12 Weeks & Counting

It's been 12 weeks now that I've been unemployed. In that time, I've put in somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 resumes & applications. I've gotten a whopping 3 interviews, and only gotten feedback on 2 of those. The last time I was unemployed, I started working again after 15 weeks. Several people have commented to me that they had practically nothing for 3 months, then the rush came and they went back to work. I am crossing everything possible for that to be the case. OOH, men in kilts. uhh, I digress, and get distracted by Celtic Thunder. Piper in Gunn tartan... yummy. Last week I had an interview with a staffing agency on Monday. The guy I talked with seemed impressed with my experience, and told me he was sending my resume to a firm that is looking for an Admin with construction jobsite experience, and that the firm wanted to interview that week. By Wednesday I hadn't heard anything, so I called, AND sent an email. I got no response, so I called again on Thursday morning, and was told that my agent was out of the office but would call me when he got in that afternoon. Nothing, so I sent another email that afternoon, and another Friday morning. FINALLY on Friday afternoon I heard back from him, and apparently the company hasn't selected any candidates to interview yet. Patience is NOT my virtue. Now, I've not put all my eggs in one basket, but the bottom line is, this is the only basket that has acknowledged my eggs. I've registered online, AND called to try to make appointments with 10 different staffing agencies, in addition to this one, and this one is the only one that is even acknowledging my existence! I get that there are THOUSANDS of people out there applying for the same positions, but holy shit people, how many of them out there have the specific industry experience that I have? I've read several articles, including one in today's Startlegram about not applying for positions unless you have 75% of the qualifications stated. I have at least that many of them! I have NEVER looked at a position online or in the paper and thought "well, I've never done that, but I COULD, so hey, even though I have none of the experience they are seeking, I'll go ahead and apply". I think even more frustrating to me is the fact that I have submitted resumes for a couple of positions directly to companies that have the position listed on their website, yet I can't get a response to a follow up email or call, AND THE POSITION IS STILL LISTED. Now, I realize that one of those situations, is likely the result of the "good ole boys network", as they are a firm with whom my former employer has done A LOT of business in the last year, and that rather than calling HR, they may have called the person that they knew. I'm also learning who my true friends are throughout this whole thing. I've known forever that in general, I am a better friend than I have, and I came to terms with that a long time ago. It doesn't make it any easier that a significant number of people with whom I used to talk/text/correspond DAILY seem to have vanished into thin air. Now I know that a couple of them have had, or are having in the next week, major surgery. Most of the others, however, I guess have decided that I suck now that I got canned, and am not worthy of their friendship. It annoys me, and it hurts my feelings, especially the ones who have fallen on hard times themselves and always turned to me for support. Obviously my support system is not what I once believed it to be. One of my friends said to me today at church "you have a tendency to draw in needy people", and she's right. I don't know what it is that causes me to do that, but that's pretty much over now. I am not going to be anyone's doormat anymore. On the upside, since I haven't been working, there has been only the occasional raging migraine, as opposed to the weekly occurrences I was enduring. I'm fairly sure that my blood pressure is down, and my ankles stay normal sized these days. In retrospect, the thought did cross my mind a time or two in March and April, that I might ought to scope out some want ads, and see what was out there. Part of it may have been an unconcious thought that perhaps it was time to move on. As much as I like what I do, and as comfortable as I was in that position, the mere fact that there are less than 50 people in all 3 companies that were affiliated, means there was really no growth or advancement opportunity. As cool as it is to work for a small company, and be part of the "family", it is also very easy to stagnate, and get locked in to a road that's going nowhere. My goal now is to turn the negativity around and use this opportunity to find something that will allow me to grow, and actually advance. I'm working on that, in baby steps.