Clearly I’m doing something wrong here, since my resume is getting lost in the sea of other resumes submitted through career sites.  I continue to try to network as much as possible, but sometimes it just feels shameless and I become semi embarrassed about my constant groveling. A mentor suggested I let him know when I see a job that looks appealing (at any company) but how many times is it okay to ask a mentor for help, or to “pass your resume” along to someone else in a position of power?

Another friend suggested that I go on linked in to look up the hiring managers and to email them directly if I see a job that I want.  I’ve done that a few times now, and am yet to get a response.  Is doing that inappropriate? Or is it actually tenacious and a good way to get an interview?

Also, has anyone tried sending actual snail mail to a company to get an interview? This seems like a very last resort, but if it will get me noticed by HR, I’m not opposed!

Alright, I’m open to any and all (well, almost all) suggestions, so please share your advice and experiences!

underemployment

Hello blogosphere, it’s been a while.  I got a job back in June and since then, kind of fell off the blogging wagon.  I thought, hey I’m employed now, it’s all good.  Hah! Little did I know that with each day I spent at my new job, my soul would be crushed a little bit more.

At first, I was psyched to be back at work – just to be doing something besides searching endlessly for jobs on the internet.  Everyone asked me how my new job was and I said things like “I have a whole new perspective now,” and “I’m just grateful to have any job at all.”  Which was true.

But in hindsight, I took my job because I was depressed and desperate, not because it was something I was truly passionate about, or a company I really wanted to work for.  And as a result, here I am, underemployed and stuck, eight full months later.

Here are some signs that you (and I) are underemployed:

• Your bosses take you for granted and don’t treat you well (i.e. no holiday bonus, no holiday gift, no holiday card, never say thank you, expect you to go above and beyond your job duties with no compensation).

• You accepted a lower salary than you should have because you were desperate, and now you’re barely breaking even.  You may have even accepted a job with no benefits (like me), which was a mistake and is a constant source of stress and worry.

• You feel underpaid and under-appreciated on a daily basis and are working in a position below what you should be/are qualified for.

• You dread the idea of having to start the job search process over  again and possibly end up in a position you still don’t like, but you know you don’t want to stay in your current job.

• You sometimes consider going back to school, but have no money to pay for it or means to support yourself while doing so.

• You watch your friends and old coworkers advance in their careers while you remain stagnant in yours, and even feel like you have regressed.

• You are depressed that you can’t get unemployment again if you quit your job and regret not spending more time looking for a job you really wanted.

• You want to feel sorry for yourself but know you shouldn’t, but no one really understands who hasn’t been through the same thing.

So that’s it, that’s my sob story of underemployment.  I don’t want to feel sorry for myself, or wallow in my underemployment, but it’s hard.  All I can do is try to maintain a somewhat positive attitude while going into my job that I don’t like (verge of hate) every day, and hope that someday soon, I’ll get my big break.  I keep hearing that there are “millions” of my fellow underemployed Americans stuck in the same position that I am and that should be comforting, but somehow it just makes the task of trying to find a new job seem even more daunting.

Still, it’s good to know that I’m not the only one.  So if you’re out there, fellow underemployed, sound off here. What advice do you have for me or anyone else in our shoes?  In the meantime, I’ll keep you updated on my struggle to break free from underemployment (have an interview Friday!).

hey everyone!

So sorry for the super long hiatus.  It’s been kind of a whirlwind but I finally…shockingly…got a job!!  It happened so fast…a former boss/mentor recommended me to a friend of hers looking to fill a job and we met, we totally clicked and she instantly offered me a job doing marketing for her small company. So far, I love it!!  I hope it lasts…but if it doesn’t, at least I know that being laid off in NYC is not that bad…in fact, it’s kind of awesome.

Thanks everyone for all of your comments and words of support on this blog. From now on, you can find me sporadically posting on my regular blog, memyselfandhi, and on my new blog (which has arisen from my recent discovery of Rubie Green and subsequent obsession with low-budget living and redecorating), Poor & 24.

Ciao for now!

• vegas 
• forgetting to pay COBRA one month, then getting it taken away, then begging for it back, being denied and today, receiving a bill in the mail and realizing that they gave it back for no apparent reason
• watching and rewatching every episode of real housewives of nj
• obsessively following the demise of jon and kate’s marraige
• hanging out with the kitten I adopted when I got laid off
• teaching myself how to cook
• explaining to people at a wedding how I don’t have a job and don’t care

Date: Two Fridays ago.  Feeling: Annoyed.  I was supposed to get my paycheck in the mail, but I didn’t.  I ask about it, but no one responds and then later in the day, Boss Man sends me an email asking if we could catch up the next morning -(SATURDAY morning, mind you. I’m 24 years old – it’s just not right to take away my Saturday morning like that).  So yeah then he calls me SATURDAY morning and says that the company had to lay off half of its employees including me.  Seems like he was supposed to lay me off earlier but forgot, because he then says that he would be paying me directly for my last entire MONTH of work.  (I was still waiting for this paycheck, mind you).  I say “ok” (I think I have become quite graceful at getting laid off).  Boss Man promises to put my check in the mail on Monday and that would be that. As a nice gesture, I send my two bosses an insincere email thanking them for the opportunity and wishing them luck in the future. Neither responds. 

Date: Last Friday.  Feeling: Livid.  No, irate.  No, ARE YOU F’ing KIDDING ME?  Boss Man didn’t even bother to send me my check for my entire last month of work.  He couldn’t lift his fingers to write a check, put it in an envelope and mail it.  Please note that when I began working for this company, Boss Man made it a point to tell me that he was making ridiculous amounts of money.  Later in the day: a company I interviewed with calls to let me know they gave the job to someone else.

Date: Yesterday.  Feeling: clinging to a sliver of hope.  I email Boss Man to ask when he mailed my check.  He immediately writes back that he will put it in the mail later in the day. 

Date:  Today.  Feeling: Like drinking. Have reapplied for unemployment, feel a strange solidarity with the boy in the below photo.

So, yeah…I haven’t blogged in a while.  Where have I been, you ask?  Well, trying as best I can to fill in the job void and scraping together as much money as possible.  I’ve just come to terms with the fact that my life is not normal, and that it’s going to remain crazy for a while before it can even begin to resemble normal again.  I estimate this process may take up to a year, if not more. Especially considering the fact that I was laid off 5 months ago.  

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

•  I took a job. Congratulations, you say! Well, stop. The job is weird though.  I’m technically working from home until the “new office” opens in New York, and there is no date set for said opening.  Some days, I get frantic emails asking me to send faxes or schedule meetings and other days…nothing.  I was promised a salary and benefits, and despite constant nagging on my end, I didn’t get paid for the entire first MONTH of my job and I don’t think they’re going to give me benefits.  Finally, last week I put my foot down and they overnighted me a check in the mail.  Still – it’s weird.  Plus I’m not into the job, but it’s a job and it’s giving me money, so I guess I should be grateful.

• Took a part-time job, since I have some extra time on my hands when job#1 is not demanding things of me. I really like job #2 since it’s doing marketing for a small start up company and I get to have a lot of fun with it and make some extra money.  But…it’s going to end soon since the start-up has well, started up. 

• Despite great interviews and seemingly doing everything right, I didn’t get the “dream job” I had interviewed for.  I don’t know why or anything, and they didn’t have the decency to tell me either.  I know the economy is bad so companies can be choosey about who they hire, but come on! Have a little decency, HR people.  That’s all I have to say about that.

So, yeah my life is still far from normal.  I promise I’ll keep up with the blog better though. Strength in numbers, people!

Last Friday (apologies for the delay in posting this), I had the great pleasure of attending the Maury Povich Show.  Always on the prowl for fun, free activities in the city, I couldn’t resist the temptation of two free Maury tickets for last Friday.  Well, more like one Maury postcard that said “2″ on it.  

My Maury Experience began at 6:45 am on Friday morning.  The postcard said to be there at 8am, and I suspected there would be a line, so I forced my boyfriend to get up and we schlepped all the way across town (stopping for bagels and coffee) to 15 Penn Plaza aka the Pennsylvania Hotel.  We got there at 7:40 and there was a line…a long line.  A line of 151 people to be exact.  Despite the early hour, the people on the line were in good spirits, many of them smoking, drinking coffee and yelling for Maury.  I looked at my Maury postcard and realized that it said “this ticket does not guarantee admission” on it in small print.  I began to feel worried that we wouldn’t be admitted to the Maury show at all.  A lot of time passed. I mean, like two hours.  I was starting to get pissed. The other people on line were beginning to grow impatient. Some sluttly girls tried to cut the line and so did a person in a wheelchair who didn’t even have a ticket.

the sign outside the Maury Show

A Maury mignon came outside to have people sign a clipboard.  Then he walked up the line to check tickets and started giving out purple wristbands with numbers on them.  Mine was “152″ and my boyfriend’s was “151″.  We grew worried that only 150 people would be able to fit into the auditorium.  At one point, I was even grumpy.  The Maury mignon said there would be two shows, and that 170 people could fit in each. BOOYAH.  At about 10:20, we were let inside into a waiting area with ropes.  At 10:30, we were led up the stairs and through a waiting room. We traveled through the waiting room and were told we could enter the auditorium.  At this point, the auditorium was almost full.  For a brief second, I was worried I wouldn’t get to sit next to my boyfriend.  A production assistant pointed to two seats in the front row and told us to sit there.  AHHHH.

I can’t give too much away since the episode hasn’t aired yet, but there was a lot of baby mama drama, yelling, thumbs-downing, jeering and even a man wearing a lime-green suit. And the best part: after the show, everyone got free pizza.  My conclusion: Maury is the MAN.  He has a special way with all of the people who come on his show.  He even followed one of them into the women’s bathroom after she realized that her sister’s boyfriend was not the father of her child. Now if that’s not a good person, I don’t know what is.

The view from our seats. MONEY!

Close-up

My life = a limbo party.  Seriously.  I’m still waiting for final confirmation of an offer from company 1 (the one who gave me the bad offer and then said they thought they could get me more money).  So I went on another interview today.  It went well, or so I think. I did the whole post-interview thank you thing. So now here’s what I get to do some more…WAIT.