Tag: job hunting

Posted on by — Leave a comment

there and back again

I got laid off last week. It came as a surprise. There were no rumblings, no rumors. I was anticipating a raise and a promotion. Instead, I got a severance package.

No hard feelings, though. It was a good company,y and I worked with good people. I loved the work that I did, and I am proud of what I have accomplished.

Now, I’m back in the trenches, looking for the next step on this journey.

I am looking for a Remote position in the Technical Writing arena. I have over 20 years of writing experience and management experience, and I learn quickly.

I know you’re out there. Come find me.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

be the good

As I’ve been job hunting these last few weeks, I’ve made a point to look into companies that are doing the kind of work that benefits humanity. Being a tech writer with the ability to explore many different kinds of tech is a wonderful way to learn about new and innovative ways that people are trying to help, from climate change to using drones to deliver life saving medical supplies in times of need.

Sure, it is more likely I’ll end up at a more mundane sort of company that deals with data of some kind or advertising/product tech or the like because that is where my experience is, but exploring other options has been interesting.

Particularly in the world we occupy today. The news is filled with sad and angry situations, fueling the feelings of hopelessness and loneliness in many people. It can be hard to see that there are people out there working for the greater good of all.

I’ve always believed that to change the world we must change ourselves and how we interact with the world, and I still do, however sometimes we need something bigger than what we can do on our own. We need innovations that help us become better, not on an individual level, but as a society.

There is a lot of scary stuff happening in the world, but don’t let it bog you down in despair. Find the good and support it if you can. Be the good if you can’t find it.

The picture is from my recent trip to Austin. It reminds me of the beauty that exists, even in the heart of a bustling city, in a place bogged down by disease. Find that beauty today and hold on to it.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

it’s okay…to not be okay

Earlier this week, I was feeling great about the possibilities of getting a job offer today.  Late yesterday I got an email saying that, like the last three jobs I felt sure I was going to get, the job has gone on hold while the company re-evaluates what they genuinely need.

To some degree, I’m used to it, as a technical writer. But, I have to admit that this time, it’s hitting me pretty hard.  The job boards have the same ten jobs or so that they’ve had for a month.  Everyone is re-evaluating.  Jobs are getting really scarce.

Earlier this week I was feeling pretty optimistic and I was happy to reach out to my extroverted friends, and read poetry on Facebook and help people get through this.  Today I’m feeling fairly hopeless.  Today I’m afraid.

Logically, I know these things come in waves, but I also know that we haven’t seen the worst of this.

I need to pay bills.  I need to pay rent.  But at the same time, I’m afraid to spend anything because I’m so unsure of when there will be more money.  If I spend nothing of my last unemployment check, or of the next two unemployment checks, I will just make my rent in May.

On Tuesday, I have an interview at Target to work overnights stocking shelves because it pays slightly better than unemployment, yet at the same time, I don’t want to take the job from someone who might need it more than I do.

I know we’re all in the same boat.  We’re all doing our best to keep that boat afloat in an ocean of uncertainty and fear.  And I know that I’ll find my optimism again, but for today it’s okay to not be okay.

I’m going to finish up this coffee and wait for the recruiter to call me for a remote tech writer job I heard about late yesterday.  Maybe this is the one?

Posted on by — Leave a comment

keep your hands to yourself

It’s a scary time out there, Readers, and I hope that you are all alright and taking good care of yourselves and your family.  As someone with a mother in her 70s with compromised lungs who lives with people in the service industry, it’s kind of terrifying.

Everyday I worry that my brother or his family will bring this virus home and not even be aware of it, but I know my mother is sensible, and I know that she’s washing her hands and using sanitizer, and I know the family is doing everything they can to help keep her safe.

I know that for people in the service industry, this crisis has to be terrifying as well, not just the idea that they might get sick, but that they might lose income from cut shifts, lose their jobs if they get sick and have to self-isolate for two weeks or more, and with those loses comes loss of housing and an inability to pay bills.

So far, our response to this virus has not inspired confidence in either our national safety nets or our healthcare system.  We appear to have no real plan in place to deal with this kind of swiftly migrating illness, and that in and of itself allows the virus to continue to multiply.

We need to protect our most vulnerable.  We need to demand national sick leave from all employers.  And if you can, stay home. Keep your kids home.  Find fun things to do as a family.

Even my employment search is being impacted.  What would have been an in-person interview next week is now a Skype interview.  Most of the companies that I am mid-interview process with are on mandatory work from home orders.  I guess that means I don’t have to worry about appearing rude if I don’t shake hands.

I’ve never been a germaphobe before, but I’m starting to see the wisdom in keeping my hands to myself.  I hope you are all taking care of yourselves too, and wish a thousand acts of kindness for you all.

I’m off to make more coffee, and find out what my cats just knocked off a table in the living room.

 

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Posted on by — Leave a comment

the games people play

Wow, how did we get to March so fast?!  Seems like we were only just sludging our way through the year of January, and now we’ve made a slide into March.  My plans to take over the world have fallen seriously behind.  Something must be done!

No, seriously, while things are ugly in the world of politics and the scare of a global pandemic is emptying shelves in the stores around the country, and the fact that I still do not have gainful employment, I’m doing pretty good.  At least through April, because I have my rent paid that far ahead.  So, I better find something pretty fast.

Honestly, I’d be surprised if some of the sluggishness in hiring is the uncertainty of the world right now.  I’ve seen the same technical writer jobs with the same companies posted and reposted on all the job boards since early in January.  At least one of them every few weeks since last summer, YIKES.

Add to that the fact that I refuse, at fifty one years old, to spend four hours of my day (on a good day) in the car to get to and from a job, and I’m left here trying to manifest a job that has yet to come into sight.  It is out there though.  I’m sure of it.

In the meantime, I write, I rummage and ransack job boards, I keep lists of places and jobs I have applied to, and I have rediscovered my love for story based video games.  I suck at them (as an example, I spent almost two hours yesterday trying to defeat the first serious “boss” in Jedi: Fallen Order…and gave up for the day without doing it…got her down to about half health a couple of times, but I’m not coordinated enough to dodge and stuff, and she’s wicked fast).

I am considering developing an online course for writers struggling with the concepts of Point of View and maybe a few others like it, but I have no concept of what to charge for something like that.  I’ve been coaching and beta-reading for years, but always in areas I can’t claim on a resume, so I’m thinking maybe I could formalize what I’ve been doing.  I’m also going to revamp my editing offerings, make them simpler.

Plus, it’s time for Pride to ramp up.  Had my first management meeting yesterday.  Got some exciting new ideas flowing there.  I hope it pays off.

For now, the coffee is hot and I need to start my daily haunting of Linked In and Glassdoor and Indeed…I’ve stopped using Monster (because holy hell the crap recruiters try to shovel in my direction from there) and even Career Builder (for much the same reason) which used to be my go-to sites for job hunting.

Happy Wednesday, Readers.  May kindness find you!

 

Photo by Caspar Camille Rubin on Unsplash

Posted on by — 1 Comment

wine, women and song…or at least the wine

It’s another early Saturday morning, so of course that means I’m writing while I drink my Death Wish coffee, except when a certain kitty comes and demands cuddles.  Cuddles trump everything.  I spent a good chunk of yesterday doing neglected housework, and there’s a bunch more of it to do, but not today.

I have a wine club box to pick up out in Lodi today, so I’m planning to go kidnap my mother and take her out for food of some kind and probably a run to a store or two (possibly to get some yarn to work on a few projects).

I’m in a pretty good place regarding work.  I have two jobs that have been offered to me, though both are contract positions and I would rather have a permanent one, and I have two permanent jobs that I have passed the first hurdle in the gauntlet of interviews. I have a good feeling that I will be starting a new job pretty soon.

In fact, I feel pretty good right now about the entire direction this year has started to take.  I have a new job on the horizon.  I have a planned excursion to Batuu West at the end of March, a trip to Austin and another Batuu adventure in August, and come October I will be back in Denver for Sirens.

Not a bad year so far.  All it needs is for that new permanent job to materialize.  I hope your 2020 is shaping up to be awesome too, Readers!  Happy Saturday…also known as half-price chocolate day.  Go get you some sweet!

Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash

Posted on by — Leave a comment

day job needed…again

So, I’ve been trying out this whole “independent contractor” thing for  almost a year now. My thoughts are that I could get used to the money, but not the responsibility for my own insurance and taxes.  My contract is up on the eleventh of February, so it’s time to buckle down on that search for the next thing.

Honestly, I’ll take another contract position if I have to, but I would prefer a regular, full time position.  The freedom is nice, but the security is better, in my opinion.

It really is a full time job looking for work.  Add it to the day job I’m still working, and hitting the gym (because it’s good for me), and writing and any side editing jobs, and I need a second ME to get it all done.  Forget any promo on the books I’ve already published.

So what’s a girl to do?  Dress up like Han Solo and go to Disney, of course!

I also have a Princess Leia on Hoth outfit planned.  Because I’m a dork.  My niece just sent me a picture of her First Order outfit and it is SMASHING.  I am really looking forward to a couple of days of child-like fun!

Anyway, I’m back to applying to every Technical Writer/Editor/Content Manager job I can find on the interwebs.  Think good thoughts for me, Readers!  I’ll have Feb and March rent and bills paid by the time the job is done, but that doesn’t really give me a lot of leeway.

 

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

Posted on by — Leave a comment

stress is the muse killer

There is no denying that I am super stressed out about finding a job, and that stress has sent my muse packing on what I am hoping is just a quick get-away to someplace nice and warm.  Otherwise, she’s just running from the stress, and who knows when she’ll be back?

The truth is, everything I’ve written in the last two weeks has been forced and stilted and just straight up bad.  I even tried working on new short stories in the hopes that it would kick me out of the funk.

No luck.

I have an editing job to do, and the promise of a few more on the horizon, I have posted on fiverr.com to try to bring in some more work, and even on Craig’s List.  So far no bites.  I may have a one to two month contract job, which I should know about this coming week, and I have been requested to interview at a company in Oakland this coming week as well, though I don’t have a date and time yet.

In the meantime, I am working on keeping myself busy and with Pride just around the corner, that isn’t really too hard.  Maybe I need some inspiration.  I have tomorrow set aside as a day to write…maybe I’ll pull something out of the partially written ideas file and try something new…or maybe try something completely out of the norm for me.

At any rate, it’s Saturday, so whatever you’re up to today, Readers, I hope it’s a good one!

Photo by Jan Kahánek on Unsplash

Posted on by — Leave a comment

so many irons in the fire

This time of year is my busy season.  Being out of work hasn’t eased any of it, in fact, in a lot of ways it’s made it harder, busier.  Looking for work is a full time job, as they say.  Add in the work I do for SF Pride, and some freelance editing, not to mention my own writing and you get one busy little author!

I have an interview today for a job I’d really like to get at a company in San Francisco that is working to change the landscape of finance for those who are un-banked or under-banked.  It’s a wonderful combination of work that I love and a cause I can get behind.

Yesterday, I spent most of my day working on Pride stuff…paperwork that all needs updating to 2019, contracts and acceptance letters…all kinds of fun stuff, then I cut out about two hours of my afternoon to read, an indulgence to be sure.

I recently won a leather bound edition of The Song of Ice and Fire, and have paused in my Sirens reading to start reading these.  I’m not quite two thirds of the way through the first book.  I’m interested to find how the books differ from the TV show.

I’m up early this morning, and hope to work on a short story that I’m writing before I have to start getting ready for the interview.  It’s a sci-fi piece about a girl who accidentally becomes an assassin, first out of necessity, but then discovering that she is good at it.

Right then, I should get to those words, and my coffee while it’s still hot.

 

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash