On Monday I attended a “webinar” on resume development, which led directly to feeling, on Tuesday, gloomy about the job situation for the first time in quite a while, though everything was the same as it had been the day before. Maybe it was knowing I now need to do a crapload of work on my resume, which I’d thought was pretty good already, after a bit of recent polishing.
Or it might have been because I slept twelve and a half hours before I got up on Tuesday, which is almost unheard of these days, and cast my schedule into disarray. A bike ride to the beach cheered me up, plus an unexpected phone call from my friend C.
Tuesday evening I went to Howie’s. Howie was away, but the highly genial and accomplished Anushka Fernandopulle was there in his stead, plus I had a very agreeable co-greeter. Before I left the house, I was thinking of wearing a certain shirt and when I tried it on, found this note in the pocket: “A. would like to know how to make chess pie.” The last time I wore that shirt, A. was alive and I was seeing him for the last time, not knowing it was so. I haven’t cried over losing A., I think because he was very matter of fact about the whole thing himself, focused on what he could enjoy, not what would soon be gone. Perhaps I can best honor him by doing the same.
Yesterday’s webinar was on looking for a job after age 50, which I’ll be doing in a couple of months, at least the over 50 part. It was a rare day of getting no exercise at all, and by evening I felt even more downcast than I had the day before: I’ll never find a job. This despite not even having produced a satisfactory resume yet, let alone sent it to anyone! I’m partly having a chicken-and-egg problem: A resume is supposed to be focused on the desired position, but what’s the desired position? Figuring this out may involve doing some research on LinkedIn, for which I need an account and preferably a full profile. How do you make a good profile for LinkedIn? You cut and paste the pertinent sections of your resume.
Of course, you don't really need a good profile just to do research. You could have a terrible profile or even borrow someone else's, I suppose, but it would be nice to have a solid profile before starting much on LinkedIn. I might immediately bump into someone I want to connect with (pardon the expression) but not want them to see my lame profile. Anyway, my overall problem is that I really, truly have no idea what I'm doing. Fortunately, there is plenty to do while I figure it out (acquire new IT skills, for instance).
This morning I made sure to take a bike ride to the beach, which might have been a walk instead if I’d realized how breezy it was, but it wasn’t too windy for safe cycling, and it turned out to be just glorious. The sea was a beautiful dark blue and the minor gale was highly refreshing.
Post-ride, I did my taxes, which was fairly painful. I had to fill out a form or two for the first time and had to read the instructions over and over, a word at a time. It seems better to start by looking at the form itself, which is often quite self-explanatory, than with the instructions for the form, which are almost always incomprehensible and very like chicken-and-egg problems themselves. I did finally finish my federal taxes and then really appreciated how simple California makes it to file state taxes. It takes about 20 minutes online.
My latest crop of affirmations: I’m right where I’m supposed to be, I have everything I need, and life is unfolding perfectly.
Or it might have been because I slept twelve and a half hours before I got up on Tuesday, which is almost unheard of these days, and cast my schedule into disarray. A bike ride to the beach cheered me up, plus an unexpected phone call from my friend C.
Tuesday evening I went to Howie’s. Howie was away, but the highly genial and accomplished Anushka Fernandopulle was there in his stead, plus I had a very agreeable co-greeter. Before I left the house, I was thinking of wearing a certain shirt and when I tried it on, found this note in the pocket: “A. would like to know how to make chess pie.” The last time I wore that shirt, A. was alive and I was seeing him for the last time, not knowing it was so. I haven’t cried over losing A., I think because he was very matter of fact about the whole thing himself, focused on what he could enjoy, not what would soon be gone. Perhaps I can best honor him by doing the same.
Yesterday’s webinar was on looking for a job after age 50, which I’ll be doing in a couple of months, at least the over 50 part. It was a rare day of getting no exercise at all, and by evening I felt even more downcast than I had the day before: I’ll never find a job. This despite not even having produced a satisfactory resume yet, let alone sent it to anyone! I’m partly having a chicken-and-egg problem: A resume is supposed to be focused on the desired position, but what’s the desired position? Figuring this out may involve doing some research on LinkedIn, for which I need an account and preferably a full profile. How do you make a good profile for LinkedIn? You cut and paste the pertinent sections of your resume.
Of course, you don't really need a good profile just to do research. You could have a terrible profile or even borrow someone else's, I suppose, but it would be nice to have a solid profile before starting much on LinkedIn. I might immediately bump into someone I want to connect with (pardon the expression) but not want them to see my lame profile. Anyway, my overall problem is that I really, truly have no idea what I'm doing. Fortunately, there is plenty to do while I figure it out (acquire new IT skills, for instance).
This morning I made sure to take a bike ride to the beach, which might have been a walk instead if I’d realized how breezy it was, but it wasn’t too windy for safe cycling, and it turned out to be just glorious. The sea was a beautiful dark blue and the minor gale was highly refreshing.
Post-ride, I did my taxes, which was fairly painful. I had to fill out a form or two for the first time and had to read the instructions over and over, a word at a time. It seems better to start by looking at the form itself, which is often quite self-explanatory, than with the instructions for the form, which are almost always incomprehensible and very like chicken-and-egg problems themselves. I did finally finish my federal taxes and then really appreciated how simple California makes it to file state taxes. It takes about 20 minutes online.
My latest crop of affirmations: I’m right where I’m supposed to be, I have everything I need, and life is unfolding perfectly.
2 comments:
Looking for work is horrid. I hate it. I have no idea if my resume is up to date or not. Ugh. And I'll be 50 in 4 years, so I do understand...
You know, it's not really that bad! (Though that's in large part because I don't perceive any huge rush, and because the likelihood of my getting a job is fairly high.) I'm really kind of enjoying the process, which is not what I expected!
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