Job hunt? Successful

So I think I may have figured out part of the problem as to why I am not posting very often on my personal blog. I think it’s that I feel so unfocused & overwhelmed.  I want to say too much, and most of the time I should limit my posts to just one subject at hand, and not feel bad about missing the rest.

So my goal is to try to do that. This whole blog is not about a specific subject. It’s just about me as a person. In general. So here we go.

The one item at this moment? I got a job!

This is actually pretty big news. Granted I have had the job for almost 2 months, but I tend to be weary about making big announcements unless I feel secure in them. I suppose it’s because I don’t want to make an announcement and then quickly retract it. Which is why I rarely mention if I have interviews etc. Simply because I’m worried that if I don’t get it, people will be asking me about it and I will have to tell over and over again about how I didn’t get that job I applied for, or interviewed for etc. And thus feel more and more like a looser. Which trust me, just hunting is not a practice in self esteem.

BTW- Job Hunting SUCKS. Just in case you didn’t know. 

I used to have a job with a workman’s comp insurance company. I won’t name names, but they were… not good. I’m being far too polite. They were horrible. I would joke that I worked for “the company” from the movie “Aliens”, but it felt very accurate. They could care less about you. I got written up for being gone for a month to recover from surgery. With a doctor’s note I might add. That’s the kind of company they were. 

But it was helpful somewhat at the time. I needed a job, they gave me one, and I could put a bunch of experience on my resume that I didn’t have before. They helped pay for my much needed surgery (hooray healthcare?). But outside of that… well it was not fun working there. I felt constantly worried about…. Being a human being honestly. 

Keep in mind, their job is to try to keep money away from people who need it because they are injured at work…. That is what they do. And it showed in how they treated their employees.

Leaving was a blessing. It was difficult not to have a job anymore, but that place was genuinely sucking the soul out of me. I felt more like myself after not working there for a few weeks. And it has been the only time in my life (so far) where I felt like if I ever saw my ex-boss again, I might actually punch her in the face. And I just don’t feel that way about people normally. Even people I probably should. 

I have been trying to just let go of most of my anger about it. Try not to think about that place or most of those people anymore. I know it’s for the best. But boy, it’s been hard not to be angry about how they went about it all. 

I was laid off in Oct with no unemployment (that’s a whole other thing) and so looking for work got intense.

 I found a job in March which lasted 3 days. I didn’t particularly want to announce it to the world, but I feel like I should share simply because I can’t possibly be the only person who has gone through that. I tried my best, (I think the lady who was training me didn’t like me for whatever reason) and they expected me to be able to do my job at peak within 3 days of working there. Which I felt was unreasonable. Plus they wanted me to really do the job of 3 full time people. Like, really. It could easily fill 3 people’s full time days with stuff to do. I didn’t just give up despite the temptation, I tried (and cried a lot at home) and that’s the best I can do. They seemed like a nice company in general, it just wasn’t the right place for me.

So I signed up for a temp agency. Which had far more downs than ups. They would send me for interviews but not tell me the right address, or time, or change things, or not go with the boundaries I told them to. Particularly one office I was working with (since I expanded to a few). But low and behold one of them actually listened to what I said and sent me over to a office in San Francisco! But the good news was, that was their main office, I would be working in SSF!

I interviewed well (I presume anyway) and got the job. It’s for a construction company in industrial SSF. They are a small office of about 10 people or so, But they are owned by a much bigger corporation. It’s nice since they are their own division, so they have a little more freedom. 

I am the only admin there, which means I cover a lot of different things. It’s also mostly men, with one other woman in the office. But I don’t mind that so much. I get to wear jeans which is fantastic, my desk is full of purple stuff I got to order form staples (purple wireless mouse, gel mouse pad, gel keyboard rest, purple tape dispenser, purple file folders…

) . And so far they just seem to be far more human than my last workplace. People smile at me and say good morning. Even joke around some times (what a concept!). They are happy to help me learn whatever they can, and didn’t expect me to know everything there is to know about my job in 3 days…..

So, so far so good. I am a temp to hire, so I’m still getting paid through the temp agency right now. But come mid Oct I should be made a permanent employee which will be awesome. That is of course assuming they like me. And naturally there is a small part of me that is tentative. But I honestly think it’s because my former employer was so horrible. I swear I worry about things that I’m pretty sure they don’t care about here. 

Anyhow, that’s the work update. I’ve been thinking about updating LinkedIn, but I haven’t committed yet. Partially because I’m not sure if I should say I’m working for the temp agency or the construction company. But I gotta say, I have been happy to unsubscribe to all the job hunting e-mail nonsense.