The Call

This unemployment thing is getting old. I have now been without a full-time job since December, the kids will be going back to school on Wednesday and I swore that I thought I would have something by then. The embarrassment of it all kills me. This summer, I could focus on being a partial "stay at home" mom. There's nobility in that. Now that the kids are in school, I'm just staying at home. Kind of lazy, unless I consider the options and the two options are cleaning and cleaning. (Just thinking about it makes me shudder.)

It's been very hard to find a full time job that pays enough for child care. Even with the kids in school, most daycare centers charge almost as much for school-aged kids as they do for the little ones. I suppose this covers the costs of "Early out" days and days off. I do get calls for interviews for jobs that I am over-qualified for and get nothing from anything else. I am applying for 4-8 jobs every week. (I would apply for more, but I am not a registered nurse or a shadow shopper) I am surprised at the jobs that I don't get calls on at all. For one position I applied for, I had two well-connected people send in letters of recommendation for me, I followed up with a phone call after I dropped off my resume, and I STILL didn't get a phone call for an interview. I would be fine with not getting the job, but based on two recommendations, I would have thought I would have been able to get a foot in the door. (Who would want to work for such rude people anyway?)

I do think that a lot of people look at my resume and see RADIO. Well, what else can she do but talk on the radio and play songs and be silly? Well, of course that is what I am good at, but I had the opportunity to work with hundreds of different businesses and charities and help market their messages. Contesting and fundraising and promotion. I know audio production and advertising and from a creative standpoint I'm not just an "out of the box" thinker, I'm a "Hey! It's free! What can we do with the box?" thinker.

So you can imagine how excited I got when I saw a listing on the Nebraska Workforce Development website for an audio production specialist/marketing director. It was a part-time position that could develop into full time. (Great! What's another part-time job?) It didn't pay very well, but I figured "what the heck, if they like me, maybe I could ask for more in a few months." I sent my resume and got a call the next day! I actually got a call!

He wanted to interview me the next day. I still have the kids at home, so I told him it would have to be after school starts on Wednesday. Fine. 2 o'clock. I asked if he had a website, he said that he doesn't, that they are working on one and hope to have one dones soon and if I had any web developement experience, that would be welcome too! And then he told me the address of the office......

In the basement of a building that has an ..... (I'm trying to think of the best way to phrase this) adult pajama store on the first floor. Adult pajamas and accessories. "Hmmmm," I thought to myself. "That's odd. But it is on a hill, maybe the entrance is on the hill and......"

I did some research. And sure enough, this company was the company that owned the ....Adult Pajama and Accessories store! I would be doing audio production and marketing for...an Adult Pajama and Accessories store!!!!!!

I started to think about what if I had never done the research and just walked into the interview. You know how some companies have their products on display in the office, Coca-Cola has logos and posters all over the place, car dealers have mini-models of their vehicles on display? Can you imagine what this office might look like? And I would have just just walked in all dressed in my "Please Hire Me" outfit and made the discovery there. There on the wall, featuring the latest products and accessories! Thank goodness for the internet.

I do feel like I have become a little bit desperate, but a 38-year old mom of three kids can't really bus the kids around from school to soccer practice to Mary Kay party to working at....an Adult Pajama and Accessories Store! Imagine career day at school. My desk at the office, I would have pictures of the kids right next to the latest "product" I needed to showcase. I suppose I would be able to get a discount, which would make shopping for the holidays easier. But all the same, I decided the job wasn't for me.

I called and cancelled the interview. He didn't even ask why. But at least I got the call, so that's something.