Out of Work

Well, I have been out of work for a couple of weeks now. The bad news is I am still unemployed, the good news is I qualified for unemployment. Yay. We are in money saving mode now. Already canceled one relatively inexpensive trip. May be skipping another. Pulled the kids out of daycare for most of the week. Just in two days now so we can hold their spots for my inevitable return to work.

Let me tell you there are a couple of motivators for my desire to return to work quickly.

Money - Obviously money is a plus. Money lets you do things. Doing things is fun. I would like to do things again.

Pride - I do not like being a drain on the economy. I like to be a productive member of society. It actually hurts my pride to think that I am not contributing to my family's welfare. I can imagine for people that are looking for jobs and there are none to be had for months, that is can be quite frustrating. I have a new sense of empathy for the unemployed who are diligently looking for work.

Kids - I love my kids, but if I have to keep watching them 3 days a week, I may shoot myself. My weekends are no longer Saturday and Sunday, but Tuesday and Thursday, the days my kids go to school. I'm not Superdad. I consider the day a success if they survive relatively intact.

Boredom - Working on the "Honey-Do" list is nice, but a good chunk of the list requires motivation #1.

The good news is that today I was contacted to schedule a phone interview for Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully it will go well. The problem with the job hunt is that I have always had this minor inferiority complex. Always thinking that I am not good enough to fill a position. I normally have to have demonstrated to me that I am indeed as smart or smarted that a lot of the other people out there who are also looking for the same positions. I also need to remind myself that I have been doing this for 11 years now. I also have to remind myself that even if I do not have a specific skill set that is being requested that I ACTUALLY AM smart enough to pick up just about anything that would be required. The problem is, how do you prove that to someone in an interview, when they hear that a dozen times a day.

Another problem is that I hate interviewing. I haven't interviewed a lot. Especially in the last 5 years. Now I have to re-learn a skill set that never was a strong suit to begin with. It is basically selling yourself to another person. I am not a sales person. Ask one of my previous bosses, he can vouch for my sales skills. That combined with the inferiority complex makes it tough for me to sell myself. I have got to overcome that.