words of wisdom

i did an online tarot reading asking about my work situation.  this is one of the most important lines from the reading:

     Consider what you can do to open doors for yourself and create more                 development and self-exploration opportunitiies.

at the moment, that is very true.  i'm trying to figure out exactly that right now in this bad job market.

today's outcome

went to supermarket to ask if they were still hiring (answer: no).  did not get a job but i did come across something i never would have thought to see at a filipino supermarket:  edam cheese.  what the heck was it doing there.  i know filipinos love to sprinkle cheese on their rolls or brioche but this was a ball of cheese the size of a big orange.  plus it wasnt even refridgerated.  i looked at the label, it's not from the netherlands, its from austria.  it costs $9.99.  i wondered if it tastes the same as the ones from the netherlands.

the story of how edam cheese came into my life was by way of france.  i needed tupperware but did not want to buy any.  while shopping at monoprix, i went to the refridgerated, prepared food aisle and saw a small container of pasta.  i bought it.  when i finally ate it i was surprised at how yummy it was and how simple it was to make.  i looked on the ingredients label and found that the cheese in my pasta salad was edam.  now that i'm back at home i have been thinking about recreating that salad.  so far i have the pasta.  the other ingredients are simple and easy to find it's just the edam cheese that isn't common in american supermarkets.  i can find gouda and goat cheese but not edam.  not even at trader joe's.  that's why it's strange to see it at a filipino supermarket.

after the supermarket i decided to head to another shopping plaza in another nearby city to look for work.  my first stop was a fresh and easy store.  fresh and easy is a uk export.  it was the first time i've been in one.  i asked if they were hiring and the sales person just told me to check online.  i then continued to look around.  it didn't take me long to see how british this store is.  it feels and looks just like the another store that i visited when i was in edinburgh.  it had very clean lines, shelves weren't as tall as their american counterparts.  it's a different feeling.  so i walked around.  saw the alcohol, mostly beer, sitting inside a refridgerated aisle like how ice cream would be.  took a picture. noticed some yummy looking products but didn't buy anything.  then found myself by the cheese fridge/end cap.  guess who i found there?  it was edam.  again.  this time it was just a slice for around $4.  it made me smile.  what a weird coincidence.

i continued to each corner of the intersection to ask for work.  all i got was a scoop of pistachio nut ice cream and application from rite aid (they aren't hiring though) and there was a supermarket who is hiring but i'm going to do that online.

tired

This is exactly what the bottom of that receipt looks like.*

i have applied to a number of places.  a lot of the applications are the same and i'm getting tired of having to do it all over again for another store.  plus all the stupid assessment tests that comes with it.  i also don't like sending out my personal information into the world wide web even if it's been encrypted.

today i was inputting all my receipts from the last two weeks into my database.  i came across one receipt from a nearby supermarket that i had shopped at two weeks ago.  on the bottom of the receipt was a list of all the positions they are hiring for.  i couldn't believe it.  why didn't i see it earlier?  there is a position on there that i could do!  there was meat clerk, fish cleaner, butcher, and grocery stocker.  the only one i can do is the last one.  i am a squirmy kind of person when it comes to raw seafood.  although on that day, i saw a sign on the front of the store for seafood packager.  i wonder if all the other ones on my receipt has already been filled by then.  i hope not.  i seriously would not mind restocking shelves at the supermarket.  i don't want to do anymore applications.

* created with Fake Receipt font.  love this font!

agenda

today, i had a plan.  i was going to fill out an online application to a nearby store, then go to the bank, then go to the mall and along the way to the mall, stop by a fast food restaurant that had posted some positions online. well, i did all but the last one.  as i approached the restaurant, i just wasn't feeling it.  i'm so picky. 

on the way home, i stopped at the library to print out something for my resume.  i would say it is something to add to my "portfolio."  if ever i needed proof of my creative-problem solving skills, this would be it.  the stop at the library took longer then expected.  when i got out, it was already dark outside and it was only 5 pm.

reflection

stumbled across this on youtube.  i didn't know who she was when i clicked on the video but then her music started playing in the background and i instantly recognized it.  i just think it's a beautiful story and one that has some parallels to my own experience in france.  it will be one year this month since i've returned.

mar 7

view of fourviere cathedral with book market in the foreground.  lyon, france.

aug 12

my simple holiday outfit

are you ready for the holidays?

official at work

Today I got a hooded sweater with the club's logo on it and a Christmas bonus ($).  Not bad.

this made me smile.

for the story behind this video, click here.

via Road to the Horizon blog.

things learned while looking for work on the ground.

walking around the city, hopping on and off the bus looking for a job, there are a few things that i've learned.

1.  in this economy, if you come across a store that you think is slow (i.e. floral shop; small, medical offices) and won't need help, you are probably right. however i would check hospital websites for non-medical jobs.

2.  fast food and most restaurants are hiring.  citizen or not.

3.  "are you hiring?" and "do you need help?" are two different questions.  i went into a chinese fast food restaurant and asked if they were hiring.  manager came out from kitchen and said no.  came back following week to just eat and he remembered me.  at that time in the afternoon they were pretty busy and had only one person at the front helping customers.  the manager was called out to help and when he saw me he asked if i was still looking for a job.  he asked me to write my name and number on the back of a receipt.  he may have lost that paper so i might be going in soon to ask for a job.

4.  college grads will have a harder time looking for hourly paying jobs.  it's unfair but that's how it is.

about being unemployed...
it took awhile for me to get over all the emotional abuse from my last job in customer service, if it weren't for that, i wish i had started this job hunt, on the ground, a long time ago.

hard decisions

being naturally an indecisive person (it's a characteristic of my sign), i just don't know what to do.  i still haven't decided where my second job will be yet.  my choices aren't that great and that is the reason why this is such a hard decision to make.  my options, the places that are hiring, are pretty similar.  it's all (asian) fast food right now.  i know this isn't going to be a permanent job but it feels that way. both places are close to home though one is closer.  the pay is probably the same or not much different.  sigh.  right when i thought i've made up my mind something comes up and then i'm not so sure again.

the return.

well, today was my first day of work.  the paying, non-temp kind.  i should be excited and running off to celebrate but it's -- for me, a small victory.  i feel i've been working since the beginning of the year.  i just haven't been paid for it.  maybe because i didn't find myself working in a new environment today, that i feel a bit...eh.  the rain might have something to do with it, too.  it was just raining all day.  now i just need another job to fill in the rest of my week since i'm only working twice a week at the club. 

yesterday, since the bus ran less frequently (every hour), i ended up walking to the mall.  i actually could have made the bus but i let it go.  so with all the stops to different shops asking for work, it took about an hour. i'm glad i went.  there is a bakery by the mall that had signs up that they had a few positions.  between the cashier and the kitchen helper, i went with kitchen helper.  cashier just seems like a boring job.  it's not a busy shop.  in the back at least i'll be busy hopefully with dough.  i hope i hear back from them.  ever since i got back from france i felt like working in a bakery but i just thought, "how?"  i never went to culinary school, have no previous training.  who knows maybe i'm not going to knead dough, if i get the job.  i really hope i get this job.  or the other one, a burger chain.  their food is awesome and pay starts at $10/hr.

O_O

a few posts ago, i said i wished someone came up with a website that is a combination of facebook+linkedin+job postings from people you know.  guess what?  it already exists.  just found it and it's in beta right now.  it's called bright.  they actually post jobs from the companies that people in your network work for.

update:  it doesn't work as well as i thought.  my idea is better.  this one just lets you know which companies (connected to your network) is hiring.  of course, anything that made it to the online job posting isn't the same as the ones that were taken by acquaintances of the people who worked at those companies.  since it links up to your facebook profile, it isn't as great because not all of your friends and contacts on facebook list their company.  you're only getting about a fragment of all listed jobs available through your networks.

grade:  B-

update: job hunt

this past week has been crazy.  tiring, too.  here's the recap:

monday:  while heading to work (volunteering), got a call from one of the places (fast food) i applied to.  i was 5-10 minutes away from work.  interview was for that afternoon. i called work to tell them i couldn't make it; have interview. i headed back home. at the interview, the manager got worried when i told him i would be walking to and from work.  he was thinking of making me open (4:30a) and close (out at 11pm). i tell him i live in walking distance.  it's only 20 minutes.  he is still worried. at the end of the interview, he said to call him back in the evening.  i did so and he told me he was still interviewing people in the next few days and would give me a call back.  i know what that means:  sorry.  that night i set alarm to 430 to see what it looks like outside.  looked out window at 430 and saw darkness.  i don't hear any morning traffic.  it's freezing cold outside, i'm sure.  kinda relieved manager wasn't convinced.

tuesday:   continued job hunt.  uneventful day.  that evening, decided i would go back to a cafe that is hiring the next morning. i saw them last week. they told me to come back with my info (they were out of applications). i have not returned yet.

wednesday:  woke up and was ready to go to cafe.  right before i left, got a phone call from the temp agency that i had recently submitted my resume to.  they have a job that fits my skills and wanted me to come in for interview the next day.  i hesitated.  i was planning on going to the cafe.  do i go to the temp agency for this interview?  i ask my cousin and she says i should just go.  i call back agency and tell them i am coming.  she sends me skills test to do online.  i finish and went to library to print off resume.  no job hunting today.  i call work to tell them i'm not coming.  supervisor thinks i am calling to tell him i got a job.  in admin/clerical.  i sadly tell him, no it was for a restaurant.  he feels bad and tells me there is no part-time or full-time positions at the club but would i be interested in doing project-based work that the club will pay me for.  sure, i tell him.

thursday:  put on suit and small heels and walk to temp agency in the morning.  (they are only 15 min away).  had some wardrobe problems but made it to agency.  did not get job because it needed someone to do some work on a website and i have no experience with that.  how does photoshop translate to working on a website?  those are two different things.  agent tells me she will look for admin work for me.  interview over in 15 minutes.  did not go in to work.  went home and looked at job postings online.  in the evening a supervisor from work calls.  she sounds...frantic?  the club wants to pay me for the work that i am currently doing. i will work pretty much the same schedule:  twice a week, 8hr/wk.  there isn't anything that they needed done but i appreciate that they are trying to help me.  right before she called though, i was looking at a job posting online. it's at a nonprofit, 20hrs/wk, 5 days a week, starting at $13/hr.  only requirement i don't meet is the human resources exp.  i mapped out the commute (by bus):  it's 3 hours.  somehow that didn't sink in.  i was just happy that if i got this job, i would be getting out in the afternoon (meaning i wouldn't have to bug anyone at home for a ride if i got out too late in the evening).

today (friday):  still considering that job with a 3 hour commute.  went to kohls and target to find a shirt to wear to future interviews.  currently don't have proper shirt to wear.  came home with a shirt and trousers that will need hemming.  the job offer from my supervisor does not sit well with me.  if i try to fill in the rest of my week with something from retail or food places, it will get in the way.  everybody wants an open availability 7 days a week.  sigh.  i ask my cousin if the job i just found is worth the 3 hour commute.  she responds, "heck no!"

i have no idea what to do next.  way too much this week and it was all in my horoscopes.  it warned to not make any big decisions this week.  wait till next week.  guess, we'll see what happens at work.

asking for help.

i have never been one to ask for help.  it's just how i am.  i like to think that i can figure things out on my own.  i should have learned from my experience in france when i was looking for work and for people to practice french with.  i would just go online on couchsurfing and different forums looking for help when people i see everyday were a more important resource.  i remember towards the end of my time, i had shared in class that i had been looking for french people to practice my french with. at the end of class, my prof told me that her cousin teaches english to french students and that they would be glad to have someone to practice their english with.  oh, how i wish i had asked my profs for help when i arrived.  now that i'm home and have been looking for work on my own to no avail, i am finally writing those emails to friends asking for help.

i have also submitted my resume to a third temp agency.  i do not have my hopes up for this one.  it may end up like the other two: nothing.  but maybe this one is different.  by far, it is a lot closer to home so if they can't help me, at least i didn't waste my time commuting over there.

mad dash.

unfortunately i'm not talking about shopping for the holidays.  i wish i were.  no, this month i have to secure a job.  any job.  maybe even at the supermarket.  just somewhere.  a year and a half has come and gone. (yes that sounds horrible but most of it was well spent:  taking computer classes and now volunteering at a nonprofit which led to me realizing my career path!)  i don't want to be unemployed for a second birthday in a row.  i guess it's a good thing my birthday is in a few months. it gives me more motivation to go out.  my cousin is on my case.  i can not let anymore time pass.  the things i wish i had done awhile ago.  so for the coming days and weeks, i will be taking the bus all over my neighborhood, its surrounding cities, and look for work.

from all this, i had this idea: i wish someone would create a website where you and the people you know can post of job leads. i wish i was a programmer, IT, whichever profession that designs web pages, programs, apps, etc.  if you were to add facebook + linkedin + all those job search sites (monster.com, indeed.com, etc), you would get what i am talking about except the jobs posted would be from your own circle of friends, family, etc so you would be more likely to land the job.  it would be the coolest thing.  you could link it to facebook and you would get real-time updates.  unfortunately no one has designed this website yet, if you want to know all this you would have to ask everyone you know :(