aagghh.  So, I had been using Straight Talk cell phone company, I recently fired them.  The 45 $ unlimited plan from Walmart...  In May, I bought a new card, uploaded it, one week later, they shut my phone off.

 I couldn't call them to find out what happened, so I had to buy more minutes to ask them why they would shut my phone off after only one week of use.

 I uploaded new minutes, then, they gave my phone a new number.

So frustrating.

I get them called, three hours later, after much denying on their part, we finally reach an agreement.

Don't let them fool you, they keep records of all of it, each and every phone number is accounted for.  They can bring up your phones activities.  After an hour of trying to get an answer as to why they would shut my phone off, they kept telling me they had no idea, that I had probably ran out of minutes.  I said I had just bought them, only used one weeks worth.

I asked them to look on my phone record and read to me the activity.  They said, You uploaded minutes a week ago.  Then why did you shut my phone off?  We do not know, would you like to have your old phone number back?  yes, but first, I need to be reimbursed for the minutes you stole from me.  They said, we need to give you back your old phone number first, so you need to get off the phone.

They said this without ever confirming that I would be reimbursed.  It's frustrating.

I've gotten to the point of not ever wanting another cell phone.  But, with only a landline, I feel like I am strapped to staying at home because I have to stay by the phone, because the parental units don't know the password to their answering service.  ugh

That complicates my job search.

More online applications.  Oy vey.  A young woman at Labor Ready told me today that in order to be considered for placement, I needed to go online and fill out the application.  So I went to Labor Ready.com. No such application for temps.  There is for employers.  *sigh*

I had a few more ideas today for job search.   More temp services, going back into Labor Ready and getting pushy.  Altho the people in there don't look like much help, they're all of about 19.  :)  Silly kids.  I really want to know why the people at the one temp place wouldn't test me.  I suppose I need to go back in and find out.

 One of the people I talked to while I was helping on a movie set the other day, said that she got her job because her best friend's mother got her on where she worked.  My best friend's mother doesn't have a job.

I've been considering a few new cover letter ideas.  Think I will start penning those now.

Today I spent my unemployed morning, filling out, yet another online application.  This one also included a 100+ question personality assessment.  *sigh*  Filling out the app, plus assessment takes a good 2 hours on average.  And I can type.  I mean like over 50 wpm.  It's ridiculous.

I spent a good two hours on Lowe's application.  First e-mail I opened this morning, a lovely rejection from them.

What does a rejection e-mail to do the psyche first thing in the morning?

Note to self:  Read Deepak Chopra or listen to Anthony Robbins before opening e-mail.

Texans are really good at polite rejection.  Bad news is better received when delivered with a smile and a twang.  Digital rejections just don't have the personality.  Think I will go and fill out some apps in person for awhile.  Makes the rejection seem more human.  Maybe take in a workshop for the unemployed friday afternoon matinee.

Hope there is one, I need the cheap entertainment.

I may have just written the best cover letter ever.  :)  For a car dealership.

Applied to four more places on Craig's List.  This online applying can get addicting.  Time to throw the laptop out the window and time for a little human contact.

Today, was a productive job searching day.  I traveled to Plano Texas today to another workforce solutions place because they were having a job fair.  Some of us were sent away because so many had shown up.  The interviewers never made it to my name, so they sent us away, asking us to return next Thursday.

Disappointing, however, while there, connections were made.  I made a new friend from the Plano area who engaged in pleasant chatter while we waited for our interviews.

The friend who came along, agreed to get lost with me in that area of Texas, we found ourselves in other towns, looking at apartments, talking with people, sharing ideas.  So, see, in a way, it was productive.  :)  Even got a tip on who is hiring in the rental property management world.

As I was driving back home, I asked the passenger in my vehicle if they would write down the names of buildings I was shouting out, as they were potential employers and potential interviews.  Car dealerships, Halliburton, GE, other random places.  (Shouting necessary due to broken air conditioner.  All windows down as we were screaming down the interstate.)

Late last night, I finished the online application for Lowes.  Like Olive Garden and Red Lobster, I had to take a personality assessment.  This assessment is over 140 questions long.

Really?

I was filling out a different online application that asked me if I would mind carrying a gun if necessary, was there anything in my record that prevented me from packing a lethal weapon?

hmmm.

day 2 of being unemployed:


woke, showered, went to Habitat for Humanity and did some hard, sweaty, hot, volunteer work.  It was good.

Volunteer work is good for the soul, good for the environment, and keeps me happy.

Went online to check workforce website.  Found a few jobs to apply for.

An insurance claims adjuster, this employer wants me to give my soc. sec. number upfront so they can do an immediate background check.  No dinner, no flirting, they just expect us to give it up without even assuring us that this is their real, actual website for their company.

Employers don't want to be bothered with potential job seekers anymore.  They want everyone to apply online, then they will choose from the pool they receive.  Every now and then, we are lucky enough to get an application to turn in.

I can see in a crowded town, how this would ease up some time, yet, it leaves me feeling as if I'm going to left out because I don't have the right font on my resume.  I don't get a chance to schmooze the hiring manager.  Or at least make human contact.  They all want it submitted online.  These online applications can sometimes be upto 30 pages long.
Really?

When I first moved here, I thought I would apply at some restaurants, tips and all that.  Took in the filled out application, got an interview with the hiring manager who just happened to be there.  He looks at me and says, You don't have any experience as a server.  Really?

Do you have any idea how many restaurants have turned me down?  They say it's because I don't have enough experience.  Peggy seems to think it's because of I don't have the body of a college student.  Probably.


Tomorrow's plan:  Touch base with temp agencies again.  Hand in updated resume.  Find out where radio stations are and apply there.  Finish online application for state jobs.

Heard on the radio that the CIA is hiring.  hmmm  ...  going to have to check that out.

Searching, researching, revising, desperately seeking a job.  It's been a disaster, and still I must smile, have a positive attitude, and carry on as if my world isn't about to fit into a cardboard box in an alley somewhere, saved only by the good graces of my best friend's parents.  


A few months ago, as my semester at Northwest College was coming to a close, I was wondering how I was going to finish a project I had started.  How I was going to put the degree I received to good use.  I was living in Wyoming.  Looking around Wyo, Montana, Washington, wondering where and how I could begin my new career.  When, out of the blue, as I was on my way to Washington, my best friend's mom called and said, hey, if you are looking for work, you could come to Texas and search, we will have a room for you.


I thanked her, said I would keep it mind, and off I went.  A month later, I called her and said I would take her up on the offer of beginning a life in Texas, and by the way, I'm leaving two days from now.  Don't tell Misty, want to surprise her.


Scared to death, away from my security blanket of Wyo, I forged ahead, knowing that I had to leap to survive.


Enter I, into the world of Texas job search.  Nobody knows me here....  Nobody knows of my work ethic, or how I put everything I have into everything I have.  How I have balanced being a single mom, work three part-time jobs and go to school full-time, and still manage to lose 90 pounds. 


Competition here is fierce, I'm not used to not getting hired.  I started to get depressed when managers were  passing me over.  I began to drown in the unemployed-I'm-living-with-my-best-friend's-parents swirl of depression.


All my years of professional experience behind me--meaningless.  College degree--still trying to figure out a use for that one, won't get hired on my looks; this isn't Hollywood and I'm not Megan Fox.


That was how I felt in June.  Now it's July.


A lot can change in a month.  First off, my attitude.


Resumes that are done in college need to be upgraded and I graduated two years ago.  As I began to take a critical look at the job market in Texas, I realized the lingo and formatting of my resume was pretty much outdated.  A little creativity--and presto!! There was a resume revival going on in my laptop.  Music was pounding out, tongues were everywhere,  fonts were rollin' across the screen, there was even a 'fallin out' at one point.  Made it as outlandish as I could, then scaled it down from there.  


Took it into workforce, and the handsome job adviser helped me polish it off.  I suppose it could be even better.  Will have to ask him to critically look at it, but he may be tired of me pestering him.


haha


Job searching is a whole career, there are centers, support groups, workshops, and websites dedicated to this opportunity in one's life.  The chance to be as much myself as I can possibly be.  There is no holding back.  I have to finagle and fight for every interview opportunity, every application, every phone call, every resume placed in a hiring manager's hand.  No more humbly putting myself last, and being reserved and conservative.  Time to polish up and play the game.  

My resume wasn't dead, dead.  Just mostly dead.  It's cheesy, but this is where I am at, right now....


:)


btw--still dreaming big.