Here's a Heaping Dose of Humble Pie
I can tell you all the flavor of Humble Pie: acidy-vomit, shit, and a touch of honey-roasted hope.
I said this to Mike today: "I knew that I was going to be starting from the bottom all over again, but I'm pretty much as low as you can go. It's like I'm in the butt hole of this industry."
I've been trying for weeks to do this job hunt 'my way', but the shittastic economy, and the fact that I have very little relevant experience have left me with absolutely nothing. Shadow Zero. The only job offers I've had are obvious scams, and they make me all that more pissed off after I have that fleeting moment of excitement when there is a response in my inbox. So, I've signed up with a temp agency that specializes in clerical workers.
If you were to tell me that this was my future when I was in college, I would have laughed at you and then told you to fuck off. Oh, naive, silly girl. But this is what it comes to for those of us who diverge from what we did in college in this stupid, rotten job market. The employers can make whatever demands they wish, and there is probably someone out there with the qualifications and the willingness at whatever price they choose to pay. After all, people gotta get paid, son. And so does Sumi.
Anyhow, so I'm signed up with this temp agency, and, of course, they look at my job history and are baffled. Doesn't anyone change careers anymore? Why does everyone have to be so damned thrown when someone doesn't want to do the same ca-ca job that they've been doing? Seriously -- if I were a seasoned secretary, would I be coming to a temp agency to help me find my way around? Unlikely. And the other thing -- they keep telling me that they don't do staffing for accounting stuff much, and I'm probably not what they'd be looking for, and I keep telling them that I just need a job that is not veterinary work or retail. Over and over. That aside, they were all very nice, even with my 'weird' background and I was simply happy to feel like I had an advocate of some sort, though I'm not sure this will work out to be that way, as I have yet to really 'start' as a temp.
The Good: as I said just now, friendly help. And I'm getting solid evaluation on some of my computer skills. Case in point: I'm apparently a solid 50-WPM typist, I can do data entry very fast, and I'm good with MS Office and QuickBooks. All good things to know and have somewhat quantified. (Though I'm not looking forward to the Excel test... that program uses some arcane language for the math equations...)
The Bad (Or at least, the Suck): This is where my Pie meals have come from. Told essentially these following things: Your resume sucks; You will be hard to place; You lack experience (NO SHIT.); Your previous work experiences are mostly irrelevant; Your college education is worthless, and even a negative for some employers; Your personality is difficult to place.
The Take-home: I have to remind myself that my way of doing things has NOT been working, and therefore, I need help. And I need to graciously take whatever help I can get, and if that means taking all of these little ego-deflators and conform to their advice, so be it. And this is where that tiny bit of hope comes out of all this -- the opportunity for experience if I can jump through some hoops, and the ability to put my objections aside and be open to learning. I can't afford to be uppity.
I hope this gets me somewhere, because I'm feeling pretty awful after all of this -- emotionally bruised, mentally drained, and on the edge of giving up. I guess I finally understand how some people end up unemployed for so long; it takes a lot of fortitude to keep hunting and pushing and getting knocked back.
I said this to Mike today: "I knew that I was going to be starting from the bottom all over again, but I'm pretty much as low as you can go. It's like I'm in the butt hole of this industry."
I've been trying for weeks to do this job hunt 'my way', but the shittastic economy, and the fact that I have very little relevant experience have left me with absolutely nothing. Shadow Zero. The only job offers I've had are obvious scams, and they make me all that more pissed off after I have that fleeting moment of excitement when there is a response in my inbox. So, I've signed up with a temp agency that specializes in clerical workers.
If you were to tell me that this was my future when I was in college, I would have laughed at you and then told you to fuck off. Oh, naive, silly girl. But this is what it comes to for those of us who diverge from what we did in college in this stupid, rotten job market. The employers can make whatever demands they wish, and there is probably someone out there with the qualifications and the willingness at whatever price they choose to pay. After all, people gotta get paid, son. And so does Sumi.
Anyhow, so I'm signed up with this temp agency, and, of course, they look at my job history and are baffled. Doesn't anyone change careers anymore? Why does everyone have to be so damned thrown when someone doesn't want to do the same ca-ca job that they've been doing? Seriously -- if I were a seasoned secretary, would I be coming to a temp agency to help me find my way around? Unlikely. And the other thing -- they keep telling me that they don't do staffing for accounting stuff much, and I'm probably not what they'd be looking for, and I keep telling them that I just need a job that is not veterinary work or retail. Over and over. That aside, they were all very nice, even with my 'weird' background and I was simply happy to feel like I had an advocate of some sort, though I'm not sure this will work out to be that way, as I have yet to really 'start' as a temp.
The Good: as I said just now, friendly help. And I'm getting solid evaluation on some of my computer skills. Case in point: I'm apparently a solid 50-WPM typist, I can do data entry very fast, and I'm good with MS Office and QuickBooks. All good things to know and have somewhat quantified. (Though I'm not looking forward to the Excel test... that program uses some arcane language for the math equations...)
The Bad (Or at least, the Suck): This is where my Pie meals have come from. Told essentially these following things: Your resume sucks; You will be hard to place; You lack experience (NO SHIT.); Your previous work experiences are mostly irrelevant; Your college education is worthless, and even a negative for some employers; Your personality is difficult to place.
The Take-home: I have to remind myself that my way of doing things has NOT been working, and therefore, I need help. And I need to graciously take whatever help I can get, and if that means taking all of these little ego-deflators and conform to their advice, so be it. And this is where that tiny bit of hope comes out of all this -- the opportunity for experience if I can jump through some hoops, and the ability to put my objections aside and be open to learning. I can't afford to be uppity.
I hope this gets me somewhere, because I'm feeling pretty awful after all of this -- emotionally bruised, mentally drained, and on the edge of giving up. I guess I finally understand how some people end up unemployed for so long; it takes a lot of fortitude to keep hunting and pushing and getting knocked back.