Fortunate Friday
by clothwright
Focus on the positive! I have to remind myself to think positively. Frequently. I’ve been told that I should sit comfortably and center myself and concentrate on sending positive vibrations out into the universe while visualizing the kind of job I want, and perfect employment will come to me. While this approach might not hurt, I can’t convince myself that it should replace writing cover letters and sending out applications. Nevertheless, concentrating on the things that are going well does have a positive effect and can sometimes banish the overall gloom for a little while.
Job Search:
1. I continue to write cover letters and send out applications. Depending on what career advice you read, 50 – 98.26% of jobs are achieved through networking. Some even say that sending out applications and resumes is a waste of time. I don’t have a ton of control over when I can do networking but I do have control over creating and sending application materials, so I continue. This makes me feel as if I am taking action, which is a good thing, because otherwise I might get stuck in the slough of despond and never get out.
2. A mis-directed voicemail was delivered to me by e-mail yesterday. I have no idea why this person called an old number–my cell phone number is on all my application materials. He wants to set up an interview. I returned the call and left a voicemail. I hope we don’t have to spend too much time playing phone tag; this is why I vastly prefer e-mail. Why on earth would you call a number different than the one on my resume? Oh well. Positive part: another request for a first interview! Worst case scenario, that is positive feedback even if we never get in touch.
3. My researches this week led to a very interesting company which is someplace I think I’d like to work. It’s in a different city and I have no network there except relatives. Then again, some of those relatives have lived there a long time and know lots of people. On a whim, I sent an e-mail to them saying hey, I found this interesting company, don’t go out of your way but if you ever run into anyone who works there, could you let me know? The very next day I got an e-mail back from Awesome Relative forwarding a message from someone she knows who might know someone who knows someone at said company, and what kind of work do I do anyway? I guess this is networking! I had to grit my teeth to send the initial e-mail. They are all laid back people and love me and want to help but I still felt bad about asking for anything. I sense that there might be posts about networking in the future.
4. More jobs are being posted all the time. I could convince myself that statistically speaking, I will get a job sooner or later.
5. I have greatly decreased the lag time between seeing a job ad and sending an application. See Monday’s post on mistakes.
General:
6. The snow is not accumulating. (The fact that it is snowing, on the 27th of March, which tries the patience of woman and beast and brings out a tendency to hurl curses into the sky and be impolite to fellow drivers and pedestrians, I politely decline to address).
7. The yarn I made last week is turning into an interesting scarf.
8. I don’t have to go to the office.
9. I am not unemployed yet.
10. I am writing more.
I feel ok. Not bouncy with joy, but not immobilized by despair either. There is a lot of waiting: waiting for spring, waiting to hear back, waiting to see what will happen… The pool of uncertainty is an uncomfortable place to be. I try to enjoy stillness whenever I can, bearing in mind that soon there may come a time of frantic activity. Two days ago I had a flash of insight: I could sell everything and run away to Chile! Then the waiting would be over. But I’m not sure what I’d do when I got there. Feeling ok is fine for now.