Looooooooong Overdue Award Posting!

My heart goes out to Maxmom Caryl and her family.  Her sweet Max passed over the rainbow bridge today.  I truly had come to love him as if he were my own dog so the loss feels just as devestating.  My heart also goes out to Cocorue.  She and her sister, Tiffane, lost their human daddy recently.

Waaaaay back in March, Fiesty Three were kind enough to pass on an award to me.  Only I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong and how to paste the code correctly and stuff so I didn't post it.  And now I've FINALLY figured it out!  Yay me!

Thanks to the Fiesty Three and I hope you didn't think I was ignoring it or had forgotten about it!  Shiver is quite the fiesty little guy so this award is most appropriate for him.  Chico is the sweetest little chihuahua that there ever was so Shiver'll have to give him a few lessons on fiestiness.

Mr. Spring decided he was a little too busy visiting other parts of the country on Saturday, I guess.  Either that or Mr. Winter came along and bribed him 'cause Mr. Spring was nowhere to be seen!  I woke up to a rain/snow mix.  A little bit later, it turned into big flakes.  And then it turned into itty bitty flakes which quickly began to pile up.  I was not a happy camper, y'all's!  (See how I did that whole double contraction thingie there?  Yeah, they don't teach that shit in school, you gotta be really smart to know how to pull that off!)  After awhile, the rain came along to wash it all away.  And then it snowed some more.

Friday was a really bad day!  About 12:30 or so, I got a call from the title company telling me that I didn't get the job.  Basically it all came down to experience.  Or rather, my lack of.  But seriously, how are you supposed to get experience if nobody is willing to hire you?  So after a good cry at the devastation of losing a job that I sooooooooo desperately wanted, I hopped in the car and drove to the post office.  As if I wasn't already feeling bad enough about myself, I got a rejection letter from another company I'd interviewed for.  My self-esteem was at an all time low! 

I've applied and applied and applied for jobs.  Some of the jobs I was aware that I didn't have the experience for, yet applied anyway.  In some cases I got an interview and in other cases I didn't.  In those instances I was ok with not getting an interview.  But I've applied to several places where I had all of the qualifications listed in the ad and yet my phone never rings!  Yes, I realize there is an economic recession going on right now but if I have all of the qualifications, I don't understand why I'm not being considered!

After much crying and soul-searching, I've decided I'm really going to do everything I can now to get into school.  Apparently the skills that I have are not what employers are looking for right now.  I've already applied for financial aid so I just have to wait to hear back.  I'm praying that this will work out and that I'll be able to just focus on school without having to worry about working (since I can't get a job as it is) and still be able to pay my mortgage.

One of my new favorite bloggers, P, likes to create lists of things not to do.  I'm going to kind of follow her lead today and make a list for employers of things TO do.

*Call me back after I've left you voice mails!  I've never had a job where it was ok for me to just ignore phone calls from people.  I realize you're busy so I only call twice.  I call to follow up on a lot of jobs and almost always have to leave voice mails.  99% of the time, I have to leave a voice mail and 99% of the time, those voice mails are ignored.  It really makes me lose a lot of respect for you when you can't be bothered to make a quick 2 minute phone call to me.

*There's no need to be condescending towards me in an interview!  If I don't have the experience you're looking for, you should already be well aware of that fact just by looking at my resume.  Being rude to me not only let's me know that I won't be getting the job but it also let's me know that I wouldn't want to work for you anyway.  And just so you know, I'm going to tell my friends and family about the poor treatment I received from you.  Not only does it reflect poorly on you, it reflects poorly on your business as well.

*I'm expected to do a little research prior to the interview, you should too!  Some of the interviews I've been to have just shot one question after another at me and I barely have time to breathe, let alone think, in between questions.  And others - well, the employers hardly ask anything at all.  I don't know if this means you're just not interested or you just aren't very good at interviews.  If you really don't have much to ask, consider doing some research online about what to ask.  I'm expected to research your company ahead of time and ask questions, you could research a few questions.  I hate really short interviews because I can never really get a good feel about how it went.  But then again, maybe that's the whole point?!

*Don't schedule me for an interview and then not interview me!  This has happened to me twice.  In both instances, the employer found someone they wanted to hire before they finished interviewing all of the candidates.  One called and told me before I came in, the other did not.  I don't understand why an employer wouldn't want to interview ALL prospective candidates.  You've already got the interview scheduled and who knows, I may turn out to be a better fit than the person you've hired!  Only you'll never know because you didn't bother to interview me.  (This hasn't happened recently, but it has actually happened to me!)

*If you say you're going to call everyone you've interviewed to let them know one way or the other, then do it!  Almost every single interview I've been on says they'll get back with me either way and yet, the vast majority never do.  If I really want the job, then I'll call to check and usually have to leave a voice mail which is usually ignored.  A letter will do if you don't want to make that dreaded phone call!

Some things not to do if you're a friend of someone looking for work, especially if you personally make over $3000 a month after taxes:

*Not understand that I can't survive on minimum wage.  And then proceed to ask me if I can't cut some things out.  Like what, power?  I have exactly one luxury item at the moment which is satellite tv.  The reason I haven't given that up is because even if I cancelled the service, I'd still have to pay a cancellation fee along with my regular monthly service fee until the contract is up so I might as well keep it and just avoid the cancellation fee all together. 

*Don't ask me if I've gone shopping, out to eat or seen any good movies lately.  I'm not sure where you think I'd get the $ to pay for such things since you're very well aware I don't have a job!

*Don't ask if I have any money to lend you.  You make over $3000 a month after taxes!  And you're single and childless!  I don't know what you do with all that money or how it's possible that you never seem to have any but I've lived quite comfortably on considerably less and didn't borrow from you!  Yes, this was a one time occurrence but you know I don't have a job and that I just barely make ends meet every month.  And then don't make me feel bad about it when I tell you no!

*Don't give me unsolicited career advice, especially poor unsolicited career advice, and then try and make me feel bad when I don't follow it!  I'm not going to apply to any and every job I see regardless of the pay, whether of not I have an interest in doing that type of work and whether or not I have the experience.  I cannot afford to live on minimum wage so I'm not going to apply for those kinds of jobs.  I'm also not going to apply to become a plumber if I have no interest in that profession and I'm certainly not going to apply to work as a doctor if I don't have the medical training!  Yes, some places provide on the job training but there are certain jobs, such as a doctor, where you MUST have some schooling first!  NO SELF-RESPECTING HOSPITAL IS GOING TO HIRE SOMEONE OFF THE STREET TO BE A DOCTOR WITHOUT THEM FIRST HAVING SOME KIND OF VERIFIABLE MEDICAL EDUCATION!!!!!!!  (Yes, she and I had this argument once!)

*Criticize the way I choose to conduct my job search.  Just because I might not do it exactly the way you would, doesn't mean that I'm doing it wrong.  Yes, I choose to do a large portion of it over the internet but that's not the only way I look for work!  Contrary to what you might believe, I also look in two separate newspapers, I ask around and yes, I even go into stores and apply sometimes!  You prefer online dating and while I would never consider doing that, I don't criticize you for it!

That's enough lessons for today!