Greetings again from a cold and rainy Boston area. Yes, it is late July. And yes, the weather reminds me of the love child that might result if Portland, Oregon somehow coupled with San Francisco. Rainy, overcast, temps in the 60's and occasional fog punctuated by the rare sunny day in between storms.
I don't mind it. If my quest for jobs was taking place in the sweltering humidity that is characteristic of the East Coast during this time of year, I may very well have driven straight to Cambridge and aimed my car right into the river (is it the Charles?) that runs alongside the Memorial Parkway next to Harvard (Hahvaaad...god forbid we pronounce the "r").
That way the loan company, to whom I owe payments on the car, would no longer really have anything to threaten me with (i.e. - pay us $150 now or we take the car) AND I would have the added bonus of cooling off or drowning. And then the Great Job Hunt would be over. Anyway, what I'm blathering on about here is that I hate hot weather. Especially humid, hot weather. UNLESS, I'm in New Orleans for Jazz Fest OR on a rooftop in NYC on a sultry summer evening. Other than that, I hate summers in the east. And I hate the winters. That only leaves two seasons.
Right. But this post is really about the Great Job Hunt. So Big Media passed on me this last time. We covered that I believe in my last post. Money is also getting desperately low. I had hoped (expected?) to be employed by now. I get nervous when I don't work, so after 2 months of looking, I'm a bit of a wreck. And yes, I'm still living with my friends.
The lifecycle of the whole thing seems to go like this:
1) Initial contact by a recruiter
2) Recruiter talking to me on my pay as you go phone and chewing up precious, pre-paid minutes asking me if I have skills clearly not listed on my resume.
3) Sometimes the occasional recruiter calls who has a job that seems like it's in my target area
4) Set up of initial phone interview...wait two days min. for this to take place
5) Wait for a response after the initial contact for the follow-up technical interview...wait another 3 days to a week
6) Do the technical interview and pray you don't freeze up answering questions because of nerves
7) Wait another 3 days to a week...see if they call you in for the face to face
8) Do the face to face. Find out 8 people are vying for the position. Pay your own expenses to travel to the interview, spend the night if need be and get back home...2 days
9) Find out someone else got the job another week later.
10) Rinse and repeat.
So I'm currently in the process of interviewing for two jobs. One in Long Island, NY and one here. The one here would involve a good salary and world travel. Plus, career advancement. The one in Long Island is also a decent salary, no travel and career advancement...just ina different way. The one here would probably be the better pick...if I get it. I still have two interviews with them to go. And meanwhile, I've had to resurrect a dead hard drive tonight in order to get all my old code samples off of it and prepare them to be sent to the guy who interviewed me the other day for the Long Island job. So he can determine if we can do another interview.
I swear, though, if this round doesn't work out, I don't think I can subject my friends to another month of job hunting. I may just borrow money and head west. I have it planned out. It's my Plan B. One should ALWAYS have a Plan B. And this one looms large. Anyone up for a road trip?
But maybe I'll get one of these jobs. Perhaps this key is to not get excited about the jobs and convince myself I won't suceed. Then if I do, I'll be surprised. Plus, isn't that just how the Universe works. Contrary to one's expectations, hopes and beliefs?
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