The Score

It’s in the teens today but it felt much colder as Bruno and I set out for our daily walk. He decided he wanted to go to the gas station on Memorial Drive. I don’t know why he likes that route but I know that we get lots of smiles from motorists as they drive by. Bassets do that to people. There is a stretch of the sidewalk that is close to the street and gets covered with road salt. Bruno doesn’t like road salt. It burns his paws and when we get home, he has to spend a lot of time licking it off which triggers drinking a lot of water and that requires more trips outside. He enjoyed going to the gas station today because it has been at least two months since we’ve done that route. So many new smells! As I write, I’m serenaded by snores. Tired, happy puppy.

This week I attended a CCN (Career Changers Network) meeting. I haven’t been to one since Thanksgiving. It felt good to be in the group atmosphere again but most of the faces were new. I sat near another “old-timer” and I asked him if not seeing more familiar faces meant they had gotten jobs. Jim didn’t think so. He said that he knew of a few who were giving up. Giving up finding a job, networking, all of it. I know that feeling. I go through days where I just want to give it all up, let the unemployment run out, walk away from everything. I sometimes feel so rejected by the working world and wonder why I get up every day and keep trying. It isn’t depression. That’s a different feeling. This is a tired, kind of weighty feeling. But somehow, I manage to put the smile back on my face, the lift in my voice, and square my shoulders to meet this challenge head on. I’m not going to let unemployment in the most difficult economy be my dominator. I know I’m better than that and I know that sometimes, my job is to bolster others in the same situation.

So the score as it stands is one rejection, one hold (American Family Insurance now has multiple openings of the position I interviewed for so they need to re-group a bit before going forward), one delay, one re-posted position (they want to interview more people so they need to look through more resumes - more resumes? how many do they want to look at? - and is that an indirect rejection?), and one is supposed to get back to me by the end of this week with the next steps. That’s the five jobs I told you about last week. Since then, I’ve gotten a call to interview by phone for a different position that I applied for at American Family. I’ve been trying so hard to get hired there. They’ve interviewed me for jobs, I don’t know, six times, seven times by phone and I’ve been there twice for in-person interviews. I have at least one internal contact who keeps trying to help me get hired, maybe three. I fantasize that they really, really want to hire me but are just trying to find the right place to put me. Otherwise, why would they keeping talking to me? For awhile, I gave up trying to get hired by them, but since Christmas I have a renewed sense of urgency and desire to work there. I think the multiple rejections were harder to take than I thought and the break from it was good.

There is also a fabulous opening at an independent, community bank in the heart of Chicago, Bridgeview Bank Group, that was posted over the weekend. I called to make sure they received my resume but I don’t know how strong my chances are. I have everything they require and more but I don’t know what the competition looks like. I hope that I score an interview, and then the job. I wonder what quarter this this?