100904 - Chill
During my senior year of college, when all us students began looking for real-world jobs, the career counselors told us that only 20% of all jobs are obtained through job fairs or classifieds. 75% percent are gained through networking. I used to think that this was because people are inherently lazy. Nowadays, though, I can see the real reasons playing out in my head, a job seeker reading the Sunday classifieds in his living room while his friends watch the game. After a few seconds of scanning, the job seeker throws down the paper in disgust. "Dang it! These ads suck! Bill, do you got anything open?"
The hiring trend around Indy lately has been more towards short-term contract work than hiring actual employees. I guess this makes sense from an economic perspective - the cost is the same, so might as well only pay for use - but it is still unsettling. I know more than one trained professional who has had to settle for work at Best Buy. (The job market now reminds me of the Thirties, when the qualifications for being a bus boy were a strong back and a master's degree. This, even though according to US News and World Report, engineers are in such high demand that companies are having to go overseas to get them! ;)
The major complicating factor for me is that I plan on attending graduate school next fall, which means that, if I got a job today, I'd be working there for nine months at most. If I stayed with automation, my options are basically to either take a tech support job in a factory, the demands for which would be even more brutal than my last job, or wear a blue shirt and stock the latest in consumer electronics.
Instead, I'm attempting to make a sort-of lateral move into what's known as "consulting engineering," or design of mechanical and electrical systems for commercial buildings. There is a lot going for this. First, while detailed, it is not especially difficult work, and it's very easy to learn. Except for the type of equipment, it's really not so different from what I did before. Next, since it's not especially difficult work, most firms that do this are small, local companies, which means that not only is hiring much more flexible, but that there are also a lot of firms in the business. Finally, my mother has a history in the business. She used to work for a major local consulting company that eventually went belly-up and caused a diaspora of her close colleagues there. Now, virtually every consulting firm in Indy has someone that she knows working there, and she's not afraid to use that. Since I got laid off, she's been a godsend; not only has she been mentoring me in the biz, filling in some of the gaps that my former company never did, but she's also pimping me left and right, digging up old connections that I didn't even know existed.
Unfortunately, with the license I have, I can't hang a sign on my door and open for business without jumping through a number of hoops. I can, however, be a part-time employee that can get contracted out - and, since I'm young, I don't cost too much! Thus, it's not very surprising that all of the job responses I've been getting have been along these lines. One company in particular (or, rather, a one-man company) would like to have me start working part time whenever I return from my honeymoon.
It's not the best of all worlds, but it's certainly above average - I'm pretty happy with this. There's no obnoxious, inconvenient travel. I can work out of my home. I get to hone skills that I can take anywhere. And, worst case, it's only for nine months. I'll still look into other jobs for the time being, but this, at least, I can work with.
The also means, though, is that I need to finish writing up the stories from my old job pretty quickly. Robots, a muslim princess, and hoochie mamas - oh my!