The good, bad, good day.This was an interesting day. Despite waking up late, I had two great conversations with two different people at a local community college, and spent the evening catching up with a good friend from high school. It was the middle part that didn't go as well.
What I did
In the morning, I had an interview scheduled with a part-timer at a community college. She could tell me a lot about her job, and some about the other jobs on campus. But after talking to her for a while, she did something even better. She walked me across the hall to one of the full-time staff members and introduced me to a full-time staff member. The conversation with the part-time staff was helpful. The conversation with the full-time staff was even better.
She had been on hiring committees before, so she had a very good idea of what they were looking for. She told me about different ways of getting my foot in the door, and answered questions about my specific eligibility for different positions. If I hadn't made the appointment with the part-time staff member, I wouldn't have met this other person.
Then in the afternoon, my confidence was shaken. After making a few phone calls to try and set things up for the next week, I decided to start working my cold-calling list. The first place I went to, they told me that just walking in to talk to someone wasn't the way things were done. For some reason, that really shook me. I think it's because I'm already way out of my comfort zone on this, and for someone to shut me down this directly, I started to question my entire approach. Fortunately, this was late in the day on Friday, so I could quit and start up again on Monday morning.
But my day wasn't over yet.
Friday evening, I went out with one of my good friends from high school and her husband. It was great to see her after 14 years and meet her family. I felt like I hit it off immediately with her husband, which is one more incentive to move here (free friend!) As nice as it was to catch up on life, I also now have two more pairs of eyes looking for jobs for me, and because these friends share many microcultures with me, they are likely to hear of jobs I could do.
What I learned
Get an interview with anyone in a company that will listen. They may just introduce you to the most important contact you'll make.
Not everyone will be happy to see you, but most people are very nice.
Catch up with old friends, especially ones you haven't talked to in years. They have entire lives (and connections) that you would have no access to otherwise. Besides, it's great fun!
How it went
Interviews – 2
Cold Calls – 1
Friend reunions – 1
Mood – Feeling better now, but shaken at the time
Every time I read your updates here, I keeping thinking how brave you are.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the cold-call incident. Obviously they haven't read the same information you have; they already have a job. If you get shut down like that with several cold-calls in a row, then you might rethink that approach.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Was it the front desk that told you "just walking in wasn't the way things were done?" Front desk jobs seem to have the major function of screening what they think the higher ups will or won't want to be using their time for. Unfortunately not a lot of them are too terribly qualified to know what the higher ups might or might not want to know about.
ReplyDeleteAlso the front desk position can be a stressful job in and of itself, especially dealing with all the sales calls, and the front desk person might have just had a bad day.
In any case cold calling is by no means the most fun activity out there. I hope future endeavors are either more positive or frankly become unnecessary due to employment.
-Jeremy
You look awesome in your cool clothes , posing as a statue! A monument to perseverance and gritty optimism. I love you Paco.
ReplyDelete