When compared to all of the job hunts I’ve endeavored over the last seven years, this one is tied for Worst Ever. The other Worst Ever was in the summer of 2004, when I was searching for that first Big Job right outta college. That was six grueling months, fumbling my way around the Internet and The Washington Post, scrounging for any semi-writing-related opportunity I could find (including an ill-advised application with Edward Jones… the financial advising people… which doesn’t have anything to do with writing).
This current job search is in its fifth month, and I am seeing a lot more traffic than any of my previous interviews. Here are the tallies:
- 4 interviews, with one scheduled for tomorrow, provided my son doesn’t have a fever
- 1 second interview, which didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, and I’m still waiting to hear how the interviewer thought it went
- 5 phone screens, 3 of which led to interviews
- 36 resumes sent for actual job postings (that I could find record of… that number still seems low to me)
- 44 people contacted about my job search or a particular position
So here’s the rub: I’m unemployed. I have about 6 weeks left on my unemployment. They say don’t bank on getting an extension, because you might not get it. They also say that it’s easier to find a job while you’re employed, and until now I never really believed that. Now I do, obviously. It’s like I’ve got some kind of plague… like I’ve got a scarlet “U” branded on my chest. Never have I ever sent this many resumes, gotten this close to so many jobs, only to come up empty handed. And now that I have a five-month-old son, the stakes are even higher.
I could continue to sit here and wallow in self-pity, moping around the house lusting after jobs that I’m not even 100% sure I want, but instead I wanted to put it out there. Get it all on the screen and out in the open, so that I’m not just complaining to myself and my husband, but to all you fine readers out there. And if you know anyone that’s hiring, think of me.
