The Great Job Hunt

Two months. It’s been two months since I’ve blogged. And a half, actually. What kind of a blogger am I? I’ve been job hunting and it’s an all consuming occupation. Every day, I accompany my coffee mug to the monitor and cruise through job listings, send emails, fill out online applications.

It’s humbling. And scary to be broke and over-qualified at the same time. Over-qualified is a term that‘s hackneyed and misunderstood. If I am qualified to do the work, that’s the priority in this dog-eat-dog mission. I understand there are some situations for which I am under-qualified. I do not have a degree; too busy raising children and establishing my own successful businesses. I’ve taken some great classes at community colleges and online courses. I find it interesting that a degree is so important these days. I am so not impressed by degrees in this day and age. I know doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professional people who are really book smart but don’t have the sense to drive sober, seek appropriate help or communicate with family and co-workers. I have taught myself a great deal just in the course of living, surviving and listening.

I’m not asking to do brain surgery nor am I interested; I’m not an engineer of any kind and would therefore not put myself in the stressful situation of impersonating one. Nor can I develop websites, write tech or care to even understand the meaning of JQuery, AJAX, LINQ, MS SQL server, ASP.NET, etc. However, there are many things I am capable of.

My daughter says their loss, every time I get passed over. One interviewer told me “you are a very viable candidate for this job. I’m going to check your references and I will get back to you.” That was a Thursday. As the weekend passed and none of my references received a phone call, I could see the writing on the wall. Which was a good thing, since I had to write to the company on Monday to get a progress report. They emailed me later that afternoon telling me I had been amongst the final three but they had moved forward with another candidate. Too busy to call? My personal fave is the spa interview, where I was vying for the position of office manager/retail clerk. She felt so bad about not hiring me, she sent me a gift certificate for a massage. Nice. That’s classy. God knows I need the massage. My neck and shoulders feel like forged steel.

I listened to President Obama deliver his State of the Union Address. He spoke of “men and women who wake up with the anguish of not knowing where their next paycheck will come from; who send out resumes week after week and hear nothing in response.” That’s me. I am in that dynamic. Then again, I wouldn’t want his job.

I never thought it would be so difficult to find A JOB. I have been working since I was 12 years old, when I was picking beans and raspberries in the Nishimura fields to make money for school clothes. My experience is varied and unique. Everything from owning a day care to a luxury villa. My mom asked me if I was above cleaning houses. Am I? No, of course not.

Domestic for hire. Will scrub toilets. Successful small business ownership; customer service management; marketing; purchasing; staff management and development. Freelance and team writer for various travel and tourism publications and websites. Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint; basic Spanish translation; community presentations, staff management, training and team-building, meeting facilitation, cash management, bookkeeping, vendor negotiations, contract management. Willing to iron and do windows.

Thanks for reading.