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.