The Weather Sucks and So Does This

Yesterday I decided I was going to be productive. So I get up at 4:30 am, dog with eating disorder was VERY excited about that, to go to the gym, and I was home by 6:30 when Dan left. The WHOLE DAY ahead of me to be productive in my job search! Hooray!

So, kids get up and eat, blah blah blah, get everyone where they need to be and back home by 9 am to do some serious searching. Well, I searched, and I searched, and I searched until I was flat out mentally exhausted. I was bordering on whiny. Whining is SO not allowed in this house. Thankfully the dogs cannot tell on me...

I don't know if you've ever applied for jobs on-line, but let me share a little insight with you. Consider that when you hit "submit", your resume is taking off into the great unknown, and might as well fall into a black hole. At least, that's the way I was seeing things yesterday. Maybe this had to do with the weather just SUCKING and my mood as the day went on just SUCKING, but I seriously couldn't take one more minute. It was painful.

Every job you submit to on on-line is a little different than the last. Your resume is not a "one size fits all" tool. For every job there can be little nuances about your resume that you had better tailor and throw in those "buzz words" so some computer, (yes, you have to make it past a computer FIRST before getting to a human), will pick up on your qualifications and flag you as someone who might qualify. And the cover letter? Please. "I admire your company blah blah blah, and would like to work at your company blah blah blah"... Again, each cover letter needs to be tailor made to fit the job and speak to the qualifications they're looking for.

So, with FOUR hours in front of the computer, yesterday I submitted to TWO jobs. Would my every day normal distractions have anything to do with that? OF COURSE!! Lunch, soap opera, e-mail, going downstairs to shift old dog so her snoring does not cause damage to the floorboards....

So, did I learn something yesterday? Yes. DO NOT fall into the trap of spending hours and hours spinning your wheels on the Internet. Not only will you NOT be productive, you'll probably end up buying crap on craigslist because that is WAY more fun than looking for a freakin job.

Today was better. I had a better mindset. I did NOT get up at 4:30, but rather 6:45. I dorked around all morning with the girls, I went to the gym when normal people do, I worked out HARD, (I'm getting paid to do that after all...) and back home for a few hours of setting up profiles on some of my target companies websites. At least a profile "sticks" and isn't just sucked up by the forces of evil. Monday I'll be back to working with my outplacement service, thank GOD because they'll keep me productive AND teach me how not to waste my time.

And thus this ends my first week, as tomorrow the kiddos are home with me, and despite the SUCKY weather, we're going to do something fun, and I'm going to grind the beans and forget all my worries until Monday. And thanks to what I learned yesterday, it won't suck.