Today marks my first day of “joblessness”. We have some money in the bank, and a decent severance package, so we’re nowhere near out of money… yet. But by the end of February, the savings will have dwindled, the unemployment wouldn’t be making up much slack, and we’d begin feeling the pinch pretty hard.
So why don’t you check out my excellent resume, available right here at barnson.org, and let me know if you happen to see something that suits my job history?
I’ve been hitting it pretty hard today. I put in several applications this morning, and I’m planning on making at least one “cold call” a day: that is, a call to an employer who has not advertised they are hiring for a position. I expect to be roundly rejected on these calls, and that’s OK! My goal is to build up my sales skills and networks of people who know my name, while also building my research skills in companies, and not necessarily to get a job that way.
The job boards are also pretty good, but for Utah, pretty lean as well. Monster boasted only two positions in Utah that fit my job description, and dice and hotjobs came up pretty lean as well. I haven’t hit Salt Lake City Help Wanted yet, nor The Deseret News. I’m not a big fan of classified ads, but you know what? They do work, but you often end up with a job that pays less because the cometition is so fierce. My former boss took a substantial pay cut, but he felt the pay rate was “fair” with a local hospital.
Fair? I don’t want fair, I want equitable and fun 🙂
Anyway, it’s exciting. And it’s nice that there’s not a ton of pressure, like I’d need to have landed the job yesterday or something just to make ends meet… living under that kind of pressure, every day one is unemployed, just stinks. I’ve been there before, and at the very least I feel like I have a solid month of full-time job-hunting before that is going to start preying on my mind. So for now, all the pressure is coming from inside of me to find that job right now, rather than from bills going unpaid and children wailing in hunger… 😉
I’m seriously considering the consulting scene right now. There seem to be a lot of 1-week to 6-month positions being advertised all over the country, and I’m a good fit for a large portion of them. That might satisfy my need for change and excitement, while also satisfying the wallet. The only concerning thing there, really, is the instability and travel requirements. My wife thrives on stability: if I can come home the same time, every day, she really loves that. Many of these consulting gigs would require a week or more away at a time, and I’d sure hate to put her through that kind of instability.
Then again, a paycheck with an uneven schedule is better than a regular schedule of never leaving the house because I have no work!
Anyway, wish me luck.