How My Job Search Has Been Going
1. Weed through unpaid “internships” and “volunteer/experience” opportunities on Craiglist to find two postings I’m qualified for, would willingly do. Mood: Despondent.
2. Browse Mediabistro for jobs in San Diego, but most jobs are in L.A. Consider possibility of four-hour roundtrip commute. It might not be that bad??? Mood: Optimistic/crazy.
3. Contemplate sex work. Decide too old. Mood: Relieved.
4. Eat chocolate. (Love you, chocolate.)
5. Take a look at my resume to boost confidence. (I’ve had jobs and will have jobs again!) Mood: Confidence not boosted.
6. Contemplate selling contents of ovaries (“eggs”). Realize I AM too old. Feel biological clock ticking. Mood: Tick tock.
7. Send out desperate sounding email to well-connected family and friends letting them know I’m on the hunt. Get three responses back (two from the same person), none of them a job offer. Mood: Helpless.
8. Wonder why I majored in journalism rather than something sensible like accounting. Mood: Regretful.
9. Perhaps I can get by by working as a barista. Look up barista wages. Perhaps not. Mood: Crying.
10. Wine.
11. Repeat.
12. Start browsing grad school programs.
Katie Peoples lives in San Francisco, for now.
“YOOOOO HOOOOO! We are hiring other positions at Ritual Coffee Roasters! Know someone looking to get in on the ground floor of a successful small business based in SF? Send them my way. We are hiring a Production Assistant and an Assistant Account Manager.”
This is from my friend in SF.
The jobs are at Ritual Coffee roasters.
Not barista jobs, but close! Slightly more pay.
Wait – are you in San Diego or San Francisco? Because my work is slightly closer to San Diego than LA is and has a bunch of positions open (it’s a University, so admissions, student services, instructional designers, etc).
@Saralyn@twitter Saralyn, where do you work? I really want to work at a University, particularly in admissions or student services, but have not been able to find many positions near me (I am in San Francisco like the poster but would definitely be open to moving to SoCal).
@kaitlinj I work at Brandman University, which is focused on adult learners and is affiliated with Chapman University. There are a couple of openings in Roseville and Fairfield, but most are down in Irvine at the central campus/office where I work (in Extended Education). It’s a little different from working at a regular university (smaller, no residential population since it’s adult learners, etc), but I’ve enjoyed it so far.
@Saralyn@twitter Thanks for the info!
@Saralyn@twitter I’m from the bay area but my husband’s job is moving to San Diego so I’m going with him.
@KPeeps Ah. Well, my boss lives in northern San Diego and takes the train to Irvine most days rather than fighting traffic. So maybe expand your search to southern Orange County? Probably not as much in the way of journalism and writing, but there are a lot of businesses located/headquartered in the area.
You guys are giving me the impression that we should have a space where readers can post about job openings. SCHEMING.
@Mike Dang This has already been happening organically on the DC Hairpinners facebook page, its a really good idea!
@Mike Dang DOOOO IT!!! Dealbreaker has one for finance jobs, and it’s actually one of my favorite job sites.
@Mike Dang Since this is a site about money, perhaps the jobs should have to offer that instead of “experience”?
@Mike Dang Yes, please!
@Mike Dang HECK YES.
@cat ferguson@twitter THIS 10000000%
@Mike Dang Genius.
Or apply to all the jobs in Los Angeles and move if you get one? I thought this is what people did.
Unless LA is just an absolutely terrible place. Like NYC. In which case: hold out for the dream!
@MuffyStJohn LA is fine but I’m moving because my husband’s job is moving to San Diego and it’s not something he can just quit. :)
@KPeeps Oh yeah, husbands! I forgot some people have those. :P
I gave myself a similar pep talk going into a job interview the other day…I mentally went through all the jobs I’ve had and thought “I have had 10 jobs, that’s 10 succesful interviews, #11 can’t be that hard!” It turned out to be an awful sounding job (the job listing was misleading and I wasn’t even qualified) but still, I was pumped going in! Then I had alot of wine.
Oh man if my eggs were worth anything (they’re not, too many health things) I would sell them so fast. I’m not doing anything with them.
@Megano! I’m signed up with like 5 different egg-donation agencies and I’ve never heard back from any of them. It’s lame! Especially when they advertise that they need donors EVERYWHERE and CONSTANTLY. I have red hair and blue eyes and I thought people liked babies with that hahaha NO I GUESS NOT
@Jenna Quaranta@facebook I’ve heard that they are highly sought after in the UK actually – I guess that red hair is a prized trait over there.
Thanks for reminding I have chocolate in my desk! Had.
Oof, I feel ya on this one. I just graduated as a Music Education major, had a traumatic experience in student teaching and decided for sure that I will never teach in a public school, and am now applying to non-MLS requiring library jobs that won’t pay as much but will keep me from having a panic attack every day. I want to focus on applying to grad school for vocal performance or pedagogy (haven’t decided yet) but I’m presently too focused on my dwindling bank account. A job will fix this. Trying to find a job is HARD. Especially when you are SO OVERQUALIFIED. Many people do NOT understand how hard it is to send out a resume when you know that you are most likely going to be turned down because the middle aged person looking over your resume who gets a healthy paycheck with benefits got the job you are applying for with half or less of the experience and education you currently have and will be deterred by it. Or, if they see you have a degree in fine arts and automatically assume that you are incapable of doing fucking anything. RAWR. Good luck to you kiddo.
@Mal*Pal Or they assume that you just want this job to pay the bills and will quit as soon as you can, not realizing that sometimes you are legit looking to change fields.
Exactly. I’m a recent graduate (I got 2 Bachelor’s degrees–one in music performance, the other in writing) in LA with internship experience and even some impressive real-life work projects on my resume, but I can’t find any work. I’m hungry and everything is expensive. I’m sad and want to move back in with my parents but I signed this goddamn 12-month lease 1 month ago. I also want to be an artist someday, but I’ve had to put that on the back burner so I can look for the nonexistent work. I am only 23 and I go to the gym a lot so maybe sex work would work out okay for me. Thanks for writing/posting this, it makes me feel better about being a completely worthless piece of shit in the eyes of society.
@MaliceMunro This made my heart hurt a little for you. You are not a worthless piece of shit. Not anymore than I am, or anyone else in our boat. I just want to also say that if it comes down to prostitution or moving back in with your parents, you should move back in with your parents.