Interview the Best

My oldest son and I watched about half of this awkwardly titled dvd this afternoon. Alan Ladd has some very good points, most of which I already knew. Still, good reminders for me, and much new info for son, I'm sure.

The Interview the Best guy is all about picking up the phone and getting a company contact's name, sending them a resume and then calling them to ask for 10 minutes of their time. I'm sure this works. I'm also sure it scares me to death. Good thing I'm still at the working-is-optional stage.

I have a book from the library - The Everything Practice Interview - that I would like to look at. I've been reading books (and websites) on resumes and cover letters, but now that I have some resumes out there, I thought I'd best pick up some interview tips. One can never be too prepared. This is optimistically assuming that someone will call me for an interview. My last interview was five years ago, and I was nervous. Not throw-up-beforehand nervous, but definitely feeling some twitchiness. That can be good energy, though, and I imagine that being too laid-back would be worse, from the interviewer's perspective.

So, more of the dvd tomorrow.

Tuesday, Jan 26

So I did a little digging around on the internet a while back, hoping to find some good sites to help in my job search. Turns out that either I'm unique (of course!) or there aren't any sites out there that match my circumstances. Now surely there are other women in my position, right?

Turns out that what tiny bit I did find was less than encouraging. The worst category is that of an older (and I use that term loosely) woman, entering the work force essentially for the first time (ie, no previous networks established), and looking for part-time jobs. That's me! While I do like to cheer on the underdog, say in movies or sports, I'm not so sure I like actually being the underdog.

There's a reason I have no real network to tap into. We moved to this town about 8 years ago, so we are still considered new. Yeah, small town. If you weren't born here, you're still new. I haven't worked here, so I have no former supervisor to contact. Volunteered, yes, and the two people I have on my resume based on that are strong, solid references. From what I've read, volunteer work can be almost as good on a resume as real work, but intuitively, that just doesn't feel correct. Also, from personal experience, volunteering can lead to paid positions...just hasn't happened here. Yet.

Some days are better than others. This was an other day.

Although, I wasn't consumed by thoughts of finding employment, as has been the theme for many weeks now. Months even, although it did reach a fever pitch last week. So things are looking up, just not on the job front. More about that later, as we get to know each other.

I did nothing related to finding work today. I did pick up some holds from the library, and I will sit down with oldest son and watch a dvd on job interviews. Usually I read books for information I need, but I thought I would give my dh's favourite way to learn a try. And it cannot hurt oldest son, who does truly need more than his brand-new, small paper route. He is almost a fully grown man, and I don't think the co'op he's participating in for his last semester of grade 12 is going to cut it (the tip-off? it doesn't pay).