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!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
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...
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...
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Update!
Ok so I don't have much new information for you folks, but I had such wonderful feedback from my first post that I thought I would write up another one because lets face it, I'm unemployed so what else do I have to do?
First I want to respond to Russel and Dody, who gave me my first job suggestion. Thank you for making one! I did actually look into becoming a police officer and I read this: "you'll experience the realities of life at their best and worst" and I'm sad to say that was rather a deterrent. Something about seeing the worst realities of life offended the serial optimist in me, I already saw some pretty low lows working with starving babies in Africa and i'm not sure i'm ready to jump right into another semi-depressing job. Plus I'm not sure I have the self control not to pull over every self-righteous upper middle class dink cruising around in a huge empty hummer drinking their starbucks and bragging to their friends about how "green" they are because they got it in a cup made from recycled baby seals or...well...you know the type. So sadly, even though I promised I would apply to any job, I must go back on my word and say instead almost any job.
In other news, my interview for the AmeriCorps position that I want is coming up, on Tuesday. I really can't wait to see what comes of this, its one of the 30 opportunities that I have applied for that still seems like a great idea, I'll get to live somewhere new (the Sierra Nevada!), experience a different working culture(non-profit sector), and its only a one year commitment so it'll buy me some time to find a full-time-career-type-big-kid-job that I really want and like and can't wait to go to every day(possibly even get me a shoe in with some places where I might like to do that), which I think will be worth the wait! Plus its kind of like Peace Corps again except almost everyone will speak English, I'm fairly confident I won't get evacuated, I heard its camel spider free, and I won't have to cover my hair and shoulders and put on a long skirt just to leave the house.
So wish me luck, and send me any other job suggestions you have...I'm rather hoping the suggestions I get from my friends and family will be a little better than those emailed to me weekly by careerbuilder.com, who seem convinced that my best possible match in all of Vermont is being a pizza delivery girl for any one of pizza hut's Vermont locations.
Weeks I've been home: 6
Jobs I've applied to: 30
Offers for interviews/etc: 1
oh boy...
First I want to respond to Russel and Dody, who gave me my first job suggestion. Thank you for making one! I did actually look into becoming a police officer and I read this: "you'll experience the realities of life at their best and worst" and I'm sad to say that was rather a deterrent. Something about seeing the worst realities of life offended the serial optimist in me, I already saw some pretty low lows working with starving babies in Africa and i'm not sure i'm ready to jump right into another semi-depressing job. Plus I'm not sure I have the self control not to pull over every self-righteous upper middle class dink cruising around in a huge empty hummer drinking their starbucks and bragging to their friends about how "green" they are because they got it in a cup made from recycled baby seals or...well...you know the type. So sadly, even though I promised I would apply to any job, I must go back on my word and say instead almost any job.
In other news, my interview for the AmeriCorps position that I want is coming up, on Tuesday. I really can't wait to see what comes of this, its one of the 30 opportunities that I have applied for that still seems like a great idea, I'll get to live somewhere new (the Sierra Nevada!), experience a different working culture(non-profit sector), and its only a one year commitment so it'll buy me some time to find a full-time-career-type-big-kid-job that I really want and like and can't wait to go to every day(possibly even get me a shoe in with some places where I might like to do that), which I think will be worth the wait! Plus its kind of like Peace Corps again except almost everyone will speak English, I'm fairly confident I won't get evacuated, I heard its camel spider free, and I won't have to cover my hair and shoulders and put on a long skirt just to leave the house.
So wish me luck, and send me any other job suggestions you have...I'm rather hoping the suggestions I get from my friends and family will be a little better than those emailed to me weekly by careerbuilder.com, who seem convinced that my best possible match in all of Vermont is being a pizza delivery girl for any one of pizza hut's Vermont locations.
Weeks I've been home: 6
Jobs I've applied to: 30
Offers for interviews/etc: 1
oh boy...
Monday, September 21, 2009
Why?
Hi Everyone!
Here I am, back again, blogging about nothing. As many (probably all, if you're reading this) of you know, my name is Shelby and I spent the last year of my life volunteering in Africa. Now I'm home, and have been rather unexpectedly thrust in to this WONDERFUL job market we have going on here. Since I have been home I have stopped updating my old blog (http://selibabyshelbs.blogspot.com/) and started looking for a job. I naively thought finding a job would be easy, emphasis on the term naively because...well...I'm not having a whole lot of luck. Then, yesterday morning I had a conversation with my mom (whom I am living with...yes, I am one of those fortunate human beings who experienced a few years of the complete independence offered by living with ANYONE other than your parents only to decide that was just TOO much fun so I moved back in with my parents until I can really learn to appreciate those freedoms...or afford to pay rent) and this is what she said: "Hey Shell, its really wonderful having you home, we all really missed you while you were gone, but now that your home, heres what I really miss: reading your blog."
Yep...my writing is better company than me. (I'm just kidddddding Mom...don't take that the wrong way)
I thought about it though and part of what was so great about my old blog was that I had a subject that everyone was interested in, a story worth telling, and now, well...i don't. OR i didn't think i did. BUT now i realize that i might! So heres my plan, instead of sharing with you all the trials of tribulations of integrating in to a small community in Africa and the humorous situations that arise from linguistic misunderstandings and language barriers I will be sharing with you the trials and tribulations of being an entry level professional seeking employment in modern day America.
So here I am...I've been home for 37 days. I have applied to 29 jobs in 12 states and 4 countries. I am outgoing, friendly, well spoken, efficient, and resourceful. I am strong, open-minded, computer-savvy, intelligent, and confident; but everyone can play the adjective game so what else do i have to offer?
I have a bachelors of science in Environmental Engineering from a fairly good school with a minor in technological entrepreneurship, with 3 months of internship experience, management experience running a Ben and Jerrys scoop shop in college, leadership experiences from campus involvement in college, international experience and french language skills from my time in Africa, volunteer experience from dog walking at animal shelters, working as a health worker in Africa, serving as entertainment chair and team leader for my campus's relay for life, and many others. During one semester of college I even worked 3 jobs at once and maintained my status as a full time student, and that was even the same semester that I served as Relay for Life Entertainment chair, and my GPA even went up; but everyone has experience and a lot of the people I'm competing with have a lot more than me, so what else do i have to offer?
In short...not much! I'm competitive only when competing against people my own age, my own experience level, and i'm just not doing that any more so I've decided to start applying for some more unconventional jobs...like Ameircorps river sampling in the sierra nevada (phone interview coming up!), on-board shopping presenter on a cruise ship(still in the application phase, aka composing my video audition!), and more. If you have an opportunity, send me the info, I'll apply! I'm keeping a list of everything I apply to and I'll share everything I learn with you, the good, the bad, and the ugly!
Thanks for reading,
Shelby
Here I am, back again, blogging about nothing. As many (probably all, if you're reading this) of you know, my name is Shelby and I spent the last year of my life volunteering in Africa. Now I'm home, and have been rather unexpectedly thrust in to this WONDERFUL job market we have going on here. Since I have been home I have stopped updating my old blog (http://selibabyshelbs.blogspot.com/) and started looking for a job. I naively thought finding a job would be easy, emphasis on the term naively because...well...I'm not having a whole lot of luck. Then, yesterday morning I had a conversation with my mom (whom I am living with...yes, I am one of those fortunate human beings who experienced a few years of the complete independence offered by living with ANYONE other than your parents only to decide that was just TOO much fun so I moved back in with my parents until I can really learn to appreciate those freedoms...or afford to pay rent) and this is what she said: "Hey Shell, its really wonderful having you home, we all really missed you while you were gone, but now that your home, heres what I really miss: reading your blog."
Yep...my writing is better company than me. (I'm just kidddddding Mom...don't take that the wrong way)
I thought about it though and part of what was so great about my old blog was that I had a subject that everyone was interested in, a story worth telling, and now, well...i don't. OR i didn't think i did. BUT now i realize that i might! So heres my plan, instead of sharing with you all the trials of tribulations of integrating in to a small community in Africa and the humorous situations that arise from linguistic misunderstandings and language barriers I will be sharing with you the trials and tribulations of being an entry level professional seeking employment in modern day America.
So here I am...I've been home for 37 days. I have applied to 29 jobs in 12 states and 4 countries. I am outgoing, friendly, well spoken, efficient, and resourceful. I am strong, open-minded, computer-savvy, intelligent, and confident; but everyone can play the adjective game so what else do i have to offer?
I have a bachelors of science in Environmental Engineering from a fairly good school with a minor in technological entrepreneurship, with 3 months of internship experience, management experience running a Ben and Jerrys scoop shop in college, leadership experiences from campus involvement in college, international experience and french language skills from my time in Africa, volunteer experience from dog walking at animal shelters, working as a health worker in Africa, serving as entertainment chair and team leader for my campus's relay for life, and many others. During one semester of college I even worked 3 jobs at once and maintained my status as a full time student, and that was even the same semester that I served as Relay for Life Entertainment chair, and my GPA even went up; but everyone has experience and a lot of the people I'm competing with have a lot more than me, so what else do i have to offer?
In short...not much! I'm competitive only when competing against people my own age, my own experience level, and i'm just not doing that any more so I've decided to start applying for some more unconventional jobs...like Ameircorps river sampling in the sierra nevada (phone interview coming up!), on-board shopping presenter on a cruise ship(still in the application phase, aka composing my video audition!), and more. If you have an opportunity, send me the info, I'll apply! I'm keeping a list of everything I apply to and I'll share everything I learn with you, the good, the bad, and the ugly!
Thanks for reading,
Shelby
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