There Is A Flip Side To Every Coin
Someone in my world recently made a statement about being so happy that they are one thing and not the other. It was a bold statement considering the audience the statement was made to is probably a mixed bag of both things. The first thought in my head was “there is a flip side to every coin” and today’s “heads” could really be tomorrow’s “tails.”
Right now I am living the flip side of the “employed” coin. I give people a peek in to my world by tweeting, updating Facebook and writing this blog. That peek is usually pretty upbeat and fabulous because let’s be real, it’s always sunny on Facebook. I crack up at the number of times people have commented that I am “living the life.” In many ways I am. I get to do so many things that I would not be able to do while employed. But I do miss working, that rush of success when overcoming a challenge that recharges my passion and energy. It is my drive to succeed that fulfills me!
Feeling inspired I created a list of the top 10 things I love about being unemployed/employed. You can choose which side you would prefer to be living. Being a Lady of Leisure has it’s perks but I think it’s obvious which side is for me!
10 Things I Love About Being In “Job Transition”:
- My day starts with a leisurely stroll to the coffee shop
- My dress code starts and ends with workout pants and a fleece zip-up
- Make-up is optional
- So is brushing my hair 😉
- My days are sprinkled with coffee & lunch dates
- My social life is booming with new friends (YAY Networking!)
- Mid-day grocery store trips
- Spontaneity is my norm
- Happy hour can begin at any time
- Every day is Saturday
10 Things I Love About Working:
- Success
- Team Work
- Camaraderie
- Opportunity
- Challenge
- Growth
- Experience
- Relationships
- The paycheck
- Did I mention the paycheck? 😉
Saying Thanks
Today is the day families and friends come together to celebrate the abundances of our life and give thanks! I’m looking forward to certain items on the menu (a.k.a. yams) and hoping that someone has attempted to make my Grandfather-In-Law’s famous sweet potato pie. I’m salivating just thinking about it!
More important than giving thanks for food, I am going to say “Thank You” for the roof over my head, the clothes on my back, the love in my life and the people who have supported me every step of the way! I hope your life is full of reasons to say “thank you” as well!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Wine Me, Dine Me…Bring It On!
If I were still working with my former employer, last night I would have attended a fancy-schmancy white truffle dinner with some pretty amazing food and wine. Can we say yum? We are talking tubers here, not chocolates. Italian white truffles to be exact. They are highly esteemed and are quiet the treat for a foodie like me.
Working for a restaurant company I was well fed on a regular basis. My life revolved around our food and wine and I loved every second of it. One could say that I was in my element. There are definitely days that I miss it.
The seeds for this post started growing when a former co-worker sent me a text to tell me he was dining at the restaurant and spotted two of my friends and needed some help sparking the old memory bank on their names. The text was no big thing, I may have for a second been sad that I wasn’t at the restaurant but all was well with the world because the husband and I were on our way to grab some sushi.
Let’s side track for a moment….I love sushi. I love love love love sushi. It is my favorite food and I could eat it daily. I tease that one of my life goals is to be a sushi-tarian. That is how much I love it.
I “hmmm…mmm’d” my way through the entire meal. Every other bite was followed with “I love sushi, it is mmm good.” I was a happy clam.
And then I logged on to Facebook. I saw it. My girlfriend wrote one word in her Facebook status “Truffles” (remember, tubers, not chocolates). Oh no, it’s truffle season! How could I forget? Oh the memories flooded back! The food. The wine. Always amazing!!! And I spent a whole two minutes feeling sad and wishing I was at the dinner until I remembered my belly was full with sushi. There was no way I would have traded my casual sushi dinner with the husband in for that stuffy white truffle dinner. 🙂
What do you miss most from a former job?
White Noise No More!
Hello Blog! I’ve been ignoring you. I know. I’m sorry. I am terrible. Forgive me? Remember how I said I was going to try to relax and step away from all of my distractions? Well, I did! Thanks to a surprise weekend away from the husband to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It was fab-u-lous! And it was the perfect opportunity to slow down and relax! I set myself up for success by leaving the laptop at home (a first for me) and I tried to keep the Blackberry off, which made it easier to avoid Twitter and Facebook. The first couple hours were a struggle but fortunately my husband was in a chatty mood (a rarity for him) and we talked the whole ride there. Once we arrived and sat down to watch the sunset I was shocked by how clear and quiet things became. We definitely were in the right setting. Looking back I am amazed with the crazy amount of noise that was clogging the pipes in my brain!
So now that I’m home and fighting the urge to fall back in to the same old routine, I have created a list of things I will commit to that should keep my brain clean of all of that clutter!
- I am limiting myself to the amount of time I can spend in front of the computer every day. This means less time on Facebook, Twitter, email, job search boards, blogs..etc. Those things create a lot of white noise for me.
- I am going back to my routine of beginning my morning with a walk to the coffee shop. No more home brewed Peet’s for me! The $1.85 I spend on coffee is well worth it when it means I start the day with a lovely stroll through the neighborhood in the sunshine…ok so not a lot of sunshine in SF but at least it’s a stroll 😉
- I am going to use Twitter and my blog as an outlet for my job search exclusively. Basically I’m not going to mix business with pleasure 😉
- I will not…I repeat, I will not look to see how many people follow me on Twitter and how many people come to view my blog on a daily basis! My tweeting & blogging is not about numbers, it is about me! And “me” gets so sad when people un-follow her. So sad.
That is my starting list! I think it is a great first step, I am excited and hoping I can keep the noise at bay 🙂
What do you do to keep your head clear?
Sit Back And Relax…Um, How Do You Do That?
Kitty V is one of my favorite Ladies of Leisure to spend time with, lucky for me we get to chat frequently. She always presents a different point of view that I often find myself pondering long after our lunch date ends. Yesterday she was bubbling over with excitement because she has two potential gigs in the pipeline. That is fantastic news and I’m even more excited because one gig is the result of a connection I helped her make! YAY networking, it does work! 😉
The beautiful thing about her gigs is that they came together organically. All of a sudden, two opportunities popped up and we both agree that in a perfect world that is the way it should be.
I am someone who is driven by my need to succeed. I always have my eye on the prize. Right now, it’s all about getting a job. This means I am constantly in a state of planning, scheduling, researching and networking. I joke that I have become so good at sniffing out leads, for myself and others, that I should get paid to do this (A-Ha moment? Maybe). Because I am so driven I hold myself to very high expectations and often forget to celebrate the cookie-crumb trail of mini-victories that sprinkle the path to success.
Kitty V suggested maybe I should take a breather from my work, work, work attitude towards finding a job. When she spoke those words I literally thought she was from a foreign planet. Me, just sit back and relax? Um. That sounds crazy! She recognizes that pounding the pavement is important and maybe I should let a few pieces fall in to place without throwing myself out there to catch them all the time? This is a foreign concept for me.
Wow! I wonder, can I do that?
Yes, but it’s going to take some serious effort on my part. It’s time for me to take a step back and re-evaluate my goals, create and delete a few and then tailor my action plan appropriately. I’ve already got one new goal in mind…recognize my hard work this week and take the weekend “off” to relax. I’ll let you know how it goes!
What are you doing to stay sane right now?
A Lady of Leisure! Yeah, That’s Me!
Today I declare, I am no longer a Job Seeker! I am officially a Lady of Leisure! Ah, that sounds so much better. Do you see how I took a negative and turned it in to something super positive? I am in love with Urban Dictionary because they literally define a “Lady of Leisure” as an unemployed women! AWESOME!
I am going to rock the Lady of Leisure title! And look, it even comes with a mug!
Being a Lady of Leisure definitely changes this girl’s point of view. I’m happy to share that my calendar is jam packed with semi-social/networking/relationship building activities. I had a fabulous dinner out with some special people on Tuesday night, my ex-co-workers. Seeing them is always a pleasure and is guaranteed to be a night filled with non-stop laughter and chatter! Shout out to the Daggie-Tator, January, Danville Barbie and Elle K who have recently discovered the TwirtyGrrl blog.
Today I have a “coffee-talk” chat session scheduled with a favorite recruiter of mine! I’m looking forward to catching up and also going over a few of the ideas that are starting to create sparks in my brain. Stay tuned.
All of these activities are par for the course for a savvy job seeker , which I, as a Lady of Leisure aspire to be.
So tell me, as a Lady of Leisure or a job seeker what activities are on your schedule today?
I Give A Good Blog…Well, I’m Working On It!
Last night I attended my very first Twitter party! It was craz-ay!! Craz-AY!!! The who’s who of all of Twitter where in the house! Um. No, maybe that’s not exactly how it goes. This Twitter party took place on my computer while I sat on the couch in my jammies! Hollah! That is my kind of party!! Who wants to get all dolled up and dressed up to actually see people when you can get your ‘socialize-on’ from your computer? Yes, you can do it while enjoying the comfy-ness of your own couch!! My next birthday party isn’t going to be at some fabulous restaurant, we are in a recession people! I am going to have a Twitter Party!!!
OK, back to reality. I did attend my very first Twitter Chat Party last night and there was a point to it. It was all about ‘how to give good blog’. I loved it! Loved it! As a new arrival on the blogging scene I am definitely on a mission to find out all I need to know on how to give good blog. I’m learning the ins and outs of blogging and about neat things like gravatars and widgets. As I was writing this blog I realized “OMG! My RSS feed is totally in the wrong place! Not OK!” 😉
So if you think I’m on the right track to giving good blog, pass me along to your fun friends who may need a good chuckle today 🙂
A shout out to Crissy Herron at indiebizchicks.com for teaching me how to give good blog! 🙂
Hear It Here First! The Amazing Race ‘Job Seekers’
Oh my gosh! What has happened to this world? Have you tried looking for a job these days? Maybe you are a job seeker like me? Or maybe you are just perusing my blog while trying to avoid the 2 o’clock coma in the office? Either way, I’m taking it upon myself to guide you through the job search experience in 2009 as I’m living it!
These days I am powering through what I like to call “The Job Search White Noise.” Back in the day, you know in 2007, the job search consisted of the tried and true process that we all understood and could get on board with. Why? Because we understood it. The rules of the game went something like this…write an engaging cover letter showcasing what you bring to the table for the potential employer. Submit with cover letter (a.k.a Masterpiece of Your Awesomeness) a resume highlighting all of your accomplishments which boosts you to super-stardom in the eyes of that hiring manager. And then hang out and wait for a bit. Book the interview. Go in and knock their socks off during two rounds of interviews and offer letter in hand by the end of the week. That was easy right!?!?!
Welcome to 2009! The rules of the game have changed and if you want to hitch a ride on the train heading straight to destination Employment Land, we as job seekers have to change too.
Currently my job is to look for a job and seriously I can (and do) spend hours and hours and hours doing just that. There are so many newfangled tools and resources that get lots of press and attention as THE way to find a job. Tweetin’ for a job, networking on Facebook, connecting on LinkedIN, managing your personal brand…OH MY GOSH!!!! STOP THE INSANITY!!!
Clearly the white noise has driven me so nuts that I have subconsciously channeled Susan Powers! I am actively engaged in all the above mentioned resources while also networking face-to-face, checking the job boards, volunteering and blogging. I am the face of Job Search 2009! I tweet, I Facebook, I blog, I volunteer, I connect, I network. Why is there not a reality TV show with me as the star? Who cares if you think you can dance! I want to know, when can we start filming the first season of The Amazing Race ‘Job Seekers???’
No Job Offer, But That’s Ok!
TwirtyGrrl tweets, a lot. Maybe you’ve noticed? I do. I love it! To tweet. So fun! At the moment I am just dying to tweet something but I decided to write on my blog about it instead. Who needs to be limited to 140 characters when you can have unlimited characters?!?
It is Wednesday and adding to some good old “Hump Day” fun is the fact that a potential employer sent me an email to let me know they made an offer to another candidate. OK I say and send a very polite response to the hiring manager that went something like this “Congratulations to you and good luck to you with your upcoming blah blah, blah blah blah.”
Yes, I am very polite, I was raised well. What was I dying to tweet? “I am the Marketing SuperStar that you said you are looking to hire! Why, oh why, would you let such amazing talent slip through your fingers? Nevermind, it doesn’t matter, if you can’t recognize great talent then you are NOT the company I want to work for!”
But I can’t say that. Not to them. But I will to you.
I’m confident in my skills and I’m pretty darn confident I could have made a positive impact on their brand and company. I’m also confident that the interviewer was not clear on what she wanted when she conducted my interview and that would have made it tough to succeed once I got in the door. Plus I had to create a strategic marketing plan for them based on their current product before I even got to the face-to-face interview. That felt a little bit too much like handing over free consulting. If actually writing and submitting the plan made me feel dirty, I can’t help but wonder what I would feel like when my new manager handed me a stack of plans and said “Go through these and pick what we can use!”
All of this raising a few red flags? Yes, I think so.
Is it possible I dodged a bullet? Yes. Is there a better job waiting for me out there? Yes.
How about you? Saw the red flags in the interview and was relieved you didn’t get it? Or saw them but ended up at the job anyway?
Tis The Night Before Wednesday…
Tis the night before Wednesday and it’s ill that I feel
Like an army of germs are marching from head to my heel.
These eyelids are heavy, this body is achey
My stomach at times is a little bit shakey.
Bring me oranges and Airborne and a cookie or two
In bed I will stay and hope this is not the swine flu.
TwirtyGrrl reporting in with a fun little poem for you to read while I nurse myself back to health!
TTFN!
~ TwirtyGrrl
TwirtyGrrl 