Boy it Sure is Different in Here

So, I've spent the past few weeks sending off resumes and applications to various companies. Some are part time jobs that might fit around my existing hours (note to those seeking part time staff : maybe mention what fucking hours you're looking for someone to work. Wasting time putting together applications for something I can't take is getting really old, really fast). Others are straight up full time jobs where I'd leave where I am now and move on. Regardless of what they are, I'm quickly realizing something.

I don't really remember how in the Hell to do any of this.

I used to be a pro at looking for jobs. When you're hopping from place to place as often as I was, you sort of have to be one. I had the entire application and interview process down to a fine art. Everything was built for speed and efficiency. Not a second went to waste.

Now, I'm sending off applications for the first time in two and a half years. And that previous time was the first time I'd done so in probably two years. I'm quick about sending off applications for writing gigs, but I have totally forgotten what the Hell I'm doing with a job search. No more quick and easy copy-paste jobs from between half a dozen different cover letters as I immediately determine the best one for this particular position. No more highlighting what's important on my resume for this particular job in about 45 seconds. I'm fumbling around in an unfamiliar morass of confusion. It's sad. It's like watching my dad try to come to grips with technology.


Okay, maybe it isn't THAT bad.


In the long run, I suppose it's probably a good thing that what was once so ridiculously familiar is no longer so. People aren't supposed to be as comfortable with looking for jobs as I was. It's a strange skill to possess.

And yet, it's a skill that I find myself wishing I still had, if only for a little while.

Oh well, I suppose I'll muddle through.

One thing that I have gotten better at is having the door slammed shut. I'm not someone who has typically dealt well with rejection, mainly because I overthink everything. So when it would happen, my brain would fly into an uncontrollable spin cycle of over-analysis until I had driven myself completely insane and barely slept for three days (This really isn't an exaggeration. If any of you ever took too long to reply to an email or whatever back in the day, I was stewing about it for hours on end. Seriously. I was kind of obsessive nuts. I've moved on from that...for the most part). Now, thanks to a few years of scrabbling for every freelance dollar that I can get my hands on, it doesn't feel quite so much like a slap in the face as it used to. It isn't personal, so why take it that way? It's still a bit of a downer, but the reality is that there are a fuck ton of people looking right now. So I'll have to exhibit some level of patience.

Yeah, about that...

Now we run into another problem. I'm not patient. Not even slightly. And when there are things that I want to do, but I'm stuck until I find that other job...yeah. Not helping. So, for the sake of my own sanity and the health and well being of those stuck around me in the mean time, let's hope this doesn't end up taking too long.