I got an email today from Donna Sweidan, who was one of my excellent instructors in a mediabistro “Job Bootcamp” online seminar I took earlier this year.
Her message contained a link to an article she’s written that just seemed to me to be some timely and so appropos for things I’ve been doing lately via my own looking for work in its various manifestations.
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As I’m in the process of looking for work/clients, I came across this group of unusually-designed resumes – no doubt, designed to really catch the eye of the Person Making a Decision to Interview . . . or Not. Check them out:
My thoughts? I liked the one having fun with the common evolution graphic – perfect for someone fairly new to the working world, and very strong visually. The one with the red wine glass gets an “A” for effort but I have to say it’s a little much for me. Maybe it’s the red – just too much red. Although, no doubt, this would stick out in an otherwise boring pile of white papers. If nothing else, I’m sure this resume gets a look at every place Michael sends it to. Not so sure if you should include golf and tennis in your skill set. (But you sound like a fun guy!)
The one after that, “So You’re Searching for a Product Development Reader” – I’m sorry, but what a mess! This person has a sense of humor, for sure, but I don’t know where to start looking at this, and it gives me a headache.
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I did like the last one, with the strong graphic of the red bar in the center, and the supporting material arranged on the sides, kind of a ladder effect. Also good when someone is fairly new to the working world, as there isn’t that much space for copy. Though I suppose, if this is a virtual resume and not actually printed on a piece of paper, the red bar can go on for as long as it needs to . . .
I was at a party over the weekend, celebrating Day of the Dead, a few days late. Most of the attendees were contemporaries, give or take 10 years on either side.
It’s amazing to me how things have changed for me and others I talked to, both at that party and generally. Those of us who’ve lost professional jobs in the “downturn”/”recession”/”depression” or whatever you want to call the time period from 2007 to now and are of a certain age haven’t exactly had primo offers extended to us. Instead, we’ve been forced to look at work creatively, to be entrepreneurial, to take risks and see what sticks and what does not. It works by increasing the order cheap viagra blood stream to get the vitamin and minerals necessary to grow. Some kids and teens that express fits of anger may be suffering from a condition known as ODD (oppositional defiant disorder). viagra cheap no prescription Before discussing the real reasons behind low Libido in Men: Grinding Stress: When men suffer from long periods viagra cipla india of continuous stress, it decreases their desire to have sex. Both cheapest levitra the medications are affordable, which is the main reason for the person to be facing erectile dysfunction.
There’s a lot of temp work, or short term assignments with no security and no benefits. Plans for self-employment. There’s a lot of early pension taking and calendar countdowns to social security. Almost everyone I know, including those employed full time with benefits, has a horror story about health care costs.
It’s an exciting, yet also a horrible time. I believe we’re on the cusp of something great for the people (and by that I mean the 99%), but there will be a lot of hard times and hard fighting to come before we come out on the other side. Shop Amazon’s Gift Cards – Perfect Anytime
Postcards from the Recession: I really loved this opinion piece from Ann Brenoff, which appeared in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times. She talks about how her life has changed since a layoff, what it’s meant money-wise to her and her family, and also about how priorities have changed.
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I’ll have more on that in future post – something like the “Two Facebooks” I’ve detected – but for now urge you to take a couple of minutes to read Ann’s piece – so that even if you are lucky enough to have a job and it does go away sometime, know there is a life – and a very satisfying one – after.
Last post on temporary or part-time jobs for this year, and it’s current: I’m a box office supervisor for the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which runs January 6 – 17.
We’re already working, doing pre-sales. Tickets are going fast! Even yesterday, which was cold and rainy in Palm Springs, saw brisk business with lots of people exchanging their vouchers for movie tickets and buying up the special events.
From my personal perspective, it’s great to be working around film again, even if it’s for just this short period. The event has a lot of excitement and anticipation around it – really, the holidays combined with the festival are a primo time to come out to Palm Springs. So do it!
Shilling – yes, of course I am. If you come, I’m at the Regal. Say hello.
What I liked about this job:
everything, of course. It’s still going on!
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What I didn’t like about this job:
My third part-time job of 2010 was freelance writing. I’ve only begun to mine the opportunities for this on the net, but there are many.
I’ve blogged and gotten paid for it (not this particular blog, but another), and I’ve sold my writing wares on elance.com – a global marketplace for all manner of freelance jobs. I’ve also written short articles for ehow.com, which is part of Demand Media. They strive to be the go-to place when you type in any question into Google or other search engine – so as you can imagine, the topics you get to explain in 400 words are amazingly esoteric.
Since sitting at my computer writing stuff is probably my second favorite activity (and there’s been a dearth this year of number one, which is another post entirely), I pretty much loved these opportunities, as odd as some of them were. It’s something I figure I can temper out over a longer period, once I really understand the landscape. I assume this sector will account for much of my work in 2011.
What I liked about this job:
You work alone. No bosses, no meetings, no cubicles, no annoying phone calls. Perfect for an introverted personality (me).
There were no payment issues – the internet, and specifically systems like PayPal, have made the timely payment of freelancers less of a hassle.
Generally, I got to write about topics that interested me.
You can do this work at any time, any place where there’s an internet connection, wearing anything you want.
At least for Demand Studios, there’s no limit to the amount of work you can do – it just all depends on your stamina or level of insanity.
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What I didn’t like about this work:
Isolation! Even for an introvert, at least a barista background conversation is nice, sometimes.
It is sometimes very hard to find “understandable” titles to work on for ehow, as in, when you have no idea what a topic is about it’s not cost-effective to search it.
Globalization of writing – since the internet is a global marketplace, competing against English speakers/writers in countries like India and the Philippines can be a losing proposition.
Yes, even sometimes I like a meeting. It would be nice, on occasion, to get a face-to-face with the people you are working with/for.
I had applied for the census positions shortly after my layoff last November (2009) in Los Angeles. Since I moved to Palm Springs in April, they transferred my application there. I worked for the Census in May, June and July 2010.
My job for them was to basically check up on the work of other enumerators (interviewers) to make sure their data was accurate (i.e., that they didn’t just make all the shit up, etc.).
We were trained for two or three days out at the La Quinta library. Training consisted of a supervisor reading us the manual as we followed along. I’m not kidding. To be fair, there were a few quizzes every now and then. This wasn’t a job where there was a lot of gray area – the procedures were pretty much cut and dried and they knew exactly what they wanted from us (conformity and obedience).
What I liked about this job:
it paid a fairly decent wage for part-time work, and they reimbursed you for gas.
there were professional colleagues – nearly all of my Palm Springs cohorts were people in the same boat – professionals who had lost their jobs because of the recession. My boss owned a realty company!
Independence – you got to do the job alone either at home on the phone or by visiting the contacts out in the field, and you got to choose your own hours (within broad guidelines).
The one thing that makes this site a little time consuming is having to answer 20 questions before you can submit one of yours but they’ve speeded this up by batching them as ‘take 10’. one useful thing from a marketing point is that every question has to link to an authoritative source for the correct answer, so if you’ve written an informative article just think up a good question and link. cialis online price Avoid foods such as nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, junk foods, canned foods, etc. acheter pfizer viagra With passing time season keeps changing and with changed season we viagra no prescription online do suffer from cold, fever and FLU. However, order generic cialis opacc.cv the good news is that most of the males are afraid to seek help when they face erection problems.
What I didn’t like about this job:
There wasn’t enough of it! It turned out to be intermittent, very part-time. I had been under the impression that it would be full-time for a couple of months, but it wasn’t.
Dullness of the target population. The vast majority of people we had to visit in Palm Springs were ghosts – meaning, they just weren’t there. Since we were following up on previous work, it mostly involved people who couldn’t be found because they were seasonal residents and had long fled for more temperate climes, where they’d be counted at their permanent residence. I was hoping for a broad range of colorful characters I could use to inform my writing.
The weather. It got insanely hot during this period, so we had to go out and try to find people in 115 degree (and more) heat.
Forms. It was the government, for heaven’s sake. There was a ton of esoterica to fill out everyday. It seemed I always missed something.
Dogs. Not many nasty canines, but a few that would not let this census worker anywhere near their castle!
Rage-filled American citizens. They were fairly rare, but there were just those people who did not want to take part in any way and did not want you at their door, and were not shy about vocalizing their irritation. Names were called. Doors were slammed. Threats were issued. (Yes, these are the ones to use in fiction.)
So, they just announced the other day that there’s 308,745,538 people living in the U.S. I guess I counted a few of those myself.
After I slapped myself in the face, trying to stay awake
As the year rapidly comes to a close, I figured I should contemplate, in retrospect, what I have done/haven’t done with those hours, days, weeks and months.
Sure, some if it was spent scouring craigslist, indeed.com, mediabistro and other sites for job listings that turned out to be meager. However, a considerable amount of time was actually spent doing part-time work.
The first job I got after lay-off was that of Background Actor. I had signed up with Central Casting at other times in my life, and had done a few jobs, and generally liked it. I figured since I was older and grayer now there’d be less competition in my demographic – what I remembered from the cattle calls in Burbank was that the vast majority of people wanting to be “extras” were between the ages of 18 and 30.
Perhaps one instance in which age worked in my favor?
This time I also signed up with a calling service that would book me so I didn’t have to spend hours each day using precious minutes on my cell listening to annoying casting directors rant. I got an age break here, too: since I was such a fossil, the monthly fee was reduced! Take that to Denny’s for your lunch.
I did a few movies, a few TV series, a couple of pilots – probably the only one you’ve all heard about is Entourage. I played the crucial role of a hospital administrator in the season finale. I was issued a badge and clipboard of my own.
I noticed a couple of things I hadn’t remembered from earlier stints at this: the pros bring their own foldable lawn chairs – or chaises in some cases. They get the best “base camp” spots. Background actors tend to segregate themselves as to age group – so there was no way I was going to infiltrate the cool kids camp – sort of like high school. Straight guys my age, unfortunately, tend to be blowhards who want to talk about politics or how bad this or that is, instead of more fun and youthful topics, like dick, what the leading lady is wearing, of figuring out the sexual orientation of the entire cast.
When I moved to Palm Springs, I stopped this work as the commute just didn’t make any sense. When I’m back in L.A., good chance I will sign on again.
What I liked about this work:
Insanely easy. If you can follow simple directions as to what to wear, how to get there, and what time to show up, you can succeed at this job.
It’s fun. I love playing pretend, I love even being on the fringes of acting. Doesn’t everyone?
Truly temporary. Your job ends when you leave for the day.
They pay quick, usually within a week or so.
There’s free food. Beyond craft service, they give you actual meals, many of which were quite elaborate, considering.
There’s really a lot of downtime where you can do other things: flirt, read the paper/book, work on your script or novel on your laptop. Yes, everyone brings laptops now.
The AD’s. That’s assistant director, the person(s) who control the set. Without exception, in my experience these were professional, competent and enthusiastic people who treated us great.
What I didn’t like about this job:
The hours suck. To make the takeaway non-union wage of about $100 a day, you got to work about 12 hours and maybe get lucky enough for meal penalty payments and other little bumps. If for some reason they let you go early, you might only get your minimum wage of $64 a day. Also, the call times are usually quite early in the morning. This didn’t bother me much as I’m an early riser.
The pay sucks. See above. Then again, it’s really easy and you’re just sitting on your ass most of the time.
You have to provide your own wardrobe. Which seems counter-intuitive – as if, we’re doing this as a lark! We’re all fucking poor, out of work or just out of school, and don’t have hugely diverse wardrobes full of many “looks” and “colors”! I learned that you can just bring what you have, and if they don’t like it, they give you something from the wardrobe truck after belittling you for not having the right clothes. “What do you mean, you don’t have a camel trench coat? What’s wrong with youuuuuuu?”
You have to be available. You never know if you’re going to work the next day or not, but you have to assume that you are, so you can’t really plan anything (unless you’ve notified your calling agency in advance). This was difficult to get used to, and once I was not able to “accept my booking” and got put on probation! A scarlet letter! Again, it’s like being in high school.
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Interesting article. Suggests that those who have been unemployed for a while emit this desperation, this hungry look, like starving dogs salivating for a handout of wilted french fries.
I guess there’s some truth to that. At the same time, extraordinary times like these require extraordinary measures. Thus, for the purposes of securing a job interview, maybe nobody has to be unemployed who doesn’t want to be.
Please explain!
Job counselors always suggest that the main purpose of a resume is to secure that all-important face-to-face interview. Substance, be damned! We’re encouraged by those who are supposed to know about such things, to tailor our resumes individually for each and every job opening, borrowing and parroting key words and phrases used in the job description so that Company XYZ’s scanners spit out our CV indicating “YES! This one looks like a fit!”
It’s not so much that you actually have any knowledge or experience in what they are looking for as it is that you can convince them that you do in person. I can tell you, from being on the hiring end of such things, rarely does the mid-size company have the wherewithal to check every little thing – especially one or two jobs back – especially colleges you might or might not have attended – especially awards, volunteer positions, board memberships, and – you get the message. Continue reading →
Woke up 4-ish. I couldn’t think of a friend’s name, someone I haven’t seen in a long time, but who was part of the “group” a while ago. I’m thinking Ron, Ronnie, Spanish last name, why can’t I think of this? Ronnie is close but it’s not right. Is this an indication of Alzheimer’s or some other mental thing? One is by adding a bone graft or an intervertebral spacer where the injured disc used to be, where viagra online cheap new bone grows around the insert. Make commander cialis sure that you stretch prior and after your workout to avoid muscle injury and soreness too. The time and durability will be at your hand in view my storefront viagra discount prices a shortest period of time. Number of people have achieved good results to cure the problem of male impotence. tadalafil pharmacy online
I toss, turn. Alarm will ring soon enough. (I’m an early riser, but not this early…). Should I take out the old address book and look, I’m sure his name is there somewhere. No, wait. See if there’s more sleep coming. There isn’t. I check Grindr. Just to see who has a green light at 4:50 a.m. Interesting. The board is all lit up.
Yesterday was, in fact, Gay Pride Day, so it’s not surprising. Everybody is in their 20s and 30s. Not me. I turn it off.
Now it’s getting light out. I get up, find the old address book. I find his name, it was Rodney. Rod. So I wasn’t so far off. Maybe I’m not self-destructing. Not yet.
I dress and do my walk along the wash. The girl at Starbucks fills up my Copco coffee cup. I know I will feel human in a few minutes.
What an intense couple of weeks… we had your Halloween, your election, Gay Pride – next week is Leather Pride. And speaking of leather pride, in the photo below you will see I was wearing a leather armband on my right wrist. For me, this is “jewelry.” I was informed by a man at this signing at the Gay Pride fair that in fact it meant that I was advertising myself as a submissive. Um, OK, hmm. Don’t know. Maybe, probably not, at least today not. How can I not know this after 30 years of Gay Pride events? Will I have to turn in my card? Is there a manual for me to “bone” up on?
Mondays are harder when there is no job, or an underemployed type of job. My heart goes out today to all of those who understand this.
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