Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A Job Update - And No, It's Not Anything Exciting

It's been a while since my last post. The main reason for this would be the plain and simple concept of: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Oh, I have a lot to say - trust me; I just feel it's better if on a regular basis (1.) others don't have to hear it, and (2.) I don't have to actually connect with different less than desirable aspects of my life in order to articulate them. Still, it's been a long time, so I'll give a highly edited version of my current perspective on life. Brace yourself - this won't be pretty.

I've once again come to the conclusion that life isn't fair. Again. I've also come to the conclusion that the early bird does not get the worm. Further, it's true that being responsible and disciplined will yield few if any worthwhile results (I know this is not true in everything . . but it is true in some areas), while utter negligence and thoughtlessness are rewarded and nurtured in our society.

For the last six months I've spent my spare time (read: Kyla's nap time) searching for jobs and submitting resumes and filling out tedious and lengthy applications. That's my spare time (I feel that point should be dully noted). That means that other tasks that I normally handle in my spare time don't get addressed (i.e. - cleaning, ironing, reading, blogging, talking on the phone, personal time in general). And the results of my efforts have been utterly disgusting. There've been a handful of interviews which (obviously) have not yielded any decent results. Several of these interviews (I'd put it at 3 -4 at this point) have ended with the companies simply deciding not to hire anyone. Period. They interviewed people, narrowed down the best candidates, and then they crapped out. . the big boss men who call all the shots decided that the already existing staff should fill in for the position which was to be created, but which now had been kicked to the curb.

Do you have any idea how much wasted time and energy goes into each of these interviews which are then just discarded? - and not because my spouse didn't qualify, simply because the company changed their mind. Or do you have any idea how much time goes into typing personalized cover letters for each company with a listed available position? Or what about *simply* submitting resumes? Or what about filling out their generic applications which usually start at around 3 pages? Maybe you're getting the picture that my husband is unemployed not for lack of effort or skill - he's unemployed simply because the job market sucks right now. (And that's actually my edited thought.)

Do you have any idea how much rejection that is on a daily basis - and more so on interview days? I've come to the conclusion that all aspects of job hunting are crappy. I don't like sending in info to companies, and I don't like not having companies that are looking for info like ours. I don't like interview days, and I don't like non-interview days. I haven't liked hearing back from companies, and I haven't liked not hearing back from companies. Pretty much all aspects pertaining to finding employment are utterly annoying and discouraging.

And while we may struggle with finding a real job, I'm acutely aware that life could be worse. We could be homeless; we could be without family or help; we could've been living in Haiti; we could have ill children or family. . the list goes on. And while many people are facing terrible situations, that still doesn't change my perspective that life, in general, sucks - for a lot of people. Is that any consolation to me? Nope. Am I wanting any sort of admonishment, religious or otherwise? Nope. I'm just sharing where I'm at. There are happy moments in life, but a large part of it is suffering and struggling. And the more irresponsible you are (I've found) the more the government and people in general try to assist you.

So there it is. My verbal vomit all over the internet. Blah. Feel free to comment on this blog, but as a matter of common knowledge, don't ask me to my face about my life; I guarantee you won't want to hear what I have to say as far as "the job search" goes.