I wish I had something funny...

To post about like "Held Hostage in the Nail Salon", but I don't. But at some point, the job search has become humorous. I don't know if that started when I had to mail in a job application for a job I found over the weekend, or what. Yes, I'm still frustrated and want a job, but something about this just makes me laugh. I don't know if it's finding out who got hired for positions I got looked over for or what. I think that's definitely part of it. Or finding out that people "on the inside" of the state association side of things can just basically get a phone call saying "Do you want to come back to work for us?" without even having posted a job? That, too. Whatever. I'm an awesome meeting planner and whoever doesn't realize that is a dummy. So ha. :)

Oh, yippee.

Last week I got a job rejection letter in the mail. It didn't even faze me. My husband and I were standing in the kitchen when I opened it. I read it, then said "Another rejection". Then I ripped off the top part with the address on it (to shred) and threw the letter in the recycle bin, and then went to the bedroom to use the shredder.

I went back into the kitchen and he hugged me and said he was sorry. The thing was, I wasn't sad. This job would probably have been enjoyable in lots of ways, but it wasn't 100% what I wanted to do. So it really didn't bother me.

Fast-forward to today. I had an interview a couple of weeks ago, on a Monday. That particular week I was pretty busy because I had gotten a piece of contract business and was working a convention. So, scheduling that interview was a little bit crazy. I was set to finish at 1 PM on the Wednesday of that week, and the person interviewing me wanted to come in at 1:30. Well, that wasn't good for several reasons. 1) What if I needed to stay later? I didn't want to bail on the client. 2) The drive time from downtown to this office would have been at least 30 minutes. 3) I'd not be looking my best and I wouldn't be mentally sharp after 3 days at a conference. So we scheduled the interview for before I had to be downtown Monday morning.

This organization made it sound like they wanted to make a decision that week, so I kind of went out of my way to be there Monday morning. Fast-forward to the next week, which was last week. I hadn't heard anything from them and wanted to follow up/write off this possibility. I e-mailed my contact and they were still doing interviews? WTF? Why was it SO URGENT that I went in the week before?

Anyway, I got another e-mail from my contact today saying that they offered the position yesterday to somebody that interviewed on Friday, and she accepted. That it was a very hard decision, blah blah. And again, I'm not really sad even though this position was more along the lines of what I really wanted to do. I still didn't feel like it was 100% right for me.

And I wonder if that position that's 100% right for me is even out there. I don't even want to bring up the interview that I had the same week. That was totally weird. I mean, I know the right position exists, because I've had it before. Even though I had a love/hate relationship with my last employer in Chicago, I miss it and it was pretty close to 100% what I wanted to do. I just know how few and far between those types of positions are here in Austin, and it totally bums me out. More than getting a rejection letter does.

Thinking about life...

I am sorting through receipts, trying to get our financial house in order and wow, it's causing all sorts of deep thoughts.

First of all, there are lots of receipts for places in Chicagoland that I miss. Portillo's, Sally's, Gibson's, Bongo Room (Ok, so they are all restaurants and bars, but I even got nostalgic for the dry cleaner because he carried my stuff out TO THE CAR for me).

And also, the seemingly never-ending job search. I had an interview last week but I won't find anything out about that position for another two weeks or so. I had one interview at the beginning of February. Still nothing from that. I e-mailed HR on that one yesterday. Then a call today for one on Monday. So, it's at least going SOMEWHERE, but not as fast as I'd hoped. Obviously. Otherwise I wouldn't still be writing about looking for a job.

The thing is, I am going to make a WHOLE LOT LESS money here than I did in Chicagoland. And yes, it costs less to live here. That is true. From all the COL (cost of living) calculators I looked at when we moved up there and also recently, it's about 25% higher in the Chicago area than it is here. But some of these positions pay even more than 25% less. And it's so frustrating to me. I like money. I want to live in a cool neighborhood, like Tarrytown. And I think I was underpaid in Chicago. So I don't really like this difference. UGH. So frustrating.

Such is life, right? I'll have to hope for Scott to get a raise! :)

The Governor and the Coyote

I just got this from a former colleague in IL and thought it was too good not to share.

ILLINOIS:
The Governor of Illinois is jogging with his dog along a nature trail.

A coyote jumps out and attacks the Governor's dog, then bites the Governor.

1. The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects upon the movie Bambi" and then realizes he should stop because the coyote is only doing what is natural.

2. He calls animal control . Animal Control captures the coyote and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases and $500 for relocating it.

3. He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects the dead dog and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases.

4. The Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged.

5. The running trail gets shut down for 6 months while Fish & Game conducts a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is now free of dangerous animals.

6. The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds implementing a "coyote awareness program" for residents of the area.

7. The State Legislature spends $2 million to study how to better treat rabies and how to permanently eradicate the disease throughout the world.

8. The Governor's security agent is fired for not stopping the attack. The State spends $150,000 to hire and train a new agent with additional special training re: the nature of coyotes.

9. PETA protests the coyote's relocation and files a $5 million suit against the State.


TEXAS:

The Governor of Texas is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A Coyote jumps out and attacks his dog.

1. The Governor shoots the coyote with his State-issued pistol and keeps jogging. The Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point cartridge.

2. The Buzzards eat the dead coyote.

And that, my friends, is why Illinois is broke and Texas is not.

This is even more amusing because the TX part is basically true:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/27/AR2010042705323.html

Certainly there are better ways to do this...

Job rejection letter I got just now:

Dear Kristine,

Thank you for applying to XXXXX. After reviewing your background and qualifications we find that we do not have an appropriate position for you at this time. We appreciate your interest in XXXXX and wish you success in your job search. At this time we unfortunately cannot offer any feedback specific to your application.

Sincerely,

The XXXXX Recruiting Team

I really think that some BS about how I have a great skill set but that there were other applicants that more closely matched their needs would be better than "we do not have an appropriate position for you at this time".

Good news is, I'm not bummed at all, because I wasn't terribly into this job opportunity anyway.

Onward and upward.

A conference "from the other side".

So yeah, I am unemployed. If you know me, you know this about me. And I am bored. So today I volunteered at a conference.

It was funny being a volunteer. Some assumptions that I made (like that I would be monitoring the same room all day, instead of moving around) were wrong.

Also-why not just give me the packet (with the speaker info and session description I need to announce) for each room I'll be taking care of in the morning, instead of having to hook up between every session to get the info? It probably wasn't ready first thing this AM, and I definitely understand that.

Just a couple of things for me to think about the next time I am planning a meeting or conference. Heck, if I am lucky enough to have room monitors for every session at the next conference I plan, I'll consider that a victory.

Setting: today, conference and trade show.

OK, I am going to have to start this off by saying that even though I would prefer to wear pajamas ALL THE TIME over getting dressed up and stuff, that I really don't think jeans are appropriate attire for a conference/trade show unless they are part of your "booth uniform". What am I, 100 years old? I guess so.

So today at this trade show, the City of Arlington, TX (where Cowboys Stadium is located) has REAL Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders at their booth. Both were named Ashley, and they were so sweet. And would you believe that some meeting/association professionals (women of a certain age, I am told) COMPLAINED about that? Hello? Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders? A Texas institution! What is wrong with these people? They are clearly not my people. They are the ones that I am waiting for to die or retire so that I can have a job. Old biddies. Yeah, I'm not as young and hot as them but their simple presence doesn't offend me. As I said to somebody at the booth that told me about it, "Bend over, remove stick."

I also met a lady today who moved down here from Minnesota about 2.5 years ago. She told me it took her a year to find a job. Seriously, the association people in this town die in their jobs. On the bright side, I'm halfway there! Ha.

And even though some of the small cities in TX (read: not Houston, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth, or San Antonio area type cities) had really cool booths, I know I'm going to be really sad if I get a job with a state association where I have to plan all of my meetings in Texas.

That's all for now.