I just don't understand

how anyone manages to get a job in the internet age. I have submitted literally HUNDREDS of resumes and applications. I have had a grand total of, well, let's count them up here, 2 phone interviews, one of which led to an in-person interview, and a whopping 7 in-person interviews, including the one I already mentioned as coming after the phone interview, and counting the 2 I had for a position that was apparently not ever intended to be permanent, though they led me to believe that it was. I have submitted resumes and made phone calls to every reputable staffing/temp agency in the area. Yeah, I actually managed to get in to see ONE of them, now they won't call me back, or answer emails. Even the ones with whom I spoke with a person, I couldn't get an appointment to go in and speak to someone or do performance testing. TX Workforce has told me that I MUST consider positions that pay 25% less than what I was making, which was about 20% below the average according to every salary calculator I can find, INCLUDING THEIR OWN. Frankly, the TX Workforce job board hasn't done SHIT for me, except get me a job for 6 days, which I was led to believe was a PERMANENT position. I have completed my profile as completely as possible, including all of my experience, regardless of whether or not it is in my current field. If I'm lucky, on any given day, I get 3 'MATCHES', and my browse pulls up 75 jobs within a hundred mile radius. The 'matches' are actually jobs that are allegedly within my skill set, however more often than not, instead of an "accounting/billing clerk" they are looking for a CPA. UMM, yeah NOT a match. Or they are 90 miles away. The browse feature pulls up 75 jobs, and guess what? 60 or more of them are VETERANS ONLY. WTF? My profile clearly states that I am NOT a veteran, so why are these included? Take out the ones that are more than 30 miles (and thus over an hours commute by car), and I'm down to maybe 5. Take out the ones that are for legal or medical secretaries, accountants, HR generalists, and other specific administrative support positions, and well, if I'm lucky, there is ONE option left for me to apply for. I have put in applications at the area grocery stores, big box stores, and various other retail outlets. You have NO IDEA how tired I am of hearing "we aren't actually hiring right now, but we'll keep your application on file"! Every time I think I am past being angry about this whole situation, something pops up that has been part of my normalcy, but now it can't be, since I don't have a fucking job, and I can't collect fucking unemployment because someone LIED about how things were handled, and the state believed them! I realize that the anger doesn't hurt anyone except me, and I really am trying to get past it, but a person can only take so much rejection before they start really taking it personally. I realize that it is not my place to judge other people, and that sending negativity out into the world does not do anyting except increase negativity, but sometimes I really hope that what comes around goes around, and those who wronged me will eventually suffer something that leaves them feeling as lost and desperate as I have begun to. I recognize that I have awesome friends who love me and give me all the support that they can, and I am unbelievably grateful for that. I have had to seriously re-evaluate a lot of my relationships this year, and while I have always known that in general, I don't have a lot of friends who are the friend to me that I am to them, admitting to the fact that several of them I've long considered to be relatively equally give/take relationships are really not, no matter what I try to delude myself into believing. Over the weekend, I had my first birthday party in many years. Certainly the first since I've been grown, that wasn't hosted by me. There are 3 of us who have birthdays within 6 days. A large group of us had a plan to go to Middlefaire on Sunday, it's last day of the season. Unfortunately, rains came on Friday and Saturday that turned the parking lot and festival site into a major mud pit, and Saturday evening they decided to cancel Sunday's festivities. Already planned for after faire, was a birthday dinner, hosted by the birthday boy's parents, for the 3 of us. In the end, we spend the day with most of the originally planned group in Weatherford and then went to the dinner party afterwards. God bless MJ, for remembering my food sensitivities and making sure that in addition to her seafood gumbo there were a couple of other soup options, plus chicken salad, fresh fruit, tossed salad, and A-MAZ-ING pimento cheese bread! This coming weekend I would dearly LOVE to be going to TRF for opening, and to see my favorite Bard, Marc Gunn, as I've done for the last couple of years. But OH NO, I got screwed out of my job, and out of unemployment benefits, so I can't justify spending the $ to go, even to ride down with someone else and use a discount ticket. I'm sure I'll have a fine time out at Screams, with the crew up here that's doing that instead of TRF, using a free ticket, but it still makes me angry that I've had to make all the adjustments I've had to make, over some bullshit

Boycott is over now

I have heard now from 2 separate sources, that Victoria's Secret has made right the wrong. They aren't calling it a prize, but they ARE giving Casey the trip to New York, including airfare, hotel, spa, etc. While most of us that I know of, anyway, have not gotten anything other than an autoresponder notice about receiving the comment and getting back to you within 24 hours, it appears that our efforts made a difference.

BOYCOTT VICTORIAS SECRET

Back in August, I was made aware of the Body By Victoria contest, because the daughter of a fellow rennie had entered. Her name is Casey, she is 19 years old and has Osteosarcoma, which is advanced enough that she will lose her enough of her right leg that she will not be able to have a prosthetic leg. This is part of the post that I first saw posted on Wench.org: "I don't love the parts of my body that are affected by cancer. I don't love my tumor, or any of the nerves it's currently pressing against. I don't love the bones it has weakened to the point that I will have to use crutches even after the fracture heals in order to avoid fracturing more bones. On the other hand, I love my legs because they transport me, because I like their shape, because they've been pretty reliable for the last 19 years. I love my legs because I can move my little toes out separate from the rest of my toes. I love them because they make it possible for me to get piggy back rides. I love them because they help me dance. I love them because they come in a pair, so even when my right leg is amputated, I can still enjoy these things with my left leg. I love my arms because they support my weight on my crutches and make it possible for me to still get around without having to ask for too much help. I love my fingers for being able to grasp some things while still holding on to the crutches, without always spilling or dropping those things. I love my body's tolerance for pain, and the fact that it can take so much without making me cry in front of people. I love it for the fact that I didn't cry that one time when they were trying to hook me up to the IV and kept digging around the more tender veins in my arms. I love my body even though it doesn't look like the Victoria's Secret "A Body For Every Body" ad to the right of my screen as I type this. I love it even though it's bald and can't sexily toy with its hair, even though it has no eyebrows to arch at men, even though its bra size is only a 36A, even though its weight fluctuates but will probably never have that flat of a stomach, even though it will soon only have one leg and some people will be disgusted by it. I love it even though it's falling apart. I love it because it's mine." The prize for this contest is a three-day all-expenses-paid trip to NYC, includung a full spa day and other pampering prizes that she could really use after all of this awful trauma. http://www.bodybyvictoria.com/#/Gallery/880 Over the course of the last month, there were lots of fraudulent votes, and Casey's supporters were vigilant about reporting the spammers, whether they were voting for Casey, or for other contestants. Casey won the popular vote, by THOUSANDS of votes. Unfortunately, Victorias Secret is run by toads, because though they admitted to her in a telephone call that her votes were genuine and fair, they'd decided to change the rules because of the tampering that occurred, and gave the top 50 vote getters in random order, to uninvolved judges, who then selected 2 grand prize winners, neither of them was Casey. As a consolation prize, they've given her a $500 gift card. What a slap in the face! I am FURIOUS about it, and have made my opinion known to them. I have also told them that I will be making sure that every forum I frequent, as well as the hundreds of people in my email box is aware of how they do business. I realize that I am but one voice, but if enough voices band together, it CAN make a difference! This is my letter to them Hello, I am writing you today regarding your “Body By Victoria” contest. I was made aware of the contest on one of several forums I am a member of, and I was one of the supporters of the popular vote winner, Casey. I am aware of the fact that there was more than one issue regarding fraudulent votes, and some of our forum members were among the honest folks who were watching and helping to ensure that your company was notified when they occurred, whether the fraudulent votes were being cast on Casey’s behalf or not. As I understood the rules when I read them, there would be a popular winner, and another winner would be selected by judges as well. I cannot quote specifics because I failed to print said rules off, and, well, they are no longer posted. I find it to be sneaky, underhanded, unethical, and utterly abhorrent that you decided, once it was clear that a real woman, who will never have a perfect body was winning, to change the rules. My understanding is that she received a call from your company, admitting that the votes for her were genuine and fairly cast, but that instead of awarding her the grand prize (which was now available to 2 winners, just not her), you were awarding her a $500 gift card. In my opinion, that was a slap in her face. Her entry is certainly the most genuine, and the most honest without being shallow, vain, and self-centered. To be frank, I have not shopped in your stores for myself for many years, as you do not carry anything in my size, however many of my friends do, and I have bought many gifts and gift cards from you. That has stopped now. I refuse to do business with a company that would handle its affairs in the manner in which you have handled this contest. I can assure you that I will be posting the information and my opinion of your practices on every forum I frequent, my blogs, Twitter, and all the hundreds of people in my email box. I sincerely hope that you will reconsider your decision and award the grand prize to Casey, however I realize that I am but one voice that you may or may not pay attention to. I used their comment form here http://www2.victoriassecret.com/html/custsrvc/contact/comments/?rfnbr=8678 to register my opinion and I encourage you to do the same!

AGAIN???

*SIGH* I've not posted in over a week for a couple of reasons. Mostly, it's because I hate to be negative all the time, and right now, I've been feeling VERY negative of late. I really thought that the job I started on the 3rd would be something I could do long term, though there were a couple of quirky things that are probably a bigger deal to me than to many other people just because of my quirks. In total, I worked 6 days, 2 days theat first week, and 4 the following week, which included Labor Day Monday and the office was closed. On friday afternoon, when I came back from lunch, and finished a coupole of things I was working on, the President of the company came out and told me that they had decided that this just wasn't going to work out. I asked if there was a specific reason, and the response was "when we hired you, we had specific expectations, and those just aren't being met." WHAT THE FUCK??? Every day I was there, I completed everything that was in my inbasket to be completed. I have no idea what I wasn't doing to their satisfaction, and they were apparently not inclined to give me specific information about it. I did nothing to mislead them about my experience, I was open and honest about the fact that my direct experience putting the information into the accounting program and doing that end of the processing of payables and receivables, as well as job costing, was several years old. I guess their learning curve is 5 days or less. In retrospect, I've come to the conclusion that it was NEVER a permanent position being offered. They never asked me for references. It's frankly a position that could be handled by 1 full time accounting person, rather than a full time receptionist/accounting assistant and a part-time accounting person. On the one hand, I respect and admire the decision to only work 2 days in the office and the other 3 from home, while caring for toddler twins, but on the other hand, if you are unwilling to delegate responsibility to an assistant, then you need to be in the office more than those 2 days. At any rate, I'm back on the hunt AGAIN, and am hoping that something will come through soon, before I'm too far behind to get caught back up again.

Beginnings

Today was the first day of my new job. 15 weeks I was unemployed, and while that's not the longest I've ever been unemployed, it was certainly the most difficult. My new position is less than half the distance that the old was was from my house. Tomorrow I may make the drive home at lunch, just to try it out, since I think I could make it in about 15 minutes, which would give me time for a sandwich and checking emails before I had to head back out, and I would STILL not put as many miles on the car as I did just going to and from the old job! It's pretty well insisted upon that we leave for lunch, cuz there's not a breakroom, and they consider that we need to get away from the work and the phones for a bit during the day. I am pretty well pooped, and am going to hit the bed EARLY tonite, and will hopefully put together a better post tomorrow.

Knee High & other stuff

It has been a busy week or 10 days around here. Last week I went to a 3 morning job search workshop, put on by the Tarrant County Workforce center near me. OMG! I so wish I could have gotten into one of them sooner! They provided lots of tips and strategies for searching, resumes, and interviews. Random weirdness started on Thursday morning, when I was still in the building for the workshop. I was headed back to the conference room, and I encountered a woman at the elevator, that I wish I could have taken a picture of! Seriously, she must have weighed 350 lbs, and was wearing a very loud, brightly colored paisleyish print oversized top, with cropped leggings that I suspect were once black with little skulls all over them, however they have faded to gray. I know, you are thinking "OMG, where is my brain bleach or a spork to put my eyes out," right? Keep going on down the outfit to her feet... on the left, a t-strap sandal in white. On the right, a knee hi (because it definitely wasn't pantyhose, could have been a thigh hi, I guess though) in a lovely shade of dark brown, and a leopard print ballerina flat. Yeah, I was pretty traumatized by the whole thing. I get how you might put on mismatched shoes or sandals when you have more than one pair in the same style. I had a friend who did just that once, but really, how do you put a knee hi on one leg and not think "oh, I need to put a knee hi on the other leg so I can wear matching shoes"?! I also had a really good interview on Friday morning. It came about very quickly, and I really had a good vibe about it just from that. I had responded to a job posting the week before, and frankly, didn't expect to hear anything for another week or so, if at all. When I got home Wednesday evening, there was an email with an attached questionnaire. I really tried to think through my answers, and make sure that all of my answers were somehow positive, even if I didn't have the specific experience they were looking for. When I woke up on Thursday and checked my mail, I had a reply to my questionnaire, telling me that my answers were good, and asking when I was available for an interview. Within an hour, I had an interview set up for Friday morning. By the time I left the interview, after an hour and a half, I had been told to expect to return on the 24th or 25th for a second interview. By Friday afternoon, I was told to plan on the morning of the 25th. In all honesty, I feel better about this one than I did the one for my last position. I'm still checking the various job boards an submitting applications for positions I'm interested in. Speaking of pantyhose and random weirdness, a couple of days ago, I was doing some laundry, I looked up and saw this: I have been in this house for 17 months, and I can assure you that I have not bought any knee hi hose, especially a ginormous box of them. I'm not sure exactly a. from whence they came, because I have been up on a ladder putting stuff on those shelves in the past year, and never saw them before, or b. to whom they might belong, because the previous resident was a widower, and had been for several years before he remarried and moved out of the house.

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.