Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Feast or Famine


It’s feast or famine here, people.  Monday was coffee with a REAL professional Scientist.  That was really good, he was encouraging about my prospects, about the market here in general, about my skills specifically.  And he told me, this is a good time to be job hunting, since this is the time of year budgets are set for the new year.  And that slowly sank in as, “Wait, I might not have a job until January?!” The whole reason this job hunting all day everything works is because I still believe that the next phone call is going to be an interview, or the next contact will help me get an offer.  Not that I have been very buoyant about this lately, but that left me completely deflated.  I grumbled a lot, and then started doing things I thought were ridiculous- responding to LinkedIn posts, calling recruiters who I’ve been trying to get in touch with for months, Googling networking events (weaseling my way into professional societies), I got a business license (more on THAT later)…. And just feeling sour about it.  “If I’m not gonna have a job until next year, why should I apply for jobs that I am a match for??  Why not jobs that are on my bus route or some other inane criteria?!”  I was not in a pleasant frame of mine.

And part of my desperation to DO something was because I’m traveling a fair bit in the next couple weeks.  I’ve got some family stuff this week, and next week I am going to an algae workshop.  That should make me feel like I’ve got lots going on, but instead I feel like I am spinning my wheels, not making as much progress as I ought to.  If I really wanted a job, I could have called every employer in King county by now.  Again, not helpful thinking.

I did manage to schedule a meeting for my consulting, which I thought I could mentally track as “not a total waste of time.”  No sooner did I arrive at my grandmother’s house than the phone started ringing.  “Quick meeting to schedule some volunteer work?” Sure, that will keep me busy for a week. Then the consulting meeting lasted ~2.5 hours, spanning everything from our big plans, to how business works.  Very productive.  My brain is full.  Then that recruiter finally called back, “Sure, I’ll send along my resume and CV.” And I finally checked my email, looks like I have a couple more applications to fill out.  Oh me. And that contract someone had open on LinkedIn that I said I would do (writing educational materials, what the heck?), yeah, she will pay me to do that.  In dollars?? Wow.

1 comment:

  1. You should relax and enjoy the holidays. Why bitter about waiting until January if your prospects for next year have been judged positively? A few weeks doesn't mean anything in the scheme of things. If you got hired next week you would not likely start being trained on anything new or important until after Christmas anyway. If you go for months in the new year with no result I will understand your mood. For now most companies are wrapping up the year and seeing people go on holiday vacation. I wouldn't get too discouraged about anything and just relax and focus your efforts in a month when everyone is back up and running at full attention.

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