I Love Getting A New Job…I Hate How Nerve Wracking It Is

A wonderful family to help out when needed with a place to live and yummy food stuffs. A computer to use for searching and scouring; to get frustrated enough to cry your eyes out or so angry you just want to give up. The excitement of the perfect sounding one that you know you would be perfect for, the stress of getting an interview, the joy of actually accepting the position.

I love getting a new job…can we say “Hallelujah” to this please? I have been out of work for over a year now, and boy let me tell you job hunting is rough out there! I went to all the websites that have job announcements and where you can apply for jobs, did I get any? Nope. I got a lot of spam emails though. Yahoo’s Hotjobs was the worst; the first few times I applied through them I got close to 200 spam emails. Thanks a lot Hotjobs.

I love the fun of prepping for a new job. Getting to buy new clothes for the job, even if it is the same type of job you already had, you cannot go in with the same-old-same-old clothes. It is also fun getting into a new persona that will take you farther than the job you already had. It is excellent to know that you will have all the confidence in the world going into this new position, because the old people or bosses aren’t there holding you back-or yourself for that matter. It is only positive on that first day when you have the absolutely gorgeous rose-colored glasses on.

I know that I am one of the fortunate few who have been able to get a job. Whether you were laid off, fired or quit for personal reasons it doesn’t matter in the job-getting. The employers who are hiring are so bombarded with applicants that they can’t hire everyone unfortunately (and I took it very personal that no one wanted me) so it was rare for me to even get an interview. With the West Coast having the highest unemployment rate at 10.7%, you can’t even get something trying to look for a job in another region because the Northeast with the lowest percentage was 8.8.


Tips for job searching:

1. Don’t forget your manners. If you blog, twitter or facebook don’t be gauche or have way to personal items available so future employers can’t see them.
2. Don’t overdo it. You are not doing yourself any justice by only producing half-done profiles of yourself. Commit to what you are writing about yourself so you are sold better.
3. Get the word out. If you don’t let your family and friends know you are out of a job or in serious need of a new one, then they can’t help you if they know of jobs available.
4. Use references well. If you list someone, whether it is an old boss or just a friend, be sure they are trustworthy and will only have positive things to say about you.
5. Do apply in person. Fortunately for some, jobs are a networking thing. If you are looking for a higher-level position, they tend to be done by connections only, not over the internet because of the high ratio of applicants.

I hate how nerve-wracking it is to start a new job. It is scary not knowing if the managers you are going to work for are going to be hard-asses and expect too much from you, the type that do nothing and make you do everything, or the ones who have a way to laid back attitude that just lets everyone do as they please and come and go as they want. It is also scary not knowing what type of co-workers you will be working with. If they are going to be backstabbing gossips who spend more time talking about everyone else then doing their own work or the ones who are all help but don’t really know what they are doing, or the ones who talk way too much and take up to much time with unnecessary chit-chat.

It is also scary when you move to a new location for the job. Transferring positions or moving to a new state, getting to know the area is daunting. I have moved to quite a few places for jobs, and it has not gotten any easier. The worst was moving to Washington, DC, because the area inside DC is not all that great (safe) so by not knowing anyone I didn’t know if the apartment I got was in a good area or even the place of employment was in a safe area (it wasn’t really). Getting to know the driving area, the freeways and too many one-way streets, is so confusing. You think you have it when you drive it a few days beforehand, but the actual morning it seems that every crazy driver is out to get you and make you look bad by trying to make you late.

I hated the only online job searching that was available. Every job no matter if it was clerical, IT, medical or military it was apply online only. I am not a natural networker, nor do I actually enjoy job hunting, so you would think that the online applications would right up my alley. My gripe was that these people can’t even put a face with an application. They look at your skills, but do they really? I turned in over a fifty applications or resumes in one week and heard nothing from any of them. How can you trust that? Even Target is online now. It seems like employers just plain don’t want to see you face-to-face anymore. It got so frustrating that you just wanted to give up. And if I did hear back it was a you-suck letter (that is what I called rejections…not good mentality I know).