Successful job searches are carefully planned

Sometimes, good things really do come to those who wait.

And to those who have a good strategy.

Some of you might remember my previous posts about The Great Job Hunt. The quest has finally come to an end.

I will be officially employed as of Nov. 5 as a communications specialist for a local city government where I live, running their social media pages and writing and editing documents and information for residents, among other things.

How did I finally get a job, after submitting nearly 30 job applications in the past 15 months or so?


Halloween at the Office: Good Taste Over Ghoulish Wins

Political jokes, risqué costumes and grotesque props – oh my!

Halloween celebrated in bad taste at the office is the scariest ghoul you may encounter this season.

Halloween can be really fun in the workplace. We’ve all entered an office or store where the employees have banded together to create a whimsical group costume that makes their customers smile or even giggle.

But we’ve all also entered the scariest of haunts, the workplace that leaves its employees to their own devices on this potentially dangerous holiday.


How to practice mindfulness at work

My supervisor just spoke to me for a good 15 minutes and I can’t really tell you what he said or why he was hovering over my desk.

Sure, I nodded, smiled, made eye contact and remember even laughing at his jokes. But internally, I was still re-writing the last line of my report, making a list of all the clients I still had to contact before 5 p.m. and trying desperately to remember what we had in the freezer at home that could make a quick meal before soccer practice.


Network, network, network

The job hunt continues, one year on.

I’ve been told I’m underqualified. I’ve been told I’m overqualified. I’ve been told I was a top candidate but was missing one key piece of experience.

At one point I was even told, off the record, that at 50 years of age I am too old for a job in marketing or social media.

My main effort, though, has been put toward writing and journalism jobs, my stock and trade for the past 25 years.


You may be eligible for unemployment benefits after a PCS

If your summer PCS has left you jobless and you’ve had no luck hitting the pavement, you may be eligible for unemployment benefits, depending on the state you live in.

Unemployment compensation programs are mandated and run by individual state governments and each have their own set of rules. Eligible unemployed workers receive weekly checks to hold them over until they do find a job and may qualify for other benefits. Generally this compensation is not given to workers who voluntarily quit their jobs.


Don’t Panic

I woke up in Tokyo around 2 a.m., my bed shaking. Earthquake.

In Hawaii we had a gripping hour-long wait after a tsunami warning was issued and then recalled.

In North Carolina a vicious winter storm brought the entire east coast to a standstill. We were left without electricity for nearly a week. We didn’t have blankets or warm clothes either since the storm delayed our household goods’ delivery.


Need a solid future plan? Seek guidance from your academic advisor

On the eighth day of school my son stormed the counselor’s office and demanded to change his schedule to the most rigorous and difficult track of courses available.

I questioned whether he had managed to loose his sanity in just the second week of sophomore year. But I also wasn’t surprised. He had been urged to choose those courses months earlier. Now, two weeks into the semester, he realized that the classes he had selected were not challenging enough.

He was forced to utter a dreaded teenage phrase, he was wrong, his counselor was right.


Secret to the school year hustle – make a list

Are you exhausted? I’m exhausted.

We are in week two of the school year and I can barely keep my eyes open. Our days have been a blur of back to school activities, packing lunches, (attempting) to make descent breakfasts, homework and a return to evening practices for every sport and activity imaginable.

And this is just what we have to do to manage our children’s school year. Any of us adults heading back to school this fall will have to add managing our own classroom studies and activities on top of the list.

It’s a lot. But there is a magic word to help: lists.


Prices are rising, incomes are not

Have you shopped outside the gate lately? Did you feel a slight sticker shock at the price of even the simplest of items?

That’s because prices are rising and it could be bad news for all of us.


Need experience for your resume? Work or volunteer with a political campaign

Midterm elections are coming. That means political campaigns need workers, lots of them. And a fast-paced, never-ending push to Election Day could easily fill your resume with praise.

Job-finding sites like Indeed.com and Monster.com have a plethora of campaign job listings. The best of those positions are paid well. Most, however, are volunteer work or if they are paid, are lower level jobs that require a lot of hours hoofing it around neighborhoods or cold calling voters.

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