The High Cost of High School

I'm taking a cranial hiatus from the job search today. Not because it's not still weighing heavily on my mind, but because the advent of the school year has taken the main stage in my home and, more importantly, my checkbook.

For the first time in years my month is closing with more money than checks rather than more checks than money. Although, to be honest, the difference between the balance and the paper is mighty slim right now. When you combine the cost of marching shoes ($60), a second flute that can withstand the elements ($60), a fab flute that is meant for playing indoors ($1500), the cost to participate in marching band ($250+$100 fundraising buyout), high-tech racing suits for the pool ($160-- although they typically cost about $300), another fundraising buyout ($100), school supplies ($150), various high school fees ($250), two dual-credit classes ($746), and clothes for two rapidly-growing children ($1 buhgillion)... Holy cow, this is killing me.

I know, I know, it's crass to talk about money,  but listing these expenses is cathartic for me right now. Not only does it spur me on to even greater efforts in the job search endeavor, it also serves to remind me how blessed we are to be able to even CONSIDER providing our kids with these opportunities. It also helps me mentally prepare for what the next 9 years of college expenses are going to entail.

I could sit and bitch about how expensive August has been this year, but what would be the point? The money is spent, the kids are engaged, and hey, it's only money, right? Is a family budget meeting pending? Oh yeah... However, when you look at the expenses and why we are covering them, the big, long-term picture needs to be considered. Will the band experience lead to scholarships? Will the cost of year-round swimming+ tech suits+ travel fees lead to scholarships? Would I rather pay $746 for Liam to start college with a minimum of 16 credits than pay an average of $200 per credit hour for those same 16 credits at the college of his choice? Obviously I have to answer 'yes' to these questions.

I also have to stock up on peanut butter and ramen noodles because apparently that's all my grocery bill can permit....Good thing we're young parents with 20+ years to refill the coffers after the kids get out of college, right?

The Great Demotivator

I realized this morning that I've been allowing the blank spots on my resume to dictate my mood rather than my focus. After shunning time on Facebook for the more justifiable pursuit of trolling on LinkedIn, I popped into one of the local networking groups I recently joined and happened upon David Templeman . After days of reading through prosaic writings on job searching, profile optimization, self-branding,  successful interviewing, and dressing for success, reading Templeman's blog was like taking a hit off my own personal oxygen tank. I've never met him, but I like this guy; I like that he knows that Judge Smails' first name is Elihu (seriously? I want this guy on my Trivia Team!); I love that he's a seasoned recruiter (and by "seasoned" I mean "experienced" not "old") and that he's taking time to share his knowledge in a witty and honest way. I guess finding his blog means I have to redact my statement about Yolanda Pascagoulis from Ypsilanti, MI . There is a LOT of crap out there about job searches, but Templeman's doesn't fall into that category.

I can't begin to share the frustration I feel when I read through some trite, mundane dithering only to discover that it's a cheap marketing ploy meant to entice me to purchase a How-To book for just $36.99. 

What hit me the hardest this morning was his comments about getting off your ass and doing those hard things that need doing. Overcoming the Obstacles, as it were. My Blank Spots are my Obstacles. I've been letting  Despair.com's Demotivators® achieve their clearly-branded goal rather than remembering the not-so-subliminal messaging contained therein. Resume Blank Spots ARE difficult Obstacles to overcome for any job-seeker, but successful conveyance of the reasons behind their existence is easily achieved through a well-written cover letter.

A resume is a resume is a resume. Whether you bedazzle it with industry-specific jargon, past experience clichés,  or snazzy formatting techniques, it's still really just a list of what you've done, how long you did it, and for whom. I've found the cover letter is the best place for me to express the greatness my resume cannot (but remember, I'm unemployed so take this with as many salt grains as you can stomach). Could my resume use some tweaking? Oh, HELL yes. Have I bedazzled it? Yes, and I'm blushing as I confess this. Am I going to spend some time refining said resume as well as my LinkedIn profile today? More than likely. More importantly however, after I drag my ass off the couch, brush my hair, and put on some clothes that DON'T belong to my husband, I'm going to spend some significant time working on a cover letter that showcases not just my professional abilities, but my personality as well. It's in the cover letter that I can justify the Blank Spaces by explaining my community involvement in such a way that prospective employers don't envision me as just another bored housewife whose biggest concerns are getting the whites whiter and the brights brighter. 

Maggie, you ask, how can someone like YOU be daunted by a cover letter? Seriously? Have you read my ramblings? My first draft cover letter was almost as long as Grapes of Wrath-- and not nearly as satisfying. There's some good stuff in there, but it definitely needs some help. So, rather than  aspiring to greatness through diligent navel contemplation today, I'm going to bust that bad boy out and make it mine. 

See? Some obstacles CAN be overcome with just the right amount of determination and positive attitude.

On a side note, yesterday I received a call from a recruiting company that is looking for an entry-level recruiter/admin. The position sounds great, the pay is perfect, and the potential for advancement is high. I have been second-guessing the initial phone interview results since I hung up yesterday, and I'm not going to stop reaching out to other companies in the area, but I think it went well overall and I'm hoping the lady with whom I spoke will call back to schedule a face-to-face interview. Let's face it, once I get in your door, you're gonna love me. I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. And doggone it, people like me. 

Achieving Enlightenment-- or Employment.

There's a new Dirty Word in my vocabulary this week: Unemployed. In cruising through my mental thesaurus, this word is synonymous with: eager, involved, driven, motivated, downtrodden, dejected, and frustrated. Sadly, neither the negative nor the affirmative connotations are deemed correct for use in one's resume, LinkedIn profile, or any other social networking/ career building tool.

But they're real words connected to the Dirty Word. I find, as I go through my personal inventories and professional goals, that my emotions about job searching do in fact range from eager and driven to dejected and downtrodden. How can they not? We're at an 8% unemployment rate in the country which means there are a Whole Lot of People sailing along on this discovery cruise with me.

On the days when I read a job description that sounds as though the writer had opened my professional soul and poured it onto a keyboard, I am elated and driven to reach out and dazzle with my savvy. I research the company a bit, get a handle on who they are, why they are, what they do and how they do it. Then I dust off the old Cover Letter in my documents folder and try to bedazzle it with the appropriate key words and phrases that convey my abilities without making me sound like am insufferable braggart. I pop into my resume and shuffle around past job responsibilities so that the most pertinent skills are at the top of the list. I submit the online application, and then I wait.

Waiting sucks. It's the pits when you're in line for a killer roller coaster on a muggy summer day, and it's the pits when you're looking for a job. How often do I quell the desire to drive to the office in question and perform amazing feats of persuasion and self-salesmanship? Oh, often. Too often probably. What stops me from doing just that? Well, KC is a big town, but it can also be quite small socially and, let's face it, "devoted stalker" is simply not the branding one should go for during a job search. Or, really, any time.

Instead, while I wait I spend time on LinkedIn. I reach out to new connections who are either in the field I'm trying to enter or who have experience or connections of some kind that I want to explore. I've found that reaching out to new connections and letting them know I'm looking for a specific type of job results in my gaining new insights and helpful tips from people I wouldn't otherwise encounter on a daily basis. Research has become another new hobby. It has, happily, replaced my Facebook trolling. Now I read articles about recruiting. I search out information on how to be successful in a job interview as well as how to conduct a successful interview. I find that knowing how to "put my best foot forward" is only going to help me if I know which foot the interviewer is really looking at.

I also try to avoid becoming stale. I believe that eventually we all hit ruts. Some of us get sucked into 6-seasons of Nip/Tuck. Some of us make the same meals for our families over and over and over again. And some of us manage to lose sight of how our world is evolving. This is especially pertinent to job seekers. I've found myself asking my husband advice on items in my resume, but he hasn't had to look for a job in over 10 years. To him, LinkedIn is just Facebook without the Happy Hour photos. I am trying to stay on top of the technology that is required in my job search as well as in the industry I'm trying to enter. I want to read what The Experts are saying, but I also want to read what Yolanda Pascagoulis from Ypsilanti, MI has to say about her experience in the job seeking world. (Yolanda is not a real person, as far as I know. If she is, my apologies for using her name without express written permission)

As far as I'm concerned, everyone has something to say about this experience and everyone has the ability to provide me with an insight I'd never even considered. So, as I continue with my job search, I promise to try to avoid allowing the negatives into my mindset. I say "try" because I think that occasional negative thoughts make the positive ones feel even better.