So, last thursday I dropped off Lots of resumes around Estherville. Good thing I wrote down who I talked to! unfortunately, since it was the day before a holiday i didn't get to talk to hardly anyone who was in hiring or decision making position. I didn't want to call yesterday to follow up cuz it's monday after a long weekend. Then today I decided that they'll all just be getting back in the groove so tomorrow it's calling and dropping off resumes.
This week is tough too cuz my daughter is visiting me and I want to spend as much time as I can with her. But she's a teenager so I've got the morning to do with as I wish ;-)
As I think I've said before I'm having a tough time understanding how this area of Iowa is so unconnected and not on the social media/social networking sites. Still haven't found out about a civic organization. I'll probably wait till next week when my daughter goes back to her dad's.
Another thing I'm struggling with is how to down-play my BS degree. I finished it because of personal desire. I'm really looking for an admin type job that will hone my computer skills and hopefully expand a bit into electronic marketing like building a fan page on facebook for the company and posting on twitter for the company. I guess what I'm looking for is a career that I can build social media marketing into. Not sure how that'll work but I think there's a lot of potential in the area. Now, I just have to figure out how to market myself as an admin with that as an additional skill that can be profitable for employers. Plus, I have to convince them that they should pay me more than they probably want to.
My previous wages I think are a detriment to my job search here in NW IA. Cost of living is quite a bit less so I'm looking at jobs that pay about 2/3 of what I was making. So I know that scares employers away cuz they think I'll jump ship once I find something that pays more of what I'm used to. Although, I think most people realize that there's more to a job than money.
I'll let you know dear reader how the search continues - wish me luck!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
still searching
Ok, so it's wednesday and I haven't written since last week - bad erin!
But I'm back on the blogging wagon! I'm still looking for jobs but I'm in the twin cities so I haven't been dropping off resumes, just looking online. I had some troubles with iowajobs.... ok, lets be honest, my computer crashed so it probably wasn't the site but hardware issues. Not sure how much I'll get done today. But once I get back home tomorrow I'm going to get back on my job search plan. I probably should write it down so I have a definitive plan.
After talking with Austin - my dishy boyfriend - I realized that I don't know what I even want to do. Do I want to just get a Job till I can figure out what I ultimately want to do? Do I want just a job to get some experience in iowa, and to prove to employers that I'm not going anywhere? Or do I want to hold out for my big Career position? Or do I want to take what comes along knowing that I'm being guided by a higher power and what's meant to happen will happen? What a tough time to even be contemplating these questions!
The big thing I need to keep working on, more diligently than I have been, is my writing. Even if I can't make a living off it, selling my short stories could add a nice little bit of fun money to my budget. And that's a Great way for me to use my communication degree outside of employment. That way I don't have to get a job (or career) that uses my degree, cuz I am.
Still haven't heard from the youth shelter. I'm guessing that my app will show up today if it didn't yesterday, since I put it in the mail Friday. I love kids, my involvement with GS proves that but I bet working with at risk girls will probably be stressful, I know i can handle it but I wonder what the turn over rate is.
I'm going to enjoy today as a vacation day - I'm meeting my mom and my daughter for lunch =) Well, I'll still look but tomorrow back to the grindstone!
But I'm back on the blogging wagon! I'm still looking for jobs but I'm in the twin cities so I haven't been dropping off resumes, just looking online. I had some troubles with iowajobs.... ok, lets be honest, my computer crashed so it probably wasn't the site but hardware issues. Not sure how much I'll get done today. But once I get back home tomorrow I'm going to get back on my job search plan. I probably should write it down so I have a definitive plan.
After talking with Austin - my dishy boyfriend - I realized that I don't know what I even want to do. Do I want to just get a Job till I can figure out what I ultimately want to do? Do I want just a job to get some experience in iowa, and to prove to employers that I'm not going anywhere? Or do I want to hold out for my big Career position? Or do I want to take what comes along knowing that I'm being guided by a higher power and what's meant to happen will happen? What a tough time to even be contemplating these questions!
The big thing I need to keep working on, more diligently than I have been, is my writing. Even if I can't make a living off it, selling my short stories could add a nice little bit of fun money to my budget. And that's a Great way for me to use my communication degree outside of employment. That way I don't have to get a job (or career) that uses my degree, cuz I am.
Still haven't heard from the youth shelter. I'm guessing that my app will show up today if it didn't yesterday, since I put it in the mail Friday. I love kids, my involvement with GS proves that but I bet working with at risk girls will probably be stressful, I know i can handle it but I wonder what the turn over rate is.
I'm going to enjoy today as a vacation day - I'm meeting my mom and my daughter for lunch =) Well, I'll still look but tomorrow back to the grindstone!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Day 2
Ugh! i lost my post so I'm going to try and re-write it. *sigh*
Ok so here it is day 2 and I didn't do much job searching. I did get out my app for a youth shelter near me. it's been sitting here for a week and a half cuz i couldn't think of any non smart-alek remark to the question: "what is your philosophy about raising youth" All I could think of was things like: duct tape and strong rope or, children should be neither seen nor heard. Yeah, not really my philosophy but all i could think of. I've been Very active in Girl Scouts for 9 years, I really believe that kids today, especially young women Need guidance from caring adults who support them and guide them yet allowing them to make their own choices. Adults who guide instead of simply telling them what to do. I also feel that with the media images that we're all bombarded with that girls have a long uphill battle if they don't fit into a Very narrow niche that society says they have to fit into.
So I dropped that app off in the mail but didn't do really anything else today for job searching. Well, I looked at the workforce center website but there wasn't anything new there. I'll look Monday.
*time out for a rant* I've looked on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook and I can't find hardly ANY ONE to link with. There are NO adults in the area on any of these social media/networking sites! I found a HS girl and a real estate agent and the real estate agent is in Algona, about an hour away from my home. I know that the best way to get the inside scoop on jobs is to network but it's tough to network when i don't know anyone. i was thinking maybe i should join a community service organization like Rotary, Kiawanis, Lions or something like that but i know some of them you have to have a sponsor and I don't know anyone so i don't have a sponsor. Maybe there's a women's networking group. I'll have to look into that next week.
Ok rant is over.... Not sure how much blogging I'll get done tomorrow. Austin, my dishy boy friend works in the morning so I might post then otherwise, i'll post again on Monday. Not much job searching to be done on the weekend. Although there are always opportunities for networking. I'll just have to keep my eyes open to them.
Ok so here it is day 2 and I didn't do much job searching. I did get out my app for a youth shelter near me. it's been sitting here for a week and a half cuz i couldn't think of any non smart-alek remark to the question: "what is your philosophy about raising youth" All I could think of was things like: duct tape and strong rope or, children should be neither seen nor heard. Yeah, not really my philosophy but all i could think of. I've been Very active in Girl Scouts for 9 years, I really believe that kids today, especially young women Need guidance from caring adults who support them and guide them yet allowing them to make their own choices. Adults who guide instead of simply telling them what to do. I also feel that with the media images that we're all bombarded with that girls have a long uphill battle if they don't fit into a Very narrow niche that society says they have to fit into.
So I dropped that app off in the mail but didn't do really anything else today for job searching. Well, I looked at the workforce center website but there wasn't anything new there. I'll look Monday.
*time out for a rant* I've looked on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook and I can't find hardly ANY ONE to link with. There are NO adults in the area on any of these social media/networking sites! I found a HS girl and a real estate agent and the real estate agent is in Algona, about an hour away from my home. I know that the best way to get the inside scoop on jobs is to network but it's tough to network when i don't know anyone. i was thinking maybe i should join a community service organization like Rotary, Kiawanis, Lions or something like that but i know some of them you have to have a sponsor and I don't know anyone so i don't have a sponsor. Maybe there's a women's networking group. I'll have to look into that next week.
Ok rant is over.... Not sure how much blogging I'll get done tomorrow. Austin, my dishy boy friend works in the morning so I might post then otherwise, i'll post again on Monday. Not much job searching to be done on the weekend. Although there are always opportunities for networking. I'll just have to keep my eyes open to them.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Overview of my blog
After finding out this morning that I didn't get a second interview, much less offered the job, at an optical about half an hour away I decided that I'd FINALLY start blogging my job (career) search efforts. If you have any suggestions on how to stand out from the rest of the applicants, please let me know. It always seems hardest to apply ones knowledge to ones self. In other words, even though I was a recruiter for about a year total between two positions, I don't know if I'm doing and saying the right things. Obviously I'm not because I don't have employers beating down my door, nor is my phone ringing off the hook with offers!
I also twitter so feel free to follow me there - ebkelly. That's where I'll post short little comments and brief updates. Here is where I'll summarize my daily efforts and comment on them.
I heard of a woman who lost a LOT of weight by blogging because that meant that she had to be accountable. Well, now i have to be accountable to you to dear reader. I can fool myself or convince myself that it's ok to skip job searching or not finish an app but if I have to be accountable to my readers, then I better get it done!
I was most recently a career placement specialist which means that I sourced candidates for positions around the US - and one position in Toronto Canada - that averaged $50K/ yr or more. Unfortunately, all my candidates ended up getting not chosen and the rug kept getting pulled out from the manager too and none of her candidates were chosen either. Besides that, a lot of companies are on hiring freezes or pulling recruiting in house. So I was let go. Previous to that I had GREAT success recruiting very specialized contract field service machinists for a company in MN. I found 80% of the candidates I needed within 3 weeks. There are maybe 300 people who do this work in the entire US and the company already had 50 of them on their payroll and there are several other companies who do this type of work too. So this wasn't easy finding the candidates.
Before that I was news director for 3 small market radio stations in Red Wing, MN. I got that job after i graduated with my BS in Communication Studies from the College of St. Catherine. I Loved my job, hated the hours! At Least 60 hours a week, and I usually put in 80 or more. I worked evenings, weekends, early mornings, overnights sometimes. I'd get calls at 11pm, 3am, 9am on a Sunday... whatever I needed to do for the job I did. I covered over a 50 mile radius for news content and I built the stations up to be viable news sources after not having a news director for over a year. My family didn't like all the time I put into it and my then husband gave me the ultimatum.... Him or the Job. I chose him.... shoulda stuck with the job cuz we're Still divorced!
Before that I was at Eye Care Associates for nearly 7 years. I did All aspects of the dr's office except the actual exams. I scheduled appointments, billed insurance, did pre-tests, helped patients chose eye wear, taught people how to put contact lenses in their eyes and take them out, did adjustments and anything else you can imagine was needed, even collections. I was good at my job and overall i enjoyed it but I'd gone back to finish my BS and I wanted to use it more which is why I took the radio job.
That's a pretty good summary of my work history and experience. Oh, I was on the Weekend College Student Advisory Board, I was Co-Chair and Communications Co-Chair.
I'm done with my job searching for the day. As Scarlett O'Hara says: "I'll think about it tomorrow, for tomorrow is another day."
Before that I was
I also twitter so feel free to follow me there - ebkelly. That's where I'll post short little comments and brief updates. Here is where I'll summarize my daily efforts and comment on them.
I heard of a woman who lost a LOT of weight by blogging because that meant that she had to be accountable. Well, now i have to be accountable to you to dear reader. I can fool myself or convince myself that it's ok to skip job searching or not finish an app but if I have to be accountable to my readers, then I better get it done!
I was most recently a career placement specialist which means that I sourced candidates for positions around the US - and one position in Toronto Canada - that averaged $50K/ yr or more. Unfortunately, all my candidates ended up getting not chosen and the rug kept getting pulled out from the manager too and none of her candidates were chosen either. Besides that, a lot of companies are on hiring freezes or pulling recruiting in house. So I was let go. Previous to that I had GREAT success recruiting very specialized contract field service machinists for a company in MN. I found 80% of the candidates I needed within 3 weeks. There are maybe 300 people who do this work in the entire US and the company already had 50 of them on their payroll and there are several other companies who do this type of work too. So this wasn't easy finding the candidates.
Before that I was news director for 3 small market radio stations in Red Wing, MN. I got that job after i graduated with my BS in Communication Studies from the College of St. Catherine. I Loved my job, hated the hours! At Least 60 hours a week, and I usually put in 80 or more. I worked evenings, weekends, early mornings, overnights sometimes. I'd get calls at 11pm, 3am, 9am on a Sunday... whatever I needed to do for the job I did. I covered over a 50 mile radius for news content and I built the stations up to be viable news sources after not having a news director for over a year. My family didn't like all the time I put into it and my then husband gave me the ultimatum.... Him or the Job. I chose him.... shoulda stuck with the job cuz we're Still divorced!
Before that I was at Eye Care Associates for nearly 7 years. I did All aspects of the dr's office except the actual exams. I scheduled appointments, billed insurance, did pre-tests, helped patients chose eye wear, taught people how to put contact lenses in their eyes and take them out, did adjustments and anything else you can imagine was needed, even collections. I was good at my job and overall i enjoyed it but I'd gone back to finish my BS and I wanted to use it more which is why I took the radio job.
That's a pretty good summary of my work history and experience. Oh, I was on the Weekend College Student Advisory Board, I was Co-Chair and Communications Co-Chair.
I'm done with my job searching for the day. As Scarlett O'Hara says: "I'll think about it tomorrow, for tomorrow is another day."
Before that I was
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