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Businesses lending a hand to job hunters

I’m sure y’all don’t need me to tell you that finding a job is hard work. I know that I am extremely lucky to have found another job within a month of being laid off. Jim was laid off last week, so having me working again so soon was a real blessing. But I know plenty of other people who are still looking.

Looking and applying for a job is hard work, and I’m happy to see that some businesses are looking to lend a hand to those still trying to find work: in particular, Staples and Office Depot. I ran across a couple entries on Mommy’s Wish List that I thought some of y’all might find useful in your search (or you could relay to someone you know who’s searching):

• Office Depot is offering free printing and faxing services to customers until May 30th. (more details here)
• Staples is offering free and business cards to customers until June 13th. (more details here)

Hopefully that’s helpful to someone out there! Please feel free to share related hints or treats in the comment box below.

It’s not personal

Wow, it’s been a week already. I think last week was the longest week I could remember in a long time. *shrug*

I had a chance to have lunch with some of my (now former) co-workers Friday and someone remarked, “Wow, you’re handling this so WELL!”

Well, not really …

I’ve put on a semi-happy face when people are around, but sitting at home by myself, I’ll admit it’s hard not to feel down. I’ve lost all interest in my sites and have for the most part been ignoring my feeds and pretty much all social networks.

I was talking to a friend earlier today and noted that Friday there were some who I’d worked with or for who couldn’t seem to bring themselves to speak to me. I’m sure my getting laid off then being back in the office so soon after made things “weird” for some people. I kept telling myself, “It’s not personal. It was a financially driven decision that had nothing to do with my performance.” (Hell, I even have that in writing!)

But that’s just it … it IS personal. I loved that job. I loved the people I worked with. I even loved some of my customers. I took my job very seriously and always, every day, did my absolute best with pride. How could I not take it personally when I’m told that my position has been “eliminated” and to, “Get your crap and get out.”

Ok, they didn’t really say the last part, but it’s the same if you ask me.

And so I’m taking it personally. I’ve snapped at my family. I’ve cried every time I’d hear from one of my co-workers. I’ve cried every time I’d hear from one of my customers (one of whom gave me an absolute glowing recommendation this weekend). I’ve felt even worse when I check all my job feeds and see no new postings.

And at this point, part of me wishes I had gone into the medical field … there’s never a shortage of jobs over there!

So yeah, I’m not out of “the funk” just yet …

Here I go again … I’ve just been laid off

I’ve always said that you know the situation is bad if you’re called into a meeting and both your supervisor and the head of HR are attending.

That was exactly the case today. I was just about to grab my things and head out to lunch and my boss came by to ask me if I could meet with him for a moment. My first thought was “Am I in trouble?” but couldn’t think of anything I’d done recently to piss anyone off. (actually I’ve been on my best behavior for the most part lately, trying to be a better role model employee and all that … pity)

I sat down at the table and could read the upside-down print on the paper being held by one of the HR people sitting across from me. I read the word “severance” and knew instantly that this wasn’t a good thing. Sure enough, the division has started another round of cutbacks and I’m one of them. I don’t remember much about what all was said to me, but I think I understood most of it.

I remember what irritated me the most: my name was misspelled on the documents. I commented that I knew I was low on the totem pole because half the division could never learn (or make the effort) to spell my name properly. I was assured that wasn’t the case, this was not a reflection of my work, et cetera, et cetera, …

It still stings though. And to be honest, when the state started cutting back last year and then the hiring freeze came, and then they said no raises or bonuses, et. al., I knew that a “low level” position like mine (as compared to the rest of my department) could possibly be cut.

So now here I am … again. Jobless. Feeling a little down, yes, but trying not to be.

I’m sitting here looking over my resume, but honestly I keep thinking about all the designs I did for them that will probably never be used — I really wish I had had the chance to back them up on disk first!

Oh well, at least ONE of my designs are on a public site, and I can put that on my resume.

So … anyone who had my work email address, please email my gmail or nickifaulk.com address from now on.

Oh … and I need a job.

I got a job!!!!!!

I received great news from <prospective hopeful> … I’m hired!!!! I went in yesterday to fill out paperwork and will start orientation on Monday. (HIPAA, security, etc. training … it’s been a while!)

You are now looking at the newest Web Designer for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. :mrgreen:

YAY!!!! I got a job!!!!!!

hehehe … can you tell I’m excited?

I’ll be doing a lot of Sharepoint work in the new job, pretty much brushing up on my ASP and picking up .NET and Sharepoint development — something that I’ve wanted to do for a while but never had the means or opportunity. This is WAY too sweet to pass up. (And I’ve wanted to work for this place for a long time and have heard great things about them!)

I had every intention of posting this last night when I finally got home, but it was late and I had the biggest headache. ??:

Anyways, I’m so happy to have a job again and will be getting out of the house! LOL!!

Slept so long

Had a busy day yesterday … two interviews, pretty much back-to-back, on two opposite sides of town. I was on the go pretty much all day yesterday. By the time I got in last night I crashed … and crashed hard.

I have such a good man … Jim woke me up around 10 or so last night by leaning over and making faces at me until I opened my eyes. LOL! I had forgotten to take my medicine before going to bed, so he elected to wake me — in his usual “special” way.

And boy was I tired! Night before, I think I was so afraid of oversleeping that I was waking up about every hour and would sit up to check the time on the clock. I finally got up 30 minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off so I could get ready. I slept through Jim getting up and getting ready this morning and finally woke up when the phone rang around 9:30.

I’m surprised I heard it, LOL!

Both interviews went pretty well. One of them has already called me back for a second one Monday morning. Still no update from <prospective hopeful> yet. At this rate, I’ll most likely have an offer from another company before the proverbial red tape (or whatever the hold up is) is cleared. Oh well, can’t complain … I need a job. ;P

I had just over 300 new entries in my Google Reader this morning … I think it’s time to clear out some more feeds. LOL I don’t think I read but about a quarter of them. Most of the tech feeds I skipped over … a good majority was about the hubbub on Digg anyways.

I’m in the process of uploading some old photos to my Zooomr account now. I had been meaning to do this for ages, and now since I have the time and have organized most of them, I can upload and arrange into sets as needed (I do LOVE that feature!).

I <3 Zooomr

On Craigslist and job ads

I try to run by Craigslist at least once a week, if anything but for a good laugh at some of the ads that I see posted there. Once in a while I’ll see a legitimate posting, but for the most part they’re spams, scams, or “questionable” at best. But then again, those are sometimes the ones that are really funny. For instance, I saw one that said:

Are you waiting for an oppurtunity for electronic check processing ads?

Grab the ripe occasion
Check this out: ((snipped link))

Compensation: Various

When will they ever learn to use the spellcheck function? And what is “grab the ripe occasion”?? LOL!!! There was a huge gaudy image with additional text, but it won’t load now so I’m guessing that the hosting server is down, or the account was killed for spamming. :roll:

Like I said, once in a while you’ll run across a legitimate posting — after all, that’s how I found my last job. *shrug* (Read into that what you will … )

Weekend update

I have job news — well, sort of. I was told Wednesday by <prospective hopeful> that I was being hired on, and that they would get in touch with me as to when to come in to do pre-employment and the pee test and that they were hoping to get me in (working?) as soon as Monday. But, I’m assuming that there must be a hold up, because I haven’t heard from them since. So, I can’t share anything yet … in the meantime I have an interview Monday with another company that seems really interested. At this point I can’t sit around and wait any longer.

Jessie’s mother is in Talladega this weekend, so Jess has stayed with us. She and I went yesterday over to see my folks. I saw Dad for just a few minutes, but he didn’t say much. Mom tells me that his results from last week’s biopsies came back as skin cancer, but they haven’t spread, so they’re going to take a place off his face and off his chest. She also told me that they finally sold their house and will be closing on it soon. I think Jessie was more upset about that than anything, LOL. There’s no pool at their new house.

We had a good time though, and it was good to just sit and visit with Mom like I used to. It was such a pretty day out, not very hot, very breezy, great for relaxing … and getting the crap burned out of you. ;P I had slathered Jessie down pretty good with sunscreen and had done so on myself for my face and neck, but forgot to do my arms. I thought “No biggie, we’re not staying long.”

Well, this is what happens to me after an hour out with no sunscreen — my dumb ass won’t be forgetting that shit again!

Ow, it hurts!

And so I’m spending today wincing in pain when I move my arms, or if they touch something (LOL!), catching up on the past 2 days worth of news feeds and other fun email stuff. I had a friend email me with an offer of Jimmy Buffett tickets for one of his shows this summer. I wish! Too bad he’s not playing anywhere down here any time soon. I’d love to see him in concert.

Today is also “cleaning day.” Jessie’s pouted and moped all morning, mad because I’m making her do her chores (that she didn’t do Friday or yesterday) today and that we’re “not going anywhere fun” today. LOL!

Oh well, hate it for her.

She made the comment, “I feel like I’m cleaning every DAY and it all just keeps getting dirty again!” I chuckled and said, “Welcome to my world.” :lol:

Birmingham/Huntsville Bloggers April Meetup, and A-Day this Saturday!

Had a blast at last night’s meetup, and will hopefully be able to attend the next one! I think Mr. Antisocial himself even had a good time. (aka Jim, LOL!)

In attendance were:

• TD of The Right Track and his lovely wife — it turns out that Mrs. TD works in the same building as <prospective hopeful>, and so if everything works out and I get that job, that’s someone else there that I’ll know, YAY!

• Jeremy of Forlorn Hope

• Sniper One of 7.62mm Justice and his absolutely adorable son

• Julie of Degree of Madness

• Carol of Alabama Improper and her guest (I’m so sorry, I cannot remember your name!)

Sniper One was kind enough to provide a few snapshots of last night’s meeting here.

There are a couple of good shots of me and Jim, I think I’ll ask him if I snag them for use on this site.

So now I’m sitting here making out a “to do” list for today and tomorrow in preparation for the trip to T’town this Saturday. The lovely Teresa and her hubby are cooking out before the A-Day game.

Anyone else ready for football season to begin? I am. :mrgreen:

You know me and those wild hairs, LOL

I was looking at my site this morning and decided that I hadn’t really ~truly~ mucked it up in a while, so I spent the better part of this evening re-arranging several things in my menu, sidebar, and combined a couple of pages — including the stuff you’ll see on the front page of the site. I also added a couple of custom category pages earlier today, the latest being Sweet Home Alabama.

I’m still having problems sleeping lately — I know it’s stress. So until the job thing works out, I’m staying up late and sleeping only a couple hours or so at night, then nap (if I’m lucky) a little during the day. It’s messing up my internal clock a little, but I think once I get a job, it will be pretty easy to get back on track. (Usually it only takes me a weekend to “get right.”)

So, in the meantime, I’m channel surfing and cursing the crappy things they’re currently showing on Adult Swim. I think I might run to the grocery store, or maybe Wal-Mart … I’ve been meaning to run and get a cordless phone battery for the upstairs phone anyways.

Besides, Wal-Mart people are ALWAYS entertaining! LOL :wink:

Weekend wrapup

Had a fun weekend and a pretty good birthday overall. We spent most of yesterday with friends. Then headed to Jim’s mom’s house and spent the afternoon and evening with his brother and his family. We all got together and swung by the bowling alley in Fultondale and had a good time there. I realized something about myself — apparently bowling is like playing pool: I play better when drinking. LOL! The kids all played one game and we adults played two … I never broke 100 in either. LOL! Oh well, so I suck as a bowler. ;P

After that, we went back to Jim’s mom’s place for pizza and movies then came home. My brother called to wish me a happy birthday right as we were walking in the door, so it was great hearing from him. I think my dad is supposed to swing by my house tonight to drop off my card. I missed a Ladies Night Out meetup Friday night, but luckily we are having another in a couple of weeks.

A quick reminder: The Birmingham & Huntsville Bloggers meetup is this Wednesday!

So far Jessie is enjoying her Spring Break. We’ve watched Animal Planet all morning. She’s really looking forward to the A-Day game this weekend. I’ve got to start stockpiling a few things to take with us Saturday: a cooler, drinks, blankets, snacks, etc. At some point I’ll need to pick up a kit with emergency supplies (just in case).

The job search still goes on … my thanks to those who’ve had me in their thoughts and prayers. Just about everyone I talked to this weekend asked if I’d heard from <prospective hopeful> — not yet, but I’m hoping it’s SOON!

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