Job hunt

As you know if I've been unemployed since June 2009. Since then I have been actively searching for a new job in Seattle. It's like searching for a needle in a haystack. There are jobs in Seattle, even positions I would be very good at. However, the system so is very hands off. More don't contact us will contact you. One company even says on their FAQ not to contact them.

As you can imagine it has been a weekly struggle. I apply for tons and tons of jobs yet never hear anything. The only reason I know I didn't get the job is because I check my account to see the dreaded words "not selected for this position". It starts to get frustrating to know you didn't even make it to the interview process. I'm still positive about the whole situation but I really miss the days when you could take a copy of your resume in and actually talk to a REAL person.

I have had some success, minor, but success. In August I applied for a job via Craigslist. I sent in my resume and the next day I was contacted for an interview. The interview went well and I would have been really good at this position. I was very close to getting the position but they went with a candidate that had one more skill needed for the job. The lady I interviewed with was nice enough to tell me that I interviewed very well and would have success in the future.

Flash forward to last week. I'm going about my business (of doing nothing) when I check my email. I'm looking at a message from a lady about an interview. I'm thinking this must be one of those spam job emails. I scrolled down to her signature and low and behold it was for the University of Washington. I thought well I apply for jobs there all the time I wonder which position this is. I go and check my account and what do you know. I did apply for this job right before Christmas. I thought WOO! I immediately emailed her back and scheduled an interview for yesterday.

The interview went really well. We seemed to have a good group chemistry and I seemed to be answering their questions how they wanted to hear. At the end of the interview they asked for my references. I left the interview feeling very positive about the whole thing. I went home and sent in my references and low and behold one of my references had been called. I'm taking all of this as a good sign. I figured they wouldn't want references if they didn't think I would be a good fit right?

So now I sit and wait, wait, wait! This is the hard part. I've done all I can and it is now out of my hands. I will remain positive. If I get the job that is really great news. It will be really nice to have a place to go everyday and keep my brain from falling out of head. Even if I do not get the job it is always good to have more interviews under my belt. I can only learn and get better.

As soon as I hear anything one way or the other I'll post an update. For now keep your fingers crossed!

UPDATE: I GOT THE JOB! I start on Tuesday! I'll be working 10-3. So excited!!!!

Unemployment

As you all know I was voluntarily laid off from my job in May. About two weeks after my last day I went ahead and signed up for unemployment thinking it would be good to get started on the process. I went online and filled out the form. When it asked I choose voluntary layoff. I figured that was the truth (this will come back to bite me in the end).

Each week you are required to make at the least 3 job contacts of some sort. You then fill out a claim either online or via the phone. So every week I have been filling out my claim like a good little girl. Well one week I decided to call because it had been 5 weeks and still no check. When I call I'm told at 7 weeks I should call and tell them a decision hasn't been made. She also informs me that voluntary layoffs are the last ones they get to. Oh great! Just great! At the 7 week mark you are able to declare a hardship and they give your claim to a supervisor of some sort. This all moved pretty fast as the supervisor called me the same day to ask me some questions. A few days later I receive a letter from them. What do you know, my claim has been denied because they are saying I was the one who initiated the layoff. Um, no wrong, they came to me. I just excepted. So now I'm in the middle of appealing the decision. 

So what does that mean you ask? I had to write up why I'm appealing the decision and send them paperwork to support. Well I guess you don't need to send paperwork but I did. I sent them the letter my job emailed to the employees when they came up with this deal, a letter written by my last supervisor stating I wouldn't have quit my job if it wasn't for them offering me the offer, and a copy of the offer signed by me. So now I'm just waiting for what they call a "hearing". It's basically just a phone call which is probably going to take 2-4 weeks. So in the mean time I'm jobless & moneyless!

What makes me mad about the whole thing is it could have all be avoided if my previous HR department had been more forthcoming with the information. I've never been unemployed before. If I had been told or should we say guided on how the whole situation worked all would be well. When I got this letter I called my previous HR manager and asked her why she didn't tell me about this and her words were first, "she couldn't tell me how to fill out my unemployment". She didn't have to tell me how but she could have told me my options since she knew I had never done this before. Secondly she said, "I didn't know this was the way unemployment worked". Wait hold the freaking phone! You work in HR and you don't know how unemployment works. Aren't you supposed to be my resource...it's in your job title!

So needless to say I'm waiting! I've been waiting so what's a few more weeks.

All is not lost. I have a job prospect and I will keep my head high while I wait.