This is for you Aunt Jen (and you too Mom!)

Hola! Here I am, in Syracuse waiting for my lovely friend to wake from her slumber (ah the joys of being an early riser in your early 20's, out till 2am last night and up at 7:30 this morning while my friend sleeps until 10:30 like a normal human should) so I checked my email and found that people are actually reading this thing, and whats more they want me to write more! So here it is folks...a long awaited update!

As is probably clear by now I am on the first half of a road trip to visit all those kind souls who went out of their way to visit me when I was home in spring because I guilted them all into seeing me with claims that I would not be on American soil again until this time NEXT year...oops. I started with a night in Plattsburgh to see Jen off before her Vagas vacation and to paint a lampshade with pink glitter glue and doodle kittens all over it with Jill. Next I headed to Albany where I had a yummy lunch with Becky (from RPI, I know its hard to keep track of all the Becca's and Becky's in my life) then back on the road to Syracuse where I delivered the silly lampshade to its new owner, Miss Meaghan Gallagher. I stayed last night here and will stay tonight too and then its onward, to Buffalo then Cleveland, and then to be perfectly honest with you, I have not planned the rest...I'll get to it though, life is more interesting with a little spontaneity!

While on this trip I have put the job hunting portion of my life on hold, so as not to get burnt out, because even without my spectacular excel sheet that keeps it all in order for me I know that my rate of applications has peaked and begun falling, I know that I have still applied to only about 35 jobs (only...HA!) with about 20 separately drafted cover letters and several different edits of my resume, and I know that I have still had only 2 phone interviews with any potential, but its been a bit long since I've heard from either of them too...

SO INSTEAD I'm working on networking myself, because I think this is the most important thing I can do at this point in time. I have shared my story with hundreds of trail riders who got lucky enough to be stuck with me as a guide resulting in lots of fabulous advice, reassuring words, and one business card for a company hiring in my field (yes, I did apply). I have handed out resumes to complete strangers (albeit very nice complete strangers) at Irish Fest who just happened to own an environmental engineering firm in Troy, where I went to school. I sent copies of my resume to my grandmothers cousin who's son-in-law works in the environmental field and has generously offered to help me out. I went to RPI alumni weekend and discussed this whole unemployed thing with other members of my graduating class (many of whom are sadly, also unemployed).

So here I go, off on the road, to meet people at other schools, in other fields, and generally share the love. Wish me luck!

And as always, if you hear of anything you send it my way, or if you know someone who knows someone who works in environmental anything and might be willing to help me, send me an address (email or snail mail) and I'll send them the limited-time-only-special-edition-get-shelby-a-job-fun-kit! AND if you or someone you know gets me a job, I will bake you (and your friend) something absolutely decadent and delicious!

oh job hunting...

I'm getting tired of this game, losing momentum and enthusiasm. I've already applied for damn near all the jobs in my field/for my experience level that are out there. When I first started job hunting, and I didn't know how long it would last, I wrote down every position title I applied for. Along with that I kept a description of the duties required, the name of the company the position was with, a little of their history, mission statement, and a few highlights of their major projects. I kept these all in a notebook that I kept with me at all times, just in case I got a call, the call, the one telling me that SOMEONE was interested.

That faded, after a few weeks, nearly 20 jobs applied for, and not a single call. So from there I swapped to an excel sheet, with the location, company, position title, method of application, and date of application, for every job. Now on that same excel sheet I keep a tally of the jobs in the same cities, states, at the same companies, and I keep an updated list of which ones have actively denied me, which ones have not yet responded, and if there has been any other contact with anyone/dates of said contact. That has not improved my results, although potentially that is only because employers don't know that (hey everybody! look how organized I am!!) but for whatever reason that excel sheet now contains 33 missed opportunities and I'm branching out.

I'm looking into photography, but that would require a significant upfront investment (Africa beat the tar outta my camera), writing professionally which would also require a significant investment as most opportunities are scams, baking would be cool, but requires lots of red tape and I've never dealt well with the pressures of health inspections. I'm thinking about writing a cookbook, because I love to bake, love to create my own recipes, and I love to eat yummy things. Course anyone can write a cookbook, and maybe even assemble it and illustrate it, BUT who the heck can SELL one? Not I, thats for sure. Next idea, teach myself a new skill thats marketable, like tech skills or surveying, grant writing or spanish, beer brewing or getting a commercial driver's license. Then I could qualify for a bunch more jobs, but these things would all require a significant investment of time, and life ain't free, so money too.

I guess what it all comes down to is that I need another job for the mean time, because trail guiding is almost over, winter is coming, and there's not a whole lot waiting in the wings in terms of the Job hunt with the capital J...as opposed to this new one I have going on, which starts with a little j.

So really all I have to say is that the grander Job hunt and the less grand, but no less pertinent job hunt continue. Now I'm seeking ways to connect the two, thus making the results of my job hunt somehow add to my Job hunt in some important way. I have emailed several area engineering firms requesting internships for the winter, with one potentially positive response and one totally negative.

Gotta start somewhere, so here goes...