Fuck.
Just reading a page or two of Craigslist job ads has made me seriously depressed about the prospects for ever finding something to do that will pay me.
The shitheads who write for the major glossies out there don't do anything I can't do better.
My parents tout returning to school like it's going to cure all my ills, like graduating with honors got me so far to begin with.
I need to get out of the South. At least out of this town and this state. Having a boy around distracted me for a while, but he was definitely right about one thing--I should get the hell out of Dodge and not think twice about him.
The problem with all of this is that it's a really big world and it's quite hard to convince anyone, with just a page or two of resume, that I'm the best woman for the job. If I can get into an interview, maybe I can swing something, but I don't look any more exciting on paper than anyone else. I'm just a chick with an English degree who's done some writing for local online papers (and a porn site
) and one real magazine that went out of business two issues after hiring me. In between, I've managed a bike shop and tutored some kids, and worked at far too many restaurants.
And I feel like the only way to get anywhere is just to do it myself. Fuck sucking up to people for a job, right?
I don't know. Most of the time I feel great, like I can do anything, but just the idea of the job market makes me want to curl up in a corner and die. Or better yet, marry someone who will support me.
That's pathetic.
Any advice would be lovely. And I don't mean "keep your chin up" and "you rule" advice. I know that shit. I mean practical, serious advice on how to survive without completely selling my soul.
******EDIT
I started writing this as a response to someone's comment, and then it got out of hand, and since a comment about me whining and needing to pay my dues got me completely pissed off, I'm posting it here instead.
Problem is, I've been doing shit jobs as a writer and I'm spending so much time writing for free that I have neither time nor energy between that and my full-time (and often overtime) day job to look for real employment.
Hell, they aren't even shit jobs. They keep me in free music and shows and interviewing cool people. Some even pay a bit.
So I've got a file of clips a mile long, $30,000 in student loans to pay off, a car that's paid for, no credit card debt, and a definite need to move out of the south.
Maybe I should go back to school, get a Ph.D, and be an academic. I really don't love the idea of more student loans, but maybe that's the way to go.
Or maybe I just need to quit all this bullshit and go buy myself a little store or maybe a bar, and just run my own business and write in my spare time and give up journalism entirely.
Either way, what I really need to give up is asking strangers for advice.
Just reading a page or two of Craigslist job ads has made me seriously depressed about the prospects for ever finding something to do that will pay me.
The shitheads who write for the major glossies out there don't do anything I can't do better.
My parents tout returning to school like it's going to cure all my ills, like graduating with honors got me so far to begin with.
I need to get out of the South. At least out of this town and this state. Having a boy around distracted me for a while, but he was definitely right about one thing--I should get the hell out of Dodge and not think twice about him.
The problem with all of this is that it's a really big world and it's quite hard to convince anyone, with just a page or two of resume, that I'm the best woman for the job. If I can get into an interview, maybe I can swing something, but I don't look any more exciting on paper than anyone else. I'm just a chick with an English degree who's done some writing for local online papers (and a porn site
) and one real magazine that went out of business two issues after hiring me. In between, I've managed a bike shop and tutored some kids, and worked at far too many restaurants.
And I feel like the only way to get anywhere is just to do it myself. Fuck sucking up to people for a job, right?
I don't know. Most of the time I feel great, like I can do anything, but just the idea of the job market makes me want to curl up in a corner and die. Or better yet, marry someone who will support me.
That's pathetic.
Any advice would be lovely. And I don't mean "keep your chin up" and "you rule" advice. I know that shit. I mean practical, serious advice on how to survive without completely selling my soul.
******EDIT
I started writing this as a response to someone's comment, and then it got out of hand, and since a comment about me whining and needing to pay my dues got me completely pissed off, I'm posting it here instead.
Problem is, I've been doing shit jobs as a writer and I'm spending so much time writing for free that I have neither time nor energy between that and my full-time (and often overtime) day job to look for real employment.
Hell, they aren't even shit jobs. They keep me in free music and shows and interviewing cool people. Some even pay a bit.
So I've got a file of clips a mile long, $30,000 in student loans to pay off, a car that's paid for, no credit card debt, and a definite need to move out of the south.
Maybe I should go back to school, get a Ph.D, and be an academic. I really don't love the idea of more student loans, but maybe that's the way to go.
Or maybe I just need to quit all this bullshit and go buy myself a little store or maybe a bar, and just run my own business and write in my spare time and give up journalism entirely.
Either way, what I really need to give up is asking strangers for advice.
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
Step 1: Try with a Bachelors to get jobs I really really wanted
Step 2: Quit trying and get a Master's
Step 3: Get tired of school, even if it is a good deal.
Step 4: Apply non stop to every job I'm even remotely qualified for whether I really want it or not. (That's 4-10 resumes per day (Sunday through Wednesday and occasionally Thursday) -- spend time on the ones for jobs I want, send slightly modified form applications to ones I don't)
Step 5: Accept every interview regardless of how crappy the job seems
Step 6: Repeat for 3-4 months, until a decent offer comes around.
--At the end of this process, I had about two dozen interviews (on phone and in person), and three offers (well, two, but the one job I could've had if I wanted it enough to tell the interviewers what they wanted to hear instead of what I really thought about their corporate culture), and a slow moving prospect that offered me a job two months after I had accepted the one I'm at now (almost 5 months after I had first applied, and 2 months since I had last tried to contact them).
So that's something like a 5%-10% callback rate (Granted I applied for many jobs I was barely qualified for), but still... finding a job fucking sucks.
Of course, my industry is a soul sucking one, and I was prepared to sell it for the right price. Though the job I did eventually find is one in a small company where my voice really gets heard and my opinion regularly asked, which is INCREDIBLY rare. So, yeah, I lucked out.
I'll stop rambling now. I guess my answer is Persistence and Luck is how to get what you want... probably for just about everything in life.
[Edited on Oct 19, 2005 6:22PM]