The Ups and The Downs

Another wet and soggy day means no morning walk for the big boy. He’d rather hold it for life than get wet. I have to admit, though, I’ve enjoyed being able to stay dry myself. Not to worry. I watch for breaks in the rain and drag Bruno out so he doesn’t explode.

What a roller coaster week in the career search! Yesterday I had three phone calls for preliminary interviews (phone screens) and two follow up emails that were let downs. I think that while one phone screen went well, I don’t think I’ll get selected to move on in the process. The company, located about 50 miles from Appleton, found my resume posted at CareerBuilder. The VP of Sales has decided to add to the marketing department but she doesn’t know what qualifications they want to hire yet. This company doesn’t have job descriptions, which is unique. They’d rather stay flexible, which is cool. My concern isn’t that new things get added to your plate (happens all the time in marketing - if it doesn't fit into any other area, it MUST be marketing - ha!) but how do you know what is in scope and what is out of scope? As a very creative person, I know I can come up with all kinds of duties to fit into my box but without some sort of boundary, I could over commit and burn myself out. Still, it was a good conversation, the SVP of HR seemed interested in my department and office start-up background and I was given permission to follow up late next week.

I sent a follow up email to FVTC yesterday. They’re searching for a marketing communications manager but had a few internal candidates to consider first. I'm happy to know that they would promote someone qualified but it’s hard to deal with as an external candidate. I’ve now had at least three people put in a good word for me there but I think I might be fighting a very uphill battle. I’ve now seen this position posted at an Internet job board so that means they’re paying for a listing to get more candidates. Another hard thing to deal with because that's more competition. Sometimes I just want to yell, “What about me? I’m right here in your backyard!” Guess it’s time for a phone call on Monday to nudge HR, but no yelling. I promise.

One of the phone screens with a recruiter was really excited about my background but because the search she was working was so confidential, she couldn’t tell me much about the company. All I know is that it opened the first part of this year, it’s a financial services firm (pretty broad), and there is a person in the marketing role now. I don’t know what will happen to that person – she wouldn’t comment. She wanted to get me connected with the president for a real phone interview this week but it hasn’t happened. And, because she ended the call abruptly (we went too long and she had another call on hold), I didn’t get her email address or phone number. I do have the agency’s information so I’ll have to track her down. It’s a wonderful opportunity to start up a department and help a new company grow. I like that kind of work! One thing I didn’t mention…the job is in the Washington DC area. Yes, I know, a long distance move but I have to say, both Bill and I would really welcome the opportunity to be in the birthplace of our nation. We so love American history, particularly the 19th century, that this would be an opportunity to personally immerse ourselves in it. We also love to volunteer at these kinds of museums – no shortage of those in Virginia-Maryland!

Moving. So many unemployed people think about moving as a curse or a burden. Yes, in some respects it's both. Sorting through your memories isn’t easy and harder still is selecting which things stay with you and which go to the garage sale boxes. But I choose to look at this positively. We moved to Appleton because of a job and now we’ll likely move away from here mostly likely because of the lack of a job. In six years there have been many memories created. So many good times, new friends and acquaintances, shopping, restaurants, things we had to travel two hours to Chicago to get to before. My hope is that when our move is eminent, I have a good career opportunity that will give me fulfillment and that my husband can feel good about. I’ve backed away from several opportunities (didn’t turn down any offers, just decided not to pursue them) because they had all the trappings of disaster. I’d have to be moving into a cardboard box before I put myself into a nightmare with misery attached. One time, very early in my life I took a job that the little voice inside me said, “Run screaming!” I should have listened but I stuck it out three years. We have our health and we have each other. If that’s all I have, I can be happy for a very, very long time.