nyj45: job-search update


As I mentioned Friday, I finally had a job interview.

Unfortunately it didn’t go too well, and I’m not sure I want the job. I, who this morning rose at 1-something p.m., who routinely observed our department’s “core business hours of 10-4” by arriving between 10:15 and 10:30, would not do very well in an 8-6 job where 1-hour lunches are frowned upon. :-0

I mean, non-profit work is well and good, but I’m not sure I care enough to be doing all of that for less than I made in my previous job. I have loans to pay off, people! A blog-reading public to please! And so on.

But it was an interview. And a good reminder of the kind of questions I need to be prepared to answer.

Theoretically such questions could have been posed in my job-search meeting with the New York State Department of Labor, but that was a total joke. In fact, I think it actually discouraged job-searching on my part, seeing as how I’m doing so well rising rather late, making my morning latte, checking emails, and writing the latest blog entry. It’s not like it takes a lot of money to do this (although I recently added B&N ads to my other, far-more-popular blog). Just time (of which I have lots) and patience (which dial-up basically requires).

There are of course days where I think, “Man this really sucks. I’m sick of being unemployed.” But NYSDOL gets no credit for that sentiment. None whatsoever.

I mean, consider this. I get a letter in the mail, informing me that on such-and-such date, I need to show up at 1 p.m. with my job-search record. This sounds pretty serious, right? I discover that I’ve somehow managed to lose all relevant paperwork (supplied at my last NYSDOL appearance), but fortunately a booklet resembling a tax manual has the requisite form in the middle. Despite all 35 times the NYSDOL job-board website was mentioned in the 36-page PowerPoint presentation read to us by our very-helpful NYSDOL field guide (apparently not all unemployed people can read for themselves), on paper they don’t look very up-to-date.

The form has no mention of websites or emails, so I feel like I’m very much the slouch for having only used electronic methods to seek and contact job providers. But I fill in the form as best as I can, occasionally sneaking in references to networking events and activities related to promoting my blogs. This could all lead to work, I reason. And I'm prepared to justify such entries.

But as it turns out, all this carefully thought-out reasoning is really quite unnecessary.

On the appointed day, I walk from home to the NYSDOL offices as part of my MetroCard-conservation efforts (this was before I found an unused 30-day unlimited card I had). Remarkably I arrive on time. I mean, on-the-dot on time. I go upstairs to the receptionist, feeling very pleased about my punctuality, and follow instructions to sit in a classroom. The room is ominously empty, but at first I give this little thought. I know how hard it is to be on time. Probably most people are just running late like I usually do.

Fifteen minutes go by, and I am still reading my L Magazine alone. A little before 1:30, another woman arrives. She sits down and proceeds to take out study materials for a class she’s taking (although school enrollment is expressly forbidden by unemployment policies and could jeopardize her checks). Around 1:30, I go and ask a woman outside when the session is supposed to begin. She mutters something about needing to assemble a group and tells me things should begin around 1:30.

I resist the temptation to skeptically arch my eyebrow to her face (a skill we Deffinbaugh-Foists are very good at) and return to my chair unconvinced.

By 1:45 it is still me and the illegal student in the classroom. In exasperation, I return to the receptionist’s desk, which is now occupied by a slight, fair-skinned man with a yarmulke. He has just arrived at the post, he tells me, but places a call to someone who might care about my predicament.

Five or 10 minutes later, the same portly, pony-tailed Asian man who read the 36-page PowerPoint presentation to us last time pokes his head in the door and calls out a variation on my last name. Adrenaline surging, I collect my belongings and follow him to a desk. He asks if I have a resume, and I feel instantly doomed to failure. “No, the letter didn’t say I needed one,” I reply bravely. Do I have my job-search record? Yes.

I pull it out and set the scribbled-on booklet on his desk, prepared for a 21st-century inquisition. Does he need a copy of it? To my surprise, the man barely passes a glance at the page and scribbles something down on a form. “You can go now,” he says.

Gathering the booklet numbly, I rise to my feet in disgust. That was IT?!! All that waiting and guilt and anxiety for that?!! I could have written my freaking grocery list on it! Put nothing but a record of all the entries I’ve posted on Craigslist, promoting my love-life blog!

In sum, nothing about this meeting proved remotely motivational in terms of seeking to find a job soon. As long as I have money to support my morning home-made latte (which I do), and the occasional low-end 6-pack, there’s almost no motivation to cut short this unexpected sabbatical. Besides, the unemployment diet seems to be good for my figure! As of this morning, I weighed in at an unheard-of just-under 130 pounds. For a nearly 5’8” woman, this is pretty respectable — considering my regular runs have, um, turned into occasional walks to the park.

Yeah, I seem to have developed an eye twitch lately, but I’m sure that means I just need to add more potassium to my diet. What could be unhealthy about regular doses of cereal, coffee, and milk? Isn’t that a balanced diet? In fact, I’m convinced it’s going to be the next South Beach: the diet for really sedentary types. Maybe I could make some money on that...

If nothing else, I’m sure it’ll make for good cocktail-party conversation at the RNC event I’m volunteering at later this month. Although last week’s meeting with the event-planning company didn’t lead to anything resembling paying work, I’m now on the docket to volunteer at some party touted to be “a 5-star event” during the convention. More on such hijinks to come shortly; a volunteer meeting is Wednesday at the venue, Gotham Hall. Sounds like we should show up in Batman costumes, but so far they haven't said as much.

posted @ 11:15 PM on Mon - August 16, 2004 remark! Email |  as quoted:
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