Job Hunt

Had a very productive week on the job hunt. I can tell you from direct experience that the employment market is picking up. For the first six months of 2011, I’m probably applying to an average of two jobs a week that are perfect fits for me. The previous eighteen months I probably averaged two or three a month. I’m getting a lot more call backs and have gone on four in-person interviews since March. The sum total of interviews in the two years prior is one.

The problem I now face is, even though I’ve applied to fifty-plus jobs this year so far, there are so many applicants seeking work. When I was first laid off and met with headhunters I was told that there are an average of six people applying for every job opening. When I went on that interview back in March, I was one of twenty-eight.

A first this week: two big interviews, back to back. One went extremely well, right-place-at-the-right-time stuff, the other was straight outta the twilight zone. Truthfully, I’m kind of exhausted. Thank God my mother was available to watch the girls, and thank God the weather was beautiful. Hate to go to interviews in 99 degree humidity or in thunderstorms.

Yesterday I wrote a 2,000-word piece on the zanier of the two interviews and emailed it to some family and friends. It may make an appearance on this blog down the road; I really would like it to as I like it a lot. Though I highly doubt I’ll be offered the job and I even more highly doubt I’d take it, I can’t burn any bridges at this point in the economic and financial life of LE. We’ll see.

I decided to take the day off today from writing. Made the mistake last night of eating sushi with the wife way too late; woke up at 4 am headachy and dehydrated and was unable to get back to sleep. Feeling very zombilike. Little One has a half-day at school, so I’ll probably loaf around the house with Patch until she gets home. Try to sneak a long nap in this afternoon.

Finished Henry IV part I and watched a bit of the BBC DVD yesterday evening. I’m also a good chunk in to H. W. Crocker’s Triumph, concerning the history of the Catholic Church. Made it a third way in when I bought the thing in the spring of ’10, but never finished it. Have another history of the church on deck. I’m also facing a decision of what SF paperback to read next. Likely candidates: Mote in God’s Eye, Icerigger, Alien Way. Or maybe I’ll read Alan Quartermain and finish my H. Rider Haggard three-in-one compendium. For those on the edge of their seats, I’ll decide by the end of the day.

I will know by Friday or, latest, Monday, whether I’ll be working come July 1. Hopefully I will; it’s been way, way too long outta work and I’m not really cut from the stay-at-home-dad cloth. Even though I’d be working for peanuts and we’d still be in tight economic straits, there’s something about a paycheck that makes a man feel … like a man. And all this writing I’m doing would feel even more worthwhile if I was churning it out late at night after a solid and honest day’s work. Know what I mean?

Something lighter tomorrow …