chpt 2: using the Internet for job hunting

(the best thing about this blog and reading Parachute: knowing you're not alone) I know! I can never find anything good on Monster or similar websites. The search thingy that suppose to find a match for you never seems to work, it feels like the only thing I get there is sales rep jobs and that is nothing like what I do or say I want to do.

I did find one job online (the latest one I interviewed for) using Yahoo HotJobs, so we'll see how that pans out. Actually, I found my last job from the same place. (It takes forever though to find something that's a good match, but then how many hundreds of people see that ad too, I wonder how many other applicants they get) But before that I used the MN Women's Press and one time got a job through a friend. Also, I check out MN Council of Nonprofits.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 in What Color is Your Parachute is all about applying for jobs online and how this has changed the way job seekers and employers find one another. I don't know about anyone else, but I often find this process so overwhelming. It is hard to get a good search done, and places like Monster.com rarely have anything available in my field?

Has anyone else had bad/good luck with online job searches? Anyone ever landed a job this way?

Chapter 1

I really did read it! I promise not to be so tardy on future chapters. What I really liked about this chapter is that it helps you to define what you are trying to do. Am I looking for a new career? A similar career? Am I looking to change my life? I found that I am engaging in the life-changing job search. I understand, and am now more comfortable with the fact, that this may take a relatively long time to do. The job search that I am doing is a process, not just a job search. I really want to make sure that before I take the leap to a new career that I am prepared, I know what I am getting into, and that I am choosing a new career because I want to rather than that I just don't want to do what I am now. I am willing to make this life change in career steps as well. For example, I am an administrator for a retirement company. My next step to a drastic career change may be something like an administrator in a non-profit agency, then my ending point would be a social service worker in a non-profit agency. The important thing for me to begin doing is defining my skill set and matching it to my next step.

In addition to this, I would like to expand my contacts to include more social service workers. I think that gaining my licensure will assist me in this, as I will then be able to become a member of professional organizations and take part in more seminars, etc. Reading this book has really helped to calm my anxiety, and quell that voice that screams, "what the heck are you doing with your life, lady??"

hopeful, but reserved

So that job that I applied for as mentioned in my last post called me in for an interview...I decided to try and really prep myself, you know reading books about interviewing and selling yourself etc. So I pulled together a portfolio, had some responses ready and went in. And I was way more prepared than the guy was. I got the feeling that he wasn't comfortable doing interviews and had no idea what to ask or say. So I'm really sure how it went. What they do is very, what's the word, exclusive?, so I think not many people can say they have experience doing that. I am going in next week to see the work flow in progress and "shadow" for a half day; basically it's a way for both of us to see if I can and want to do this or not. All the "others" are positives (pay, location, environment, benefits) so we'll see if the actual work is a positive or a negative.

Promises, promises

I really do promise that I will have a synopsis of the first chapter of the parachute book done by Monday. Sorry to keep everyone hanging. J started a new job this week and we are trying to buy a house. I have been looking at non-profit websites, and Washington County officially gave the finger to my resume this week, so there is some progress. (Yes, I consider being rejected progress, it frees up my hopes and wishes to latch on to another prospect). I probably chose a bad time to start this blog, but hearing what other people are doing motivates me, too even if I am not doing much myself right at this moment.