Mon Ami

A year ago yesterday, I learned I had been selected by Audrey Gruber, producer of CBS News The Early Show to represent the over 55 crowd looking for a job in 2009.

A year ago today, I left for a spiritual retreat in Atlanta, Georgia, at which I met a gentleman who was from Haiti. We were in some of the same groups and shared some meals together. Already active in economic affairs, he was working to establish a non-profit organization that could provide education and training to help develop a stronger infrastructure for his native island.

After hearing my story, he nicknamed me, la célébrité, and shared it with anyone within earshot, including on the tram at Hartsfield Airport as we headed home, New York for him and Dover for me. Each time I chuckled, partly with embarrassment, partly at the wonderful lilt of his French accent mingled with Caribbean inflection, and partly out of excitement for the journey I was about to undertake. We exchanged a few emails over the ensuing months, and he included me in some of the goings on of his group.

A week ago Tuesday, we were all shocked at the news that our neighbors in the Caribbean had experienced a catastrophic earthquake that crumbled many buildings and left thousands dead and many more homeless. We soon learned that the number could be well over a hundred thousand. Not only were there at least 33 aftershocks and a growing death toll, many of the infrastructures of hospitals, transportation and communication systems were also affected, causing the UN to call this the worst catastrophe it had ever encountered (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake).

A couple of days ago we learned that at least one person was pulled from the rubble alive. While we knew that so so many did not make it and most assuredly the bodies of most wouldn’t even be recoverable by their families, this was a moment of rejoicing and thankfulness for the efforts of many from around the world who put their own lives at risk to offer aid.

Our Caribbean friends and visitors to the island have been sleeping outside for fear of building collapse; they may never find their relatives and friends who were victims of the earthquake; their need for water, medical care, food, shelter, and safety is monumental and encumbered by the vastness of the need and the organization needed to administer the help.

I claim no expertise on how the help should be happening. I have no knowledge about whether or not things are being done properly. I do know that there are those who would say, “charity begins at home.” I have no quarrel with that as charity begins with taking care of my neighbor. I know that my answer to that old question of  “Who is my neighbor?” can be answered simply: “the people of Haiti.”

I know that each of us doing a small part can make a big difference. Whether you choose to donate a dollar or a million dollars, do it, and make sure the organization you give to is valid. I have chosen to make my donation through UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) because I know this organization gives 100% of all receipts to relief. You can also actively participate by making Health Kits and delivering them to a church in your area that is collecting them:

* 1 hand towel (15″ x 25″ up to 17″ x 27″; no kitchen towels)
* 1 washcloth
* 1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)
* 1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
* 1 bath-size bar of soap (3oz. and up)
* 1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper; no child-size brushes)
* 6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages
* $2.00 for UMCOR to purchase toothpaste in bulk and help pay their shipping costs

I have no knowledge of where my friend is or how he has been affected by this disaster. I do know that having met him, I feel a personal connection to this island nation that has suffered so much. For me, he is the face of Haiti, and it is in his honor that I give my donations. And it is his face I see as I say my prayers.

To modify a well-known phrase, “Mon ami, this one’s for you.”

Honor your father and mother

As I’ve gotten older I’ve thought about that phrase above and how it has changed over time from when I took it literally as the 4^th Commandment and assumed it meant absolute obedience to anything my parents would have expected from me. Like many things, as I got older, I realized that the phrase itself is just the beginning of the depth behind it.

My mother-in-law, Eva, was a sweet gentle spirit with twinkling blue eyes. She loved to read and work crossword puzzles till advanced macular degeneration took away that pleasure. She substituted books on tape till her dementia made it hard for her to remember how to work the tape machine and left her confused sometimes thinking that her vision had gotten bad that morning rather than years before. She always knew, however, when I entered her room and always had a kind word for me and an inquiry about how my job search was going. I’m thinking about her this New Year’s Eve remembering that my little family of husband Bob, daughter Kim, son Kirt, and daughter-in-law Britt were with her when she left us around 3:30 PM, December 31, 2008.

In pausing to reflect on the last months of her life, though others would disagree, my husband honored her when the doctors recommended that she move to a nursing home because the care she needed was more than could be given at home, her safety and well- primary concerns. It was a tough adjustment as being anywhere new was uncomfortable for her because of her sight. In the 18 months she was there, she won the hearts of the staff with her quiet demeanor, appreciation of anything anyone did for her, and her wry wit which would always catch folks off guard because she so rarely spoke.

During her last month, she would repeatedly ask my husband how old she was and he would gently reply that she had recently turned 92 and her sister in Texas was 100. She would quietly respond that 92 was too old and that she didn’t want to live to be 100. She was making her wishes known to us in her own way as she confirmed that desire by eating less and less. Others encouraged my husband to arrange for a feeding tube and do whatever was necessary to keep her alive. My husband would calmly reply that this was her wish and he respected her decision — honoring his mother by understanding that this was the last thing in her life she had any control over.

Christmas Eve came, and we realized that we needed to share a family tradition with Eva one last time. Of all the traditions we have for Christmas, reading The Night Before Christmas is one of the strongest. Bob’s dad had started the tradition when he was a young child with a copy that had fuzzy Santa suits and stockings just meant for rubbing. Bob continued the tradition each Christmas Eve with our kids, even now that they are adults. We shared a tradition that encompassed more than the reading of a secular story, a tradition that for us means family, love, caring, memories, and more, a way to connect our past, our present and our future and honoring all that has been. We read each page in turn, sometimes choking back our tears. And when we took her hand to rub the fuzzies, we knew that she was aware of what was happening. We were struck with all this moment meant for each of us as Bob read the final words, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.” We were given the gift of Christmas at that moment and knew that we were honoring her in a most special way.

As mentioned above, she passed away a few days later and the acts of love and caring (dare I say, honoring?) continued in a variety of ways. As we were gathering our things in preparation to leave Evas’s room, I said that I was going to go home and make pasta with meat sauce, a definite comfort food for me. My daughter-in-law replied that she would take care of that and I should go home with my husband – honoring, this time a mother-in-law.

No one wanted to be anyplace else than with each other that evening, so after dinner we gathered in my daughter’s apartment upstairs from ours and watched a silly movie — honoring my husband and me with their presence then and throughout the following days.

My son and daughter helped me write both the obituary and the eulogy I would deliver – showing honor not only to their grandmother but me as well.

There are many more examples I could site as I am sure you can too from your own stories. But I think what I have discerned from my remembering today is that honoring is simply another word for love.

May 2010 be full of joy and love for you and yours.

Diana in Wonderland

Wonderland – New York at Christmas time is just that and as beautiful in 2009 as I remember as a kid living in Manhattan and making the annual trip to mid-town to view the decorated windows starting with Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue near Central Park South (59^th Street) passing Best and Company, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Lord and Taylor, and B. Altman’s on the way to Macy’s on 34^th and Broadway. The windows were full of whimsical displays, and we would stand behind the cordoned areas and ooh and ah with the others, often while eating roasted chestnuts. A highlight of the usually very cold walk would be making the right turn at Rockefeller Center to see the magnificent tree.

This year was no exception. Though some of the stores are no longer there, the tree at 30 Rock (which to me will always be the RCA Building) is now adorned with LED lights that are spectacular. My traveling companions and I witnessed a marriage proposal occurring on the ice at the rink below. Romance is alive and well in the Big Apple.

The store closest to our hotel was Bergdorf’s which had chosen Lewis Carroll’s writings as its theme. It’s too many years for me to remember whether the scenes were from Alice or Looking Glass. That doesn’t matter because they were typically Victorian in their detail and over-the-top style. One in particular caught my eye because everything from the pink flamingo to Alice’s clothing was made out of paper. I was especially intrigued by the old manual typewriter set in such a way that it appeared to have created all of the items in the story. I chuckled to myself having taken my first keyboarding course on one not looking very different from the one in the window.

Little did that young girl walking down Fifth Avenue with her mom and grandmother know that years later she would be doing the same thing with her daughter and daughter-in-law the night before being on national TV for the second time in nine months.

Bright colored lights, opulent store windows, sidewalks crowded with shoppers and tourists, I was in the visual Wonderland called Manhattan at Christmas time and enjoyed every bit of it.

Through the Looking Glass

Where shall I start? The bus ride was over, the taxi had taken us to our hotel, we were up early for a 6:15 limo call and arrived at the CBS News Early Show studio just a few minutes later, all to get ready for The Job Squad followup.

Once at the studio, Jack, Kelsy and I met, chatted and were primped for the interview. That’s a photo of me looking in the mirror while my hair is being fixed. Funny thing about mirrors is that while they may be accurate in the detail they present, everything is reversed; so are they really reflecting truth. But there’s more about that in a moment.

The on-air interview itself took about five minutes and included footage from each of our videos from March and one question – “Who has a job?” Jack could answer in the affirmative, having started a nursing magazine with the help of some backers; and Kelsy works for Clear Channel. My answer was not so apparent. While I had a job at that moment, it was part-time and lasted one more week. I found myself raising my hand only part way with a “sort of” look on my face.

So, by Job Squad standards was I a success or a failure where my position was only part-time and temporary at that? That begs the question: What is success?

Merriam-Webster defines success as a degree or measure of succeeding or a favorable or desired outcome. It is also the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence.

Well, I guess I have had some favor or eminence being on national TV twice and being on the front page of or having an article about me in local papers about six times (including an article that should be published December 27). Attaining wealth – that’s another story – I can’t say that’s happened. But the definition also includes “a favorable or desired outcome.”

Hmmm – success or failure?

To borrow my metaphor above – which is the “real” Diana – the person that I cannot see and is viewable only by others, or is it the image in the looking glass? If the mirror is all scratched or is otherwise prevented from reflecting a sharp image, am I somehow dulled in the process?

Were The Job Squad participants only successful if we were able to obtain full-time employment as a result of resume makeover, career coaching, and new interview suit? If so, then I guess I am a failure.

However, if success is measured by learning about yourself and doing and experiencing, then the fact that I have continually moved forward to try new things and not only stand on my strengths but also work to improve my weaknesses, then success has been mine.

If finding new ways to help others while using what was gleaned from the assessments given months ago by Kit Harrington, I have been successful.

I may not have achieved the desired outcome of a full-time, well-paying job; but because of my media exposure I have become acquainted with people whose paths would never have crossed mine.

Nor would there be a group of folks meeting every week to support and empower each other. Much, if not all of this would not have happened if that survey from Gene Burnard of Workforce50.com had not landed in my in-box nearly a year ago.

My plate may be empty in many ways, but my cup runs over with blessings and joy. I’ll take that as success any day.

The journey continues -

I’m sitting on the Bolt Bus on my way to New York City for my interview on CBS News The Early Show (December 10, 2009, between 7 and 9 AM EST). It’ll be an early limo pickup (6:15 AM) and an even earlier getting up time after not getting to NY till around 10 PM tonight. With three of the four members of The Job Squad on air together, I’m sure it will be most interesting. I wonder what impact this will have on my on-going job search.

When I was on CBS last March just a couple of days after my birthday and nine months into being unemployed, I mentioned that I felt a rebirth was imminent as I thought landing a job was going to happen very soon. Here we are nine months since that interview and I continue to hope that a new opportunity is coming. This trip being close to Christmas and the New Year reinforces my hopes and dreams.

While The Job Squad – Rewired to Get Rehired follow up is the purpose of my trip, I’m am staying over another night with two very special women in my life to enjoy New York all dressed up for Christmas. We will be going to a Peter Mayer Stars and Promises Christmas concert as well.

Peter (who is also Jimmy Buffet’s lead guitarist and a family friend) writes wonderful music with strong messages. (I have shared some in other blog entries.) Two of his Christmas songs are pertinent to this posting and my life in general, especially during this period. Never did I imagine I would spend a second Christmas without an on-going job.

The first song is about Joseph from the Christmas story, the character we know the least about. He didn’t know what the plan was, but God assured him his presence was integral. He had to “keep walking to Bethlehem.” It was his obedience that allowed for the fulfillment of the promises made in the Old Testament portion of the Bible.

On a cold dark night a man and his wife to be
Walked a wilderness road
With a donkey, supplies, and a woman with child
Don’t you know it’s a heavy load

Joseph a good man of carpenter’s trade
Had made plans to make Mary his mate
Then an angel appeared and said Joe don’t you fear
But the spirit will dance with your date
The spirit will dance with your date

Hey Joseph keep walking, Hey Joseph keep walking
Hey Joseph keep walking to Bethlehem
Hey Joseph keep walking, Hey Joseph keep walking
Keep walking Joseph you’re part of the plan

They came to the city of David that night
But no inn had a place for their keep
Mary said Joseph I think it’s my time
Said Joseph Oh Lord Why me
Said Joseph Oh Lord Why me

So they arrived at the last inn in sight
With no room but a stable so low
And Mary gave birth to the savior of earth
With the faith of her good husband Joe

On the freeways and byways, in village and town
On this 21st century road
We’ve traveled so far but still look for the star
Don’t you know it’s a heavy load

Hey Joseph keep walking, Hey Joseph keep walking
Hey Joseph keep walking to Bethlehem
Hey Joseph keep walking, Hey Joseph keep walking
Keep walking Joseph you’re part of the plan

“Hey Joseph” by Peter Mayer

In some ways, 18 months of unemployment does feel like captivity or a long hard journey. Sometimes I think that a job offer using my skills and abilities is never going to happen.

It is at just those moments that both Peter’s lyrics and the words from Jeremiah written during Israel’s 70 years of captivity offer comfort: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV).

My job is to seek, ask, and find, and to worry only about today. That is my “walking to Bethlehem.” I seek through my meditation and my job search; I ask in my prayers and my networking; and I find: No, not an on-going job as yet. Rather, I find by assuming leadership roles at my church, supportive roles in my community, teaching when the opportunity presents itself, and by facilitating Seacoast Peers for Careers.

Seacoast Peers for Careers is not a paid gig, but it is a very important of my life. Although the skills I am using are not unique, they are delivered through my characteristics, personality and style.

In this culture where individuals are not honored and so much is done to tear people down rather than build people up, Peter’s words remind me that all I do and say and am does matter. My walking does matter, and yours does too. Don’t ever forget that.

Think about your own uniqueness, your gifts and graces, and the people who are around you while you read the words below.

It’s Christmas time again
New Year’s ’round the bend
There must be something more than give and take
What it’s all about turns you inside out
‘Till you finally see the difference you make

This Christmas this Christmas
There’s a gift that only you can give
This Christmas this Christmas
Give yourself to….

Love is in short supply
Such an obvious demand
Shouldn’t be so hard to understand
We hang the lights for hope look for the stars to follow
Peace on earth for what it’s worth is in our hands

This Christmas this Christmas
There’s a gift that only you can give
This Christmas this Christmas
Give yourself to….

Start with the best of you
Followed by the rest of you
The things you say and the things you do
This Christmas

This Christmas this Christmas
There’s a gift that only you can give
This Christmas this Christmas
Give yourself to….

Lend a heart, lend a hand
Make a start, understand
Lend an hour lend a day
Wrap yourself to give away

“This Christmas” by Peter Mayer

During this busy time of the year when the focus is on commercialism, don’t get caught thinking you don’t have anything worth giving or sharing. Focus instead on the intent of Christmas and make it a daily endeavor now and into the New Year.

“Wrap yourself to give away”

It’s definitely a choice –

“What?” you ask. Happiness, of course.

Among the people I have met during my season of unemployment have been Howie Lyhte, an incredibly intelligent man who goes out of his way to share articles, tips, hints, with the rest of us who are part of the same list serves and groups. I think he’s been unemployed longer than I have; yet every time I see him, he is completely engaged with whatever is going on and has a welcoming smile on his face.

Another person I have come to know about is Dan DemaioNewton who is Director of Strategy and Business Development at Monster Worldwide. Pretty impressive job, wouldn’t you agree? Well, he has taken the time to create www.betterjobsfaster.org as a place where we work seekers can post resumes, share jobs, learn about upcoming meetings, and uplifting articles like the one that follows which I share with you on this Thanksgiving Eve.

Five Simple Rules to Be Happy

This story was sent to me by our fellow job seeker, Howie Lyhte. He was right, it did make me smile.  I’m sharing it with you in the hope that it also makes you smile and encourages you to focus on that which is most important. – Dan.

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.  His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.

As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.

‘I love it,’ he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

Mr. Jones, you haven’t seen the room; just wait. ‘That doesn’t have anything to do with it,’ he replied. Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time.

‘Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged … it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful  for the ones that do.

‘Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away.  Just for this time in my life.

Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you’ve put in.

So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!’

Thank you for your part in filling my Memory Bank.

I am still depositing.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.

2. Free your mind from worries.

3. Live simply.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less.

To all the special people in my life, especially Bob, Kim, Kirt, Britt and GrandBeagle Reggie, thank you for helping fill my Memory bank account! – Diana

Thanksgiving Thoughts

While there are many emotions and personality traits that are important to well being, one particular emotion has been shown to enable people to cope better during life transitions. They are less depressed, handle stress better, are more satisfied with their relationships and lives, and exercise more control over their environments, personal growth, purpose in life, and are less likely to avoid a problem or abuse substances.

What emotion is this? Gratitude.

But this goes beyond just saying, “thank you” when someone holds the door open for you. True gratefulness comes from the conscious decision to recognize the blessings in your life coupled with the emotional feelings that accompany a thankful heart. It is having an “attitude of gratitude” which includes not only counting and taking joy in your blessings, but deliberately displaying pleasure and appreciation to others in word and deed.

One of the things I have tried to bring to Seacoast Peers for Careers is this attitude of gratitude. Each week I ask everyone to share a blessing from the preceding week. When someone new joins the group, I ask the person to share a blessing that occurred BECAUSE of being unemployed. It is so easy for gatherings of people who are hurting (and unemployment does hurt!) to turn into a gripe session with conversations turning negative, blood pressures increasing, and frustrations building. How much better it is to focus on the good things, the things that give pleasure and make our hearts full.

A study by McCollough and Emmons in 2003 had three groups of participants. One group recorded daily events, another wrote down unpleasant experiences, and a third wrote down things for which they were grateful. The gratitude group was more likely to help others, exercise, and complete personal goals. They also reported more determination, optimism, alertness, energy, and enthusiasm. The study further found the people who took time to deliberately record their gratitude were more likely to feel loved and found more kindness reciprocated. These grateful people were grateful regardless of whether or not something special happened during their day. They didn’t just have moments of gratefulness, they had grateful attitudes.

Grateful individuals place less importance on material goods and are less likely to judge their own and others’ success in terms of accumulated possessions. They were less envious of others and more likely to share their possessions with others relative to less grateful persons.

And finally, the study noted that those who regularly attended religious services and engaged in religious activities such as prayer or meditation were more likely to be grateful and more likely to acknowledge a belief in the interconnectedness of all life and a commitment to and responsibility to others. While gratitude does not require a religious faith, faith enhances the ability to be grateful.

All of this resonates deep within my spirit and my belief system and can be summed up with a quote from II Thessalonians.

“Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances.”

I believe this is the essence of having an attitude of gratitude. It’s all about choices …

William A. Ward, who wrote many inspirational maxims, said “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?”

Think about that not just two days from now on Thanksgiving but each and every day.

Growing Numbers

The last few weeks have seen some successes for the members of Seacoast Peers for Careers empowerment group. We have had three “landings” in three weeks. In the language of those of us in “job clubs,” the word “landing” is used when someone finds a job.

One person was hired as a 90-day possible temp-to-hire in Boston and was hired on after only a couple of weeks. A very new member who joined us just days after her job ended made it to only one meeting before she got a job in Manchester in her very specialized field! The third had two very different interviews about two weeks ago, one with a small company, one with a major employer in the Seacoast. The larger company hired her, and she started Monday.

Our member who had gone an entire year without an interview had a phone and in-person interview with the same local company as well as an interview with a municipality. A new member had an interview yesterday that appeared to be his to lose as the position had not been advertised and a former colleague had recommended him for it.

While I didn’t get a second interview for the job I interviewed for a couple of weeks back and don’t have anything on the horizon, there are some stirrings happening around me that I have to sort through. Some may lead to interesting possibilities.

Things are looking up! Keep your fingers crossed for all of us!

Seven weeks and four interviews later …

Wouldn’t it be nice if I could have carried those numbers above into one job offer that I accepted? Unfortunately,  that’s not the case so far. In fact, I have not heard back from my one interview of the last few weeks.

So why did I mention four interviews in my title? Well, that’s because three of them involved media and not jobs.

On September 15, Foster’s Daily Democrat chronicled how Seacoast Peers for Careers came to be along with what it is doing to empower folks in their work search: “Dover woman who found herself jobless now helps peers get back on their feet”

I got my story told from its current vantage point and we got some good publicity for our speaker, Tracey Madden, who was going to talk about Informational Interviews. Well, we had over 20 people show up as a result of the article, a couple of whom have been back a few times. One of those folks was recently hired and another whose very first meeting was this past week told me today that she was interviewed, offered a job and starts tomorrow!

On September 30, another reporter spent nearly 90 minutes with our group gathering information for a series of articles on the economy and the impact of the recession. Part one featured views from UNH economists and other experts and appeared the following Sunday. The second part, “Job clubs help unemployed stay positive,” dealt with how people are reacting and appeared November 1. It contained info and comments from Michelle Hart from NH Works in Somersworth, NH, Nicole Tessier from NHNetWorks in Salem, NH, and Barbara Yates from Seacoast Work Seekers in Rye, NH, all of whom I know from my own job search.

As a result of that article, last week’s meeting had seven people with five of them being new. One woman drove about 40 miles to join us after a friend passed the article along to her. As we have seen almost every time we have had some new members, there are those who have just become unemployed, there are those who have been unemployed for a while and figured they’d now explore a group, and there are those who had been employed by the same employer for 20 or more years and were stunned when their positions were eliminated. It takes a while to come out of the shock and disbelief. It is helped by being in a safe place where people understand. And, boy, do we ever understand the emotional carnage that has occurred. As always, there is empathy, compassion, and encouragement as the stories are shared.

We’ve all learned if surviving unemployment is anything, it is a vast training ground in stepping outside your comfort zone and risk taking of all kinds.

And speaking of risk taking and stepping outside of one’s comfort zone, remember my exciting, scary, and enjoyable experience being on TV for CBS News The Early Show? Well, there’s going to be a follow up to The Job Squad. The fourth interview I had in the last seven weeks occurred the same day as the most recent newspaper interview. A video journalist from CBS came to the Thompson School at UNH to ask me a few questions and tape one of my classes.

Three of the original four from The Job Squad, Kelsey Nova, Jack Iannacone and I will be back on air sometime this month. New York City, here I come again.

The journey continues … -

It’s a numbers game.

I’m sitting here having reworked my resume yet again in an attempt to make it more user friendly. I’m modifying the functional format into one a recruiter I met recently calls “functiological” meaning that you list your skills and accomplishments under your chronologically listed places of employment and not simply rehash the job description.

Many hours later, it looks very different. This proved to be helpful. Now my facilitation at Seacoast Peers for Careers could be more prominently displayed, a definite asset for a particular job for which I was applying. We’ll see what happens as the closing date was Friday, October 9, 2009. The position would be working with adults developing careers skills, basic computer skills, counseling them, and offering support through a job club experience. Gee, doesn’t that sound like me? Here’s hoping!

I found that posting on one of the 12 search agents and 8 other sites I check almost daily.

Doing some quick math means that over the last 18 months of looking I have clicked my mouse at least 8000 times to read about an opening. It brings the total number of jobs I’ve applied for to over 130 (12 with one company alone).

Of that number, I’ve had only 17 interviews. And of that 17 only 8 potential employers followed up. Fortunately two of them offered me the part-time positions I currently hold, 8 hours a week at UNH and 7 students for the Virtual Charter School. I thoroughly enjoy both of these jobs and hope they can turn into something permanent.

That’s a lot of numbers and not really very good results. And I’m not alone with statistics like that. I have a friend who has not had one interview in a year of sending out applications. Another friend’s company is relocating putting 90 people out of work.

It’s still a very tough world out there.

I’m tired of all the numbers. All I want, like the other 7 million who are unemployed, is ONE good offer.