are those positions being hired for at this time.

With that in mind, I have also been working on adding to the skill set. Over the last couple of months, I have been working on getting certified in network security and learning basic HTML. As you can see, I have also started blogging a bit more regularly. So, the pattern I have established will be the norm until something changes...callbacks, interviews, etc. Gotta keep busy and look forward as there is light ahead (and no, it isn't the 5:32 running a bit behind either).

Joy of Unemploy

So, yesterday was my first day of being unemployed ever. I don't count the readjustment period when I came back from teaching overseas even though I was technically then too. This was a downsized moment.

Now, first off I want to say that this will not be a ranting against the establishment or venting spleen to anyone and everyone about how hard it is out there. I want this to be a look at what possibilities emerge when your world/life patterns are changed dramatically.

To that end, here's the opening situation: Company says your position is going away, gives you a bunch of resources to help you and a healthy severance (under non-disclosure on particulars so don't ask). This is my scenario and I am honestly very happy with what was offered...not just with the money, but with the opportunity to start fresh.

You might be saying to yourself, "Dude, the market/economy blows chow right now...How can you be happy without a job?" You might say that if you went to my alma mater in Santa Cruz, most likely your version would be a bit more articulate. But even though I have a family to feed and care for, the time that has been given to me as I transitioned out of work has been an eye opener for me. Let me explain...

I have been in the job market for 20 years, mostly in Service/Support and Sales roles. I have management experience, run teams both in front of me and remotely (yes, this is a shameless plug, so if you are interested in the specifics, contact me) across a fairly wide spectrum of business models. That said, I have come to realize that it has not been passionate work. I commit to my work, but haven't been passionate about it in a while. This has led to a number of problems for me personally including more illness, short bouts of depression, and anxiety to name a few. My goal now is to support my family doing something that excites me.

What I will attempt to do here, is chronicle the time that I have in between now and the next big thing. Thoughts, tips, and hopes for anyone interested enough to read them. Comments, civil and spamless ones anyway, will always be welcome. So, strap in and get ready for what promises to be an interesting ride.