J-O-B

so here we are december 1st, every time i've walked outside for the past 24 hours it's been snowing or flurrying and i got a job!

i got one! for reals!

job searching takes creativity. i think bryan told me he thinks job searching can be as taxing as actually working at a job, if not more. i think i have to agree. while searching i was stressed and usually i got to the point where i ran out of ideas of where to look. Many times I took a step back, thought creatively and found another outlet....other times i got frustrated and gave up for the day.

so you want to hear about the job?

i'll tell you the whole story.

the last couple weeks have been a WHIRL!

so two weeks ago...let's start there.

monday round 1 and 2 at highlife adventures

tuesday round 1 at the aon building round 3 at highlife adventures

thursday highlife offered me the job

friday round 1 at adler planetarium

monday i went to missouri and had lots of confusion with getting calls where adler wanted to check my spanish (spanish interview on phone), but at the same time getting an email stating i didn't get the position. So I emailed them back and it turns out the email saying i didn't get the position was a mistake.

started at highlife adventures (part-time position) monday. it was going fine, i guess and i think i was really trying to convince myself i liked it, but i don't think i really did. i know 2 days isn't much of a chance.

BUT

this morning adler called me and offered me the position!!! can't wait!

it's an assistant educator, outreach position and it's FULL TIME.

so i'll be driving a dome to different preschools and grade schools in chicago. setting it up. giving a little presentation and interacting with the kiddos. and the spanish comes in because it's a grant focused on certain neighborhoods in chicago and they are mainly spanish speaking.

the only downer is it is a temporary position (1 year) and a tues-sat job, but i CANNOT wait!

it wasn't fun quitting highlife, especially after they took a chance on me, but i guess you have to do difficult things in life.

i start wednesday...next wednesday.

so i want to share some things i learned through this progress because i learned a lot

-get that resume looking good. ask people to look over it. i basically completely redid mine during the process. when karen started working on hers i asked her to email it to me too and was able to offer some suggestions.

-new way to do cover letters is with bullets. intro paragraph, "i'm great for this position and this is why:" 3 bullets with 2-3 sentences for each bullet. they don't like to read the paragraph anymore. closing paragraph. the bullets worked well for me.

-put your cover letter in the body of your email so they don't have to open another attachment. you want them to look at your resume so draw them in straight from the email.

-talk to people. some jobs i was most excited about i heard about through other people. they can also keep their ears open for you.

-at the interview. get comfortable with questions. one thing that always calmed me down was when bryan told me to think of an interview like a conversation. it's not only them asking you questions. i loved to ask more questions about the job (i always thought the description online was vague) as well as more questions while we talked. i actually did a few hours researching questions and wrote a BUNCH down. i reviewed it on my way to a couple interviews, but then i got it and i didn't need it anymore, but it was super helpful to get me started.

-you never know. going into that week of interviews i was super excited about the aon job, which didn't end up being a good fit at all. and not so excited about the others. after i got the offer for highlife i thought about not even going to the adler interview. but after meeting with them and finding out more about the position i got pretty excited.

and if you've been at it awhile, i know it gets rough. don't discredit your feelings or attempt to avoid them. the best thing to do is acknowledge it and deal with it. i even read a happiness book, which i don't think you need to be feeling sad to do. The Happiness Project by: Gretchen Rubin. It actually helped me a lot. And you people are going to think i'm crazy with all this ranting, but i hope it helps someone. which brings me to my next point. i really don't think anyone understands unless they've been there themselves. and if it's been awhile i'm not sure they quite remember. and i know every experience is different and i'm no expert, but this is what i've learned.

make yourself get out there and interact with people. sometimes it can be harder than others, but you need it more than you think. i felt like i was pushing people away many days, but i couldn't help it. some days i just wanted to wallo in my apartment, but at the end of the day i'd feel like shit. the days i didn't really want to meet up with friends or do anything and made myself i felt much better at the end of the day.

this is a time to learn about yourself too. i learned a lot about myself, which i actually talked about in interviews. i didn't word it like 'during my period of unemployment i learned...' but i would say 'i've learned that when i'm not around people for a period of time, i crave people interaction.' which i did learn that. i loved ellen through the period. what did i learn? comedy/laughing helps.

my friends were good this whole time, but i do have to give credit to jess. after all we've been through she always looked out for me. maybe this comes from her searching the previous year so it's still pretty fresh in her mind, but i remember one week in particular where she called me more than we usually talk and once we finally got a hold of each other we had our normal chat and then when we were about to hang up she asked me how i was. not like the kind that you use when you first say hello. she said the last time we talked i sounded down and she worried about me the whole time until we finally got a hold of each other. then we talked through everything and at the end i felt better. i'm lucky to have you in my life...still...jess. thanks.

i also have to thank karen. she did SO much for me the last few months. i can't even list all of them. man, it would've been much worse if she wasn't along for the ride...my sugar sister ;)

i was just going through a thing.

i even struggled with volunteering because i had to pay to get there (public transportation), but the days i did go were probably some of the highest of the few months. i actually started at a place last night, which i loved and i think i'm going to go every week. anyway it was with kids and the majority of them spoke spanish, but i was the only volunteer who spoke spanish so i got to talk with them in spanish, which they understood better than english.

i'm still going to have to budget with my pay (i'm working at a non-profit), but i get a discount at my gym! and that's where i want to be. i don't think of myself as too needy anyway. #1 pay back my savings that i borrowed from.

wow this may have been my most honest blog...ever.

now i'm off to get business professional clothing! i've never looked forward to shopping so much in my life.

happy december!