G often accuses me of getting on a soap box when it comes to giving career advice. Perhaps it is because a large part of my job is to coach and mentor the people around me that I have taken it upon myself to do this to other people in our lives too. While being on a soapbox is generally not advised (and something I need to work on), I do think some of my advice as merit. At the heart of each of these lectures (and typically these are delivered to the unemployed, uninspired, unhappy, or unmotivated) is one key thing–just do something (how very Nike of me).
It seems that so many people become content to just exist, but in reality if you aren’t satisfied with your life you are the only one who can really change it. For example, I have a friend who has been unemployed for about a year. She has been collecting unemployment, but has been applying for jobs–she hasn’t found a job yet. She never finished her college degree (which is likely contributing to the difficulty of finding a job, since she wants more of an office job that pays around $20/hour). Given this situation my first question would be–how has she spent the last year? Ummm….well see that is the thing–all she can say is she was looking for a job. In my opinion [getting on my soapbox] she should have been doing something.
Here is a list of things she should have considered:
- Volunteering – making new networking connections and potentially learning new skills–not to mention helping a cause.
- Starting a blog – don’t use mine as an example, since I rarely seem to update, but there are lots of other people who who made valuable connections, or started new careers by writing about topics that interest them.
- Take some classes – even if you have minimal income there are lots of low cost classes (and depending on how long you have been unemployed you can even qualify for financial aid). This can allow you to learn new skills, and shows future employers that you care about your personal/professional development. You can also make valuable contacts in your classes that could eventually be a lead to a new job.
- Start some projects – ideally choose projects that are visible, like creating a website, or organizing an event. This will help you build new skills (or showcase existing ones), and gives some great examples of your recent work to use as job interview fodder.
- Take part time work — many people are hesitant to do this (my friend responded with the question “why would I work when I can make more on unemployment?”), but taking a part time job (or full time lower wage job) gives you an opportunity to learn a new business, make an honest day’s income, and meet new people–all of which can add up to new opportunities in the future.
- Start your own company – when you can’t find a job, create your own! There are so many business that require very little to no capital. Many entrepreneurs started out this way — when one door closes, another door opens.
There are lots of other things you can do, but each day besides just looking for jobs you should try to:
- Do things that help you meet new people (you never know where your next job will come from). These don’t have to be in person, but can be via facebook, twitter, or other online communities.
- Learning new things – whether you take a class, read a website or create something, teaching yourself new skills (particularly ones related to your field, or things related to your passions) will help you grow and make you a stronger candidate for a position. Bonus points if you can get a new degree or certificate in the process.
- Showcase your work – creating new things or projects can provide interesting work samples to show a future employer; and if someone likes your creation could even lead to more work (just look at all the etsy sellers!).
The key thing is that you can’t expect things to come to you, focus your energy and channel your efforts into a new and productive direction–and with a little luck and a lot of elbow grease I believe something good is bound to happen.
g and i posing in the bathroom while we were all getting ready in our bathroom--don't look at the counters! they are messy!
Well I hope everyone has had a very Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you may be celebrating this season. I have been such a bad blogger the last several weeks. Between learning my new job (which has been keeping me so pre-occupied) and my new project of fixing up the house (there isn’t a much better motivator than 6 house guests!) I have had time for little else these days. However, I have been making great progress on both aforementioned endeavors (at least I am quite pleased with my progress) I decided I better a least leave a little post with a bit of an update.
As I mentioned I have been working on fixing up the house–of course I am not taking on any major projects (too much $$) but I have been doing little things to really pull everything together (once I am done with it I will post my before and after pictures, which should be in the next few weeks). When Garrett and I moved in together we had only planned to stay in our current home 2 years or so, but after the real estate bubble popped, moving just didn’t seem like the prudent financial decision for us. So even though I think buying a new home now could be a great investment–I think our current home should appreciate a bit and it gives us time to put more money into savings (since buying a new home would mean a high mortgage payment). I really hope that the economy is one the mend and that the real estate market should start trending up–but I digress. Given that we plan to stay here for a while at least, I decided to put a little money into fixing up the place. We are still missing furniture in some rooms (like a coffee table) but I added curtains and new bedding and throw pillows to a few of the rooms–and it really pulled things together. It seriously looks so much better. Although I have made way too many trips to Target and Bed Bath & Beyond (now affectionately known in our household as BBB) to purchase and return things. Thankfully, I get to take a break on that during the holidays.
Christmas was great for us this year (although I am so sad it is over–I have been listening to Christmas carols the past two days trying to savor every last bit–just like when I eat Menchies frozen yogurt or cotton candy). Garrett bought me a new Samsung digital camera
that I love and am excited to start posting more pictures (my old camera died about 2 years ago and I hadn’t bothered to get a new one since I kept using the digital SLR–which is great but too big to go in a handbag). He also made some pictures on canvas photos that I am anxious to put up in my newly redecorated house. I ended up getting him a new lens for his camera, some clothes, cuff links, and perfume
(Bond no9 of course–as both of us our obsessed with it). We had lots of visitors, ate tons of food, had great conversations, played several games of Mexican train dominoes, and had a good time.
me and my sister just before opening our gifts
After Christmas I had one big day of shopping. I did pretty well in not buying much for myself during the Christmas shopping (except the blue flowered shirt I am wearing in the picture with my sister–but that was only $10 on clearance at Target so it hardly counts), but on the day after Christmas I got up early at 7am (which was actually quite a feat since I had been up until 3am the night previous playing board games with my cousins and family) to hit the after Christmas sales. Mostly I intended to look for ornaments, gift wrap, etc since most of it is usually 50% off and sure beats buying new stuff next year….however the only place I ended up buying stuff was Banana Republic since they had SO MUCH stuff on sale–and here is the kicker–everything was 50% off the sale price before noon (yay for getting up early!). Maybe I will make a new post with a bunch of pictures of my new clothes….but I bought several sweaters (around $18 each, marked down for $60), a cute one shoulder dress for $45, and two button down non-iron tops for $15. I was so proud of all my great finds (and thankfully I happened to be at the mall, in the future I think I really need to figure out how to hear about these amazing deals in advance!).
Tonight I spend most of the night moving my closet from wooden and metal hangers to these new velvet hangers
that are *so* much better–the clothes really don’t slip off and they take up so much less space than the wooden alternatives. Now I am just finishing up some work before the week starts, and of course posting my random little update. 
And finally, I watched the movie Julie and Julia and it really made me think about blogging. I love her approach of taking on challenge and then following through with it (although to be honest I found Julie pouty and mostly just enjoyed the Julia portion of the movie), I also think it makes me realize that my blog is too random and I need to somehow find a purpose, topic, or theme to fit all of my interests and comments into that vein. Any suggestions? I am thinking about it and hope to come up with something good soon.
I love the holidays. I really do. They are by far my most favorite time of year.
I think part of it is the pretty sparkly lights and decorations. Part of it is all of the gatherings with friends and family. And of course I love giving presents (it is far more fun to be generous and give to other people than it is to buy something for myself). Anyway, my weeks have been completely filled and it already seems like time is very scarce.
So what has been happening lately – well first off I started a new job. I hadn’t planned to go back to work after leaving my last company–in fact I had planned on starting my own company (that entrepreneurial spirit has been egging me on for some time). However, in a kismet sort of way, I fell into this new job and I couldn’t be happier. I have never worked at a company quite like this–and I really enjoy the people and admire the culture they are trying to create. I feel so fortunate for everything that has come my way (consider this a little late Thanksgiving). As for my venture–it will happen–it is just going to be on hold for a while….
Anyway, it is December and I haven’t had much time for updates. Mostly this is because of the new job, and of course the holidays. Plus to be honest, I just haven’t found it as easy to write much recently. Oh, and I have finally started to undertake the massive endeavor of fixing up our house–which is quite the project. Last weekend we spent time putting up our Christmas trees (we have two–what can I say, I love the holidays!) and organizing everything! We only made it about 1/3 of the way but are hoping to make some more progress this coming weekend.
I have also been spending way too much time on Etsy. I bought this very chic and sophisticated hair flower. I am planning to wear it to my work holiday party this Friday. I think I am going to pair it with a silver dress I wore for new years eve 2007. I also bought 2 hand crafted and preserved flowers–they are supposed to last years. I am planning to put one in our guest bathroom, and I am unsure of where the second one will go, but I figure I can find a place as a revisit the whole “house” project.
Flower pictures are the credit of Christina Floresdelsol – her blog is here and you can find lots of inspiration and link to buy more of her creations there!
