Being A Responsible Job Seeker

Happy Tuesday, Dear Readers.

As we near the end of February, I have to take a look back on this journey of the past six months. I wasn't entirely unemployed during that time, having picked up a part-time work contract that lasted about two-and-a-half months during the autumnal season, but full-time work has proven more elusive than I thought it would be at this point in my life.

I have had an amazing support network, which I am thankful for down to my marrow. For every resume and cover letter that has been proofed at the workforce center, for all the calls from friends and family that let me vent, for all the emails and messages sent to cheer me up, for the outings to take a break and regroup with friends, I appreciate every moment of that time.

It is true that I have had some very good phone interviews as of late, but the rub is that it is this late in the game. Money makes the world go 'round, and while I am okay with money right now, I cannot wait forever. It is time to ask for more professional help, in the form of signing up for a staffing service and taking temp jobs. It is not the ideal solution, as I would have loved to get a job in my preferred field, but for now there are future bills to consider, because there are always future bills.

I am still going to look for a job in my preferred field. I am still going to take more classes on grant writing (I need to take the final exam on the instructor-led course I am taking now, and then I will be done with that one and ready to sign up for more). I am still going to interview to the best of my ability, and I will find the job that is right for me. 

I am not giving up, but I need to mitigate what I want with what I need, because what I need is to be a responsible job seeker and take care of myself so that I may be successful in the future. Part of being a responsible job seeker, and in fact a responsible adult, is knowing when to ask for help in accomplishing a goal. It took me a long time to learn that lesson.

I picked up a list of staffing agencies in my town last week when I was at the workforce center. Each one has a list of what type of employment they provide and what job tracks they cover. I have already highlighted a handful to research, as they seem more in keeping with the type of jobs I want and will help pad my resume.

I hope, Dear Readers, that your week ahead is a good one; but I also hope that if it is not, you have people you can lean on and ask for help. 

-A.M.W.

Using Writer's Block As A Creative Exercise

Happy Tuesday, Dear Readers!

I wanted to talk about writer's block today. It happens to all of us from time to time, to varying degrees, and is frustrating no matter the degree. The thing to focus on is to not give up, but to redirect your writing to something else. Write a different scene, write some dialogue that you were thinking about, and give yourself some time to rearrange the scene you were stuck on. You'll get it right; maybe not in an hour or a day, but you will get it.

I also like to change the music I'm listening to if I get stuck; depending on how your brain works, sometimes listening to music that has a different rhythm can help. Instrumental jazz always helps me the most, but listening to a wide variety of music can help me when I'm trying to find the right groove to write a scene.

If a change in music or writing something different doesn't help, change locations. If you usually write in front of a home PC, go outside or to a library. Change your place, change your perspective, and let that somewhere new inspire you.

I especially recommend the library; if you need it, all that research material is there for you! Also, there is something so intrinsically calming about sitting in a library and existing there in the moment as you listen to everybody around you.

Whatever you do to keep moving forward with your writing, the most important thing is that you keep writing. Don't let the writer's block wear you down, because you can write your way around it.

-A.M.W.

Keeping Your Groove

Happy Tuesday, Readers. I hope your weekend was lovely.

Since we are back in The Roaring Twenties, I have found myself listening to both jazz music and electro swing more often than not when I want to listen to something that isn't a podcast, or just want to have background music. I am one of those people who is willing to listen to any type of music for at least a while, and my taste can sometimes be considered "eclectic" at best.

Music is wonderful; it can be a source of quiet solace, loud jubilation, or inspiration. I usually have instrumental music on when I'm writing, because it helps when there isn't oppressive silence, but I find it harder to write when I'm also half-listening to lyrics, so instrumental is the best option as it helps me keep my groove.

When it comes to being motivated, music helps there too; the right song can get you going on your path forward. Think about this: when you need to motivate yourself, is there a certain song or album you listen to in order to help you get into the right mindset?

Whether you listen to pop, rock, country, jazz, electro swing, classical, or punk, I hope your groove is a good one this week.

-A.M.W.

Achieving Goals Outside of Job Searching

Happy Tuesday, Readers! Hopefully everybody had a good weekend, and enjoyed watching some sportsball (or, in the event you didn't particularly care for the sportsball, you were entertained by the commercials and the half-time show).

I spent most of my weekend studying. Several blog posts ago, I said I was signing up for a couple grant writing courses online. One of them is instructor-led, and she releases two lessons every week, leaving time for people to do quizzes, assignments, and engage in the discussion board. The other is self-paced, and students can go as fast or slow as they need within reason. On Sunday, I took the final exam for the self-paced course, and I passed with a 97.2%. That course is now finished and I have a certificate of completion.

Acquiring a sense of accomplishment over something you have done, separate from your job search, can be very invigorating. I know I woke up yesterday looking forward to the research required to perform a good job search and creation of job application materials. I didn't even get downtrodden with the all-day snow that was happening outside my window, though it made checking the mail later a bit more exciting, especially with the sheet of ice that was under the snow.

Accomplishments can keep you going, and can help you keep a cheery disposition, even in the face of something most people do not like doing, like jury duty...which is something I may have to partake in this week. I find out on Thursday if I have to report for jury pool on Friday morning to the municipal court here in town, but I don't mind the thought of it as much as I did prior to my final exam. If it happens, it happens, and I go do my civic duty as part of the justice system.

I touched a bit in an earlier post about keywords that the end goal is acquiring a full-time job, and likened it to a game. The end goal, or win-state, of the game is always the most important part of the game, but when playing video games, sometimes it is the side quests that give you the bonuses you need in order to get to the end of the game and acquire the win-state. I view both the weekly posts of this blog, and the online courses, to be side quests that will help me acquire my win-state.

The game continues, and I'm unlocking achievements on the way.

-A.M.W.

Taking Time Out For Nature

When most of working life is dedicated to staring at screens, and a lot of leisure time is also spent staring at screens (e.g., television, movies, video games, digital book readers, web surfing), it is important to unplug and not stare at screens. This is harder in the winter months, as sometimes the weather is a barrier, but it is still important to go outside. Even if you are not in the best physical shape, breathing fresh air can do wonders to improve your mood and give your brain a rest.

Having been at this job search for full-time work for several months, I find that whenever I am stuck on something, taking a walk around my HOA's campus helps. Breathing fresh air, not looking at my phone, and taking in the beauty that is Colorado helps immensely when I need to sort out a problem. All the things that have been bugging me can get tangled up if I sit still and stew for too long, and stretching out my legs is one of the best ways I've found to untangle the mess and organize my brain.

It's important not to get lost in your own head, because that will lead to so much unnecessary stress, and unnecessary stress can make you sick. Being sick while also on a job hunt 1) is no fun, and 2) makes for additional stress because there are things you still have to accomplish, and 3) can make for awkward interviews, because literally nobody wants to sound sick when they're on a phone interview, nor do they want to look sick for an in-person interview. A nice walk will help you get exercise, relieve stress, and will overall improve your health, as long as you wear weather appropriate clothing.

So take some time today to take a walk; even if it's just in your back yard, or a short jaunt to your mailbox, your brain and body will thank you. I will be taking one as soon as I get this posted, because it is a sunny, beautiful day here, and I want to be out in it.

-A.M.W.

The Importance Of Career Consultants

Following up from my last blog about keywords, I went to the Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development Center in Fort Collins. I had been able to contact a Career Consultant there, whom I had sat down with before, and had the good fortune that somebody had cancelled an appointment with her that I was more than happy to take on. 

My Consultant has been and continues to be friendly, helpful, patient and an example of what more people need when looking for a job. She was able to go over recent job listings I had applied to and helped me better identify keywords. She then went through the couple different resumes I have when I submit to a lot of different places for the same job title, and suggested style upgrades and where to place keywords. She even read through a cover letter that I had sent and showed me what was fine and what needed work. She did this all in one hour, and she was explaining the why and how of this the entire time so I fully understood why it mattered.

So now I have a better understanding of where I need to work on my resumes and cover letters, and I've been working on the upgrades. I have a better grasp of how to identify keywords (because it turned out I wasn't as good at that as I thought), and how to better integrate them into my resumes and cover letters, which I am also working on.

Would I have been able to look all this up online and figure it out myself? Maybe. Would I have been able to look all this up online and figure it out myself in one hour? Absolutely not.

Career Consultants are working with people every day from every walk of life to do one thing: help those people get better chance at getting employed where they want to be employed. They know the trends of resumes for certain career types, and know about resources that are at their fingertips but would take you an entire day of careful googling to find. They also can make suggestions that, in your stressed state of trying to find work, would not readily come to you.

If you have gone to Career Consultants before at you county office, make sure to thank them for all their hard work. If you haven't gone there, and you are looking for a career change, or just need some help with your resume, or your cover letter, or your interview tactics, I encourage you to make an appointment. They are there to help.

The Anxiety of Radio Silence and The Keyword Game

Being in the job market is stressful. There are companies to research, job listings to comb through, applications to fill out, people to contact for follow-ups or more information about the company, emails to set up interviews, phone interviews, in-person interviews, and thank you notes to fill out. Along with that, there are resumes for various positions in the career track of interest to tweak, cover letters to write, and practice for interviews which may or may not ever happen.

The worst is, after all that work, all that effort, to be met with radio silence. Apply with your best foot forward, with what you think is your strongest resume and cover letter, send the follow-up inquiry a couple days later, and yet...nothing. No response. The anxiety of what wasn’t good enough swiftly follows if you can’t shake it off and go to the next job.

I keep thinking of search engine optimization in relation to job application systems, fueled by keywords, which HR departments use to “help” them whittle down which resumes they actually look through to determine who gets an interview. As far as I understand it, have all the specific keywords HR has programmed in for that particular job, and the resume is sent to the department for consideration. Don’t have enough keywords, and your resume could be categorized as unfit for the position and HR doesn’t even see it.

I have filled out hundreds of job applications so far, and I’ve had over a dozen interviews, either in person or via phone. Some of these interviews went well (though not well enough to be hired), some interviews did not, but I was happy for the experience they gave me all the same. The anxiety I can’t shake, the thing that makes me wonder, late at night as I research yet another company, is this: if it wasn’t for the keyword system that HR departments have adopted, how many more interviews would I have been offered? Followed immediately by: if it wasn’t for this system, would I have gotten a job already?

Then the last, most pressing question: if that is the game HR managers are playing via keyword system, what is the best way to game that system to my advantage? After all, if I’m going to have to play by these rules, then I should figure out a way to consistently win and acquire an interview. The ultimate win state is to acquire an interview that lands me full-time employment.

Let the games begin.

-A.M.W.