Job Hunting Chronicles

Happy Tuesday 📰  A former coworker reached out to me about his job search, asking "is it really this hard? What am I doing wrong?". I get it, it's frustrating. Between scam recruiters, ghost jobs, being expected to update your resume for every job you apply for (I personally don't do that), and being ghosted after an interview, the job search can be depressing. A lot of work with little reward. I don't have the answers but I know for me, it's important to set boundaries. Right now, I'm in the middle of a 12 day cat sitting job with a second 9 day job starting today, so I use the morning hours for my job search then I'll be done with it for the day. Of course, I'll check my email later in the afternoon to see if anything has come up but I won't actively be in job search mode then. It works for me. I job search in the morning, go to my cat sitting jobs in the early afternoon, then relax in the late afternoon/evening. Being *on* 24/7/365 is somet...

#MerryMonday 📰 Following Friday's disappointing news, the recruiter called me today to tell me she wanted to plead my case to the hiring manager (read previous post if you don't know what I'm referring to). I thanked her but told her it wasn't necessary. She pushed a little and I just told her the truth: I don't want anyone (myself included) to have to *convince* someone to take a chance on me. I've had 3 decades of full-cycle accounting experience, not to mention that I've also been responsible for HR at most of the places I've worked - any company would be lucky to hire me. If a hiring manager doubts my word or doubts my motives, I feel like I would always be having to prove myself to them. And you know what? That would be a toxic environment for me. Thanks but no thanks... Job seekers, it's ok to say no to an opportunity if it feels off. #freelancer #FreelanceWork #FreelanceLife #WorkFromHome #RemoteWork #CatSitting #CatSitter #WorkLi...

I just got off the phone with a recruiter. While the outcome wasn't what I was hoping for, I am happy to get the closure. Earlier this week, I had a virtual interview with a recruiter placing an accounting role at a local company. The role is a lower level one that I was ok with being submitted for because I want a less stressful job. As long as a job will pay my bills, I'm ok with a lower salary (and I'm definitely ok with a less stressful workload and having a life outside of work). Apparently the hiring manager has her doubts about that and told the recruiter she was going to pass on interviewing me. The recruiter, true to her word, told me that she'd have an update for me by the end of the week and called late this afternoon to tell me. "I'm sorry" she said. "It's ok" I replied back. "I don't think I could work for someone who doubts what I'm saying, doubts my motives. Yes, I need regular income and that's why I'm ...

Happy Thursday 📰 I was on the phone📱with someone last week (which is rare, I'm not a phone person, never have been) and she was telling me about her job search (misery loves company I guess 😂) and how she had applied 📑 to almost 60 jobs in May and hadn't heard back from most of them. Of the few that she did hear back from, almost all were what she called "auto-rejections" ✖️ I let her vent because I know sometimes people need that but part of me wondered, did she apply thoughtfully to jobs she was actually qualified for? Or did she just apply to anything that she came across, thinking it's a numbers 🔢 game and hers has to come up eventually? I'm asking because I feel like to some job seekers, it's become a badge🎖of honor to rattle off the number of jobs they've applied to without any real context. Do you get a prize🏆for applying to the most jobs in a week/month/year? I recently saw a post where someone claimed to have applied to 7800 jobs in ...

Happy Wednesday 📰 I've been busy with cat 🐈 sitting jobs today and had another client request that I stop by later this afternoon. Not to check on the cats (the actual job starts Sunday), but because there *may* be some sort of leak ⚠️ at the apartment 🏘 and I'm the only local person with a key🔑 to let maintenance 🧰 in to check. His dad (who is briefly staying at the client's place) doesn't get into town until tomorrow and the client left this morning so I'm it. I'm happy to help, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about the cats - I mean, they are the REAL clients 😹 Super nice (brand new!) client has offered to Zelle 📲 me money💲for my time 🧭 This is why I love cat sitting. No two days are the same and the clients really appreciate you. #freelancer #FreelanceWork #FreelanceLife #CatSitting #CatSitter #WorkLifeBalance

#MerryMonday  📰 Over the weekend, I ran into someone who I hadn't seen in a while. She asked how the job search was going and I told her it was tough. She replied with, "Well, at least you have some time off and have an open schedule, that must be nice" 🏝 This is my schedule for June 🗓 I have 30 cat sitting appointments 🐈‍⬛ Not to mention a doctor's 🥼 appointment, a vet appointment for my foster cat 😺, a webinar 💻, a book club meeting 📖, and a couple of phone interviews📱 And in between all that, I'm actively looking for a job (full-time, part-time, freelance) 💼 Yeah, that open schedule is so nice 😂 Have a great week! May all of us looking for a job finally be rewarded 🥇 #freelancer #FreelanceWork #FreelanceLife #WorkFromHome #RemoteWork #CatSitting #CatSitter #WorkLifeBalance #JobHuntingChronicles