Flood in 1927, Keene NH – Harrison Street
By Keene and Cheshire County (NH) Historical Photos
I’m three weeks into the new job, and things are pretty hectic. Spent the day in Philadelphia yesterday at a conference for my new employer. Met a lot of customers, but perhaps more importantly, I met my virtual coworkers, including my new boss… in person for the first time.
That was an odd sentence to type out. Think about it, I’ve been working at the new “place” for 3 weeks, and had never met anyone in person until yesterday. Gotta love the brave new world of work, huh?
Anyway, that’s not what this post is about. It’s about all of the things that have happened despite the new (part-time) job:
An Old Job Lead Rears It’s Ugly Head
If you’ve read my blog in the past, you may remember the job “possibility” from Holy Fucking Shit, I Think I Got a Job!!! and Still no offer. I had never heard back from them with the details of the possible offer, until last week when I received an email from the gentleman I interviewed with. He has apparently been overwhelmed with work, and the whole looking for a new employee thing slipped his mind. (Perhaps the weakest excuse I’ve ever heard.)
As I suspected, the “offer” boiled down to: 60+ hours a week, slightly above minimum wage, close my business, give them all my clients, provide my own computer, and no benefits. It felt really good countering with a solid “No Thanks, I have a job.” (For the record I was much more diplomatic than that.)
Another Party is Heard From
Just this morning I had a phone interview for a position I had applied for last month, before this part-time gig I am currently doing came along. It’s at a large University here in NJ, and is much more in line with my previous career (before I went and started my own company.) It’s not an offer by far, but there will be an in-person interview in the coming weeks. As it turns out, the hiring manager personally knows 2 of the 3 people I submitted as references, and in fact, we have met years ago when I was working at a trade organization the hiring manager was a member of. One of those “it’s a small world” moments. We spent quite a bit of time talking about people we both know as well as the field, so while no firm date has been set, I’m confidant that it will happen.
Everyone Else Also Called
Someone must have flipped a switch somewhere, because in the last 3 weeks, I’ve gotten projects from 3 of my other clients for web projects. Nothing huge or lucrative, but the kind of 2 to 3 day projects that fill in a workweek nicely, and help contribute to that old bottom line. I’ve also received 4 random calls for freelance work (none of which has panned out quite yet,) but all of the sudden, after literally scrounging to piece together rent money, the phone is ringing.
But To Keep Me Grounded
Lots of good news, and I’m really happy to not be bitching about not having a job now, but the universe has a way of making sure you don’t get too full of yourself. I haven’t gotten paid by any of the people who owe me money since August, and finding time to hunt them down is proving difficult. I’ve made some calls, and actually got through to one of them on Monday who said: “I thought we paid you since you stopped calling.” It’s Friday, and they haven’t paid yet. So one step forward, two steps back. 😐
– TUJA
I’m 40. I live in the GOP “nirvana” called New Jersey, and I’m unemployed. Actually, I’m what they call “Under-employed,” which is a much more pleasant way of saying I’m barely staying afloat in this economy.
The Unknown Job Applicant 
#1 by Picture-Bandit on October 12, 2012 - 7:39 pm
I just entered two months of work schedule in my portable this evening…
… awesome… 😉
#2 by The Unknown Job Applicant on October 13, 2012 - 8:07 am
That is awesome news Picture-Bandit!
#3 by lostmybookmark on October 13, 2012 - 2:31 am
Good luck.I just got fleeced by my boss.My appointment letter was always “in the mail” and i never did get my salary.Had to quit.
#4 by The Unknown Job Applicant on October 13, 2012 - 8:38 am
You know, people like that just suck. It’s bad enough trying to find work, once you find it, you have to worry about this kind of crap. Keep your chin up, and don’t let the bastards get you down.
#5 by David Gay on October 14, 2012 - 1:52 pm
Hi Tuja.
First of all, really happy to hear your new part-time job is going great. As an aside, congratulations to Picture Bandit for entering his second month of work.
I’ve been in the same boat recently where the interview returns suddenly swing from famine to feast. Over the last 10 days I had two “second interviews” and a new “first interview”, prompting me to actually throttle back applying for jobs. I had to do this to clear the interview crunch and avoid a nightmare scenario where I could end up choosing between TWO job offers in case such a thing happened. So far nothing like that has happened but sometimes I have to keep tabs of where things are going just in case.
#6 by jeanwhaleywilliams on October 17, 2012 - 9:37 pm
I’m out of town on a job hunting trip, and have had 3 call backs at a job 1/3 my former salary. Thank goodness I brought -3- suits!!! I will never be able to afford another one, but it’s a good thing to impress them at the outset. And I sent an email to inquire about a local informational interview *in my industry* – and holy smokes – the HR guy called back a 2nd time (after his 1st call to clarify “grey areas” on my resume – which turned out to be the fact that I was laid off 10 months ago and he seems to have never heard of anyone out of work that long) to say a hiring manager would actually like to meet with me tomorrow. Don’t know if there’s really a job – or if she, too, would simply like to take a gander at another human being who’s actually been unemployed most of a year. Maybe I’m a like a rare species that shuts down a major construction project: the snail darter – at least in this neck of the woods.