find a job i like

I did it!

With 31 days to spare, I found a job I like. Well, I found a job I think I’ll like. It’s the very same writing and editing position I spoke of in an earlier post, the one at an area hospital.

I sent my resume and clips in a couple of months ago, but heard nothing back, so I assumed the position had been filled. It wasn’t. I received a call a little over a week ago from the HR office, asking me to come in for an interview.

That interview, led to another interview, which led to another interview. I received word last week, that the job would be mine so long as I passed the mandatory drug test. Which I did. (Let that be a lesson to all you kids out there still smoking that demon weed!)

I start on August 27. I’m fairly excited, but a bit nervous as I have not worked in an office environment for (gasp!!!) almost five years. I’m giving myself daily pep talks to build up my confidence.

I’ll confess I went into a bit of a depression, after having lost out on a couple of other potential gigs. I avoided this website like a plague, in fact, because I had begun to feel like a complete loser for failing to achieve this goal.

In the 10 days before I rejoin the 9-to-5 labor pool, I plan on creating a bubble of positive energy around myself. Thinking positive thoughts doesn’t come naturally to me, but I’m going to work like hell to be less negative.

Right now, I’m going to concentrate on being thankful for the chance that’s been given me.

I have 83 days left to solve this puzzle. And it is a puzzle, make no mistake about that. I’m too experienced for some of the jobs out there, and I don’t have enough of the right kind of experience for others.

Today, I sent an e-mail to a newspaper that wanted me to come in for an interview this week. I told them I wasn’t interested. Here’s why: The job being pitched to me was exactly the same kind of job (a town reporter gig) that I did when I broke into journalism 20 years ago!!!

I shouldn’t say that. It wasn’t exactly the same. Actually, it involved covering, not one, but THREE towns, the furthest of which was 50 miles from where I live. In other words, I’d spend hours on the road every day, driving from town to town to town to gather the news, then I’d be forced to stay late pretty much every night covering meetings in all three.

And, if a fire were to break out in one of these bergs after midnight, the bosses would, no doubt, call me at home to demand that I go out and cover it toot sweet! No, thanks. Excuse me for saying so, but I am better than covering local sewer cmomission meetings. These are things young reporters do to earn their stripes. I’ve earned mine.

This story says A LOT about the state of news business today.

Instead of hiring three reporters to cover a town each, the corporate owners of this rag were generously offering an embarrassingly low salary to one reporter to do it all. Economically, it makes perfect sense to them, but not to me. I’d easily burn through $150 dollars of gas a week for the privilege of having no personal life and putting thousands of miles on my aging car to cover all the same things I did when I was new to the reporting business.

Moreover, this job would further lock me into a cycle of dead-end reporting gigs I’ve had for years. Oh, the editor made all the right noises about how the company “promotes” good performance, but I’ve heard all this stuff before.

Good reporters, sadly, dont get bumped up into the editor’s chair, precisely because they are good. Moving them up creates a void that’s difficult to fill; good reporters are hard to find.

I’m feeling pretty down and very frustrated.

In the last week, I’ve received – not one – but two rejection letters from prospective employers. Bummer.

I was turned down for both the hospital writing job and the newspaper gig I mentioned in previous posts. The latter, I’m told, was awarded to a part-timer who wanted a full-time job; the former…that’s an interesting story. Today (6-20-07), I received a polite letter from the HR department, saying the hospital was looking at other applicants with qualifications “better suited” to the job.

I’m a little down, but I’ll get over it soon enough. I wasn’t high on either job, but, hell, I’d like to land some steadier work and benefits.

Actually, I’m a little ticked off about the way the hospital jerked me around. The PR department misrepresented the job, pitching it as a senior writing post when, in fact, it’s really a jack-of-all-trades marketing position. I had my doubts about the job as soon as they they began asking me whether I had any experience with spreadsheets and preparing office budgets.

Uh, excuse me, but I thought you were looking for a writer. I naively thought writers had to know about, um, writing! I have an e-mail from the department head telling me how good my clips were and how interested she was in learning more about me. So much for that.

Small wonder, then, that the job has been posted twice in the last few months and that many other applicants were interviewed and told they didn’t measure up! Maybe if the interviewers were more honest with the applicants, and with themselves, the position would be filled by now.

As for the newspaper job, that sounded interesting, but they gave it to the insider. I actually called the HR manager to inquire about why I didn’t get it, and she told me company policy is to hire from within. The editor is interested in me doing some freelance, so it wasn’t a complete loss. I guess.

So, today I lick my wounds and get back into the fray tomorrow. The key thing for me to remember is that I’m looking for a job I like, not just any job. I have no choice but to move on.

Monday’s job interview went well. The editor told me my writing samples were “excellent, the best I’ve seen.” While I’m encouraged by that, kind words don’t necessarily translate into a job offer. Looks like another two weeks before I hear something, one way or the other. To quote Tom Petty: “The waaaaiiiting is the hardest part.”

On Monday, I have another interview, this one at an area newspaper. It’s for an “interactive reporter” position, which I assume involves writing and videotaping stories for the paper’s webpage. This would be something new for me. Sounds like it might be fun. More to follow…

The interview – perhaps “ordeal” is a better word for it – went off as scheduled today.

No fewer than six staffers from the hospital PR department pariticipted (including the office secretary!), each one asking me three questions to determine how I’d perform on the job under a variety of circumstances.

Why such close scrutiny for a job that isn’t even a management position? I dunno. To add to my anxiety, EVERYONE was scribbling notes for the BIG BOSS, the all-knowing, all-seeing VP in the sky.

My six inquisitors were grading me on all my answers!!! I wasn’t quite prepared for the experience, but did a fairly good job of keeping my cool.

“How would you set about budgeting your time if given multiple, (i.e. dozens) of assignments to begin or complete in a given day?” “How would you respond if your work was harshly criticized and you were told to do it over again?” “Do you have any experience making office budgets?” (That last question struck me as odd, given that the position I’m vying for was listed as “senior staff writer.”)

My head was reeling afterward. I answered every question as honestly and completely as possible. It’s in the hands of the gods now, so to speak. I’m allowing myself to feel neither optimistic nor pesimistic.

Fretting about how I did isn’t going to hasten the decision, which I’m told will be made in a couple weeks time. Whatever will be, will be.

My interview is slated for Thursday (June, 7, 2007). Stay tuned…

I’m guardedly optimistic about my chances of landing this job. The test went well. I received an e-mail today from the the marketing director who said my writing was “great.” Looks like I’ll be called back for an interview. I’m focusing all my energy on being a mountain—silent and still. What happens will happen, regardless of how I feel. In the true spirit of Buddhism, I’m trying to be unattached.

I’ve sent resumes and writing samples to a couple area newspapers, as well as a trade magazine and a consumer cooking mag. I’m not giving up on writing yet!

I haven’t written much about my job search recently, because I haven’t had much to report. Today, I do.

This afternoon (Wednesay, May 30) I’m taking a writing test for public relations job at a hospital. This is not the hospital I spoke of in a previous post, but another, larger one further from my home. Seems if I do well on the test, I qualify for an interview. A professional acquaintance of mine works there, and he’s pledged to put in a good word for me. We’ll see. I refuse to allow myself to get too excited about it.

Now, about that other hospital, the one I applied to a while back. No one in the PR department deigned to acknowledge the receipt of of resume and witing samples. Very unprofessional. Now, months after the fact, this same institution is back looking for someone to fill the same spot!

Either the job was never filled, or the person they chose didn’t work out. (I’m going to ask my spies to find out.) Serves ‘em right. I KNOW I could have excelled there.

I just might submit my resume again, just for laughs.