Job Hunting Chronicles

#MerryMonday  💚 I'm back home 🏡 after my second extended-overnight 👝 cat 🐈‍⬛ sitting job. I decided I was going to stay off LinkedIn while I was away and I'm glad I did. The terrible advice, the guarantees of getting you an interview if you buy someone's resume services, the fake recruiters looking for prey - all of this (and more) greeted me as I opened the LinkedIn app on my phone📱this morning. I probably had to scroll past 20 posts before I saw anything worth reading. And if you're a job seeker, that's a problem. Of course, not everyone on LinkedIn is looking for a job but a lot are, and if they're being scammed, lured or otherwise negatively engaged, they're unlikely to trust anything they see here. Job seekers, I know it's hard right now. As someone who is looking for both freelance and full-time jobs, I feel your pain. Try to stay above the LI noise. I love today's calendar suggestion and hope recruiters and hiring managers follow it: ...

Happy Tuesday 📰 I'm going out of town tomorrow ✈️ for a cat 🐈‍⬛ sitting job and this is the extent of my packing 👝 so far - my walking shoes 👟. I guess I should add some clothes 👕👖🧦 I get comments and messages from people asking me why I post about cat sitting, some have even said that it makes me look unprofessional and that boggles my mind 😵‍💫 Here's the thing: this job market sucks for a lot of people right now - especially a Gen X-er like me, so I'm doing what I can to hold onto to my home 🏡. If you see that as unprofessional, I'm guessing you have a full-time job 🤔 I don't hold on to comments like that but I know some job seekers do, so I post about cat sitting to let others know there's nothing wrong with doing something unconventional (especially if you love it) to help make ends meet. No one is in your shoes 🥿 So job seekers, find something you can do while you're looking 👀 for your next job and just do it: ° Like driving 🚗? Sign up wit...

#MerryMonday  📰 Against my better judgment, last week I accepted an interview for 9:00 this morning 🕘 I say against my better judgment because on Wednesday, I'm going out of town ✈️ for basically the rest of the month, and while it is for a freelance job (cat 🐈‍⬛ sitting), I'm not planning on doing much networking 📲 while I'm away. Yes, I will be checking my emails 📧 but I'm not going to be in full job search mode. I'm not going to be on LinkedIn much and I'm not going to be applying to jobs during this time. I'm using this out of town job as a bit of a break from the job search. So I was hesitant to take an interview 📅 this morning knowing that I wasn't going to be available much for the rest of the month. Of course, I was going to mention this in the interview so the recruiter didn't think I was ghosting 👻 her afterwards, and of course, if the interview went so well I was fast-tracked ⏱️ to another one, I would be more incline...

Happy Friday 🚧 We're on day 5 of the repaving of the streets in my complex 🏢 and it looks like they are right on schedule 🗓 I mentioned I was going to use this week to go through messages and emails 📧 as well as follow up ☎️ with some people who had reached out to me. The good news is I am caught up on messages and emails, the bad news is it's clear I've been ghosted 👻 by several recruiters. My list 📜 of these so-called professionals has surpassed the 50 name mark. These are all recruiters who reached out to me about a position - I didn't initiate contact with any of them. I've spoken 📱 multiple times with some of them, had back and forth emails 📧 with others, interviewed 🖥 with a few of them, and am waiting on job descriptions 📄 from others. The inability to close the loop by these people is frustrating 🤦🏼‍♀️, and having some of them reach 📲 back out to me about a different position (while ignoring the fact that they've previously gho...

Happy Thursday🌴  I took this picture on my walk 🚶‍♀️ this morning. These trees surround the fountain ⛲️ at the government center and I love walking the grounds, it's so peaceful 🕊 More than 2 years ago I applied for a job through the government website but didn't have the experience they were looking for (hint: it wasn't an accounting 🧮 job), so I never even got to the interview stage. Once I get home from my out of state cat 🐈 sitting job (is it weird that I love saying that 🤔), I may look at their open jobs 📝 again. As a Gen X-er, it's become pretty depressing to be written off because of my age 🚫 but I have to keep looking because freelancing just isn't bringing in enough money 💰 right now. I absolutely love the freedom 🙃 that freelancing has given me, but I also have to be able to pay my bills 📬  I know a lot of job seekers can relate... #freelancer #FreelanceWork #FreelanceLife #WorkFromHome #RemoteWork #CatSitting #CatSitter #JobHuntingC...

#MerryMonday  🚛 Last week I posted that I had finished 3 jobs 💰 This week is considerably more quiet, which is good because the streets in our complex 🏢 are being repaved 🚧 and I don't have a way out, at least not in my car 🚘 Unfortunately, the noise level is pretty high 🔊 so I'll probably spend this week going through messages and emails 📧 We do what we need to to adapt, right 😉 Have a great week! #freelancer #FreelanceWork #FreelanceLife #WorkFromHome #RemoteWork #CatSitting #CatSitter #JobHuntingChronicles