Saturday, March 12, 2011

Workin' it

Networking has been on my mind of late. I've told several people that I'm being let go (it feels nicer than saying "laid off") and to please spread the word and let me know if they hear of any leads. And you know what? I know more people than I realized I did. It's because I went to school here, obviously, but it still felt good that I've been able to even have people to mention my plight to. OK, maybe it's not a plight yet.

Yesterday, I was picking up Mr W from his we-don't-have-school-today day care thing, and ran into a woman who has a son about Mr W's age and we were students together in Biology department. She got the job at the Botanic Gardens that I applied for an didn't get an interview for. I am happy for her, as I didn't want the commute, and she no doubt was better qualified for it anyway. But she mentioned that she had thought of me the other day because they were getting a list of people together who had the skills to work on short term projects doing lab work that I can do. We exchanged email addresses, and I sent her a resume as well. I don't want that kind of piecemeal sort of work, but it's always good to have one's credentials on file.

And yesterday, too. I got an email from a person who I consider a mentor, who was on my graduate committee and has helped me with data analyses since I got out of school. He had a person who was trying to use a program that I used and wanted to know if I could give him any pointers to make it work. I put in my two cents' worth and then had the opportunity to share the news that I was going to be let go, blah blah blah.

And with the job I'm really wanting right now, the Biologist one that pays really well and is a FTE job with the government, well, I've found a couple of people who know people there as well. Of all things, my SIL in South Carolina used to work with a woman who now works for the same government agency, in the same building, but a different department, as where this job is located. And I emailed the x because he's a government contractor, and he suggested I email this guy who is also in the same building as the job is located in, and who I just happened to see the other day when Mr W and I were at this hands-on science thing.

It's wacky.

But it makes me feel like I'm doing something towards getting the next job, and that makes me feel calmer. I'm not feeling so urgently like I need to go back to school, but I need to make that decision in the next month or so because the application deadline is May 15th and I'd need time to assemble letters of recommendation, and get official transcripts sent, etc.

We're going to a parade today, the St. Patrick's day parade downtown. I'll take pictures.

4 comments:

  1. What's the saying? It's not what you know, but who you know?? That networking thing is so important in this day and age. Personal recommendations (you seem to have lots of them!) will go far to get "your foot in the door." Let's face it, there's probably more than one "qualified" person out there who might be unstable (shall we say?) or undesirable in some way and an employer would never know it until too late. But because you have such good connections, prospective employers will be able to get recommendations for you from people they can truly rely upon. Sounds to me as if you're in better shape all the time!

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  2. Are you on Linked-In? I hear employers and potential employees are using this service quite a bit to connect with each other. I know it is scarry (remember I got layed off from my teaching job at Century in 2004), but everything really does work out for the best. Just try not to fret too much!

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  3. That six degrees thing, sometimes it can work for you!

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  4. Thanks, all. Mama Pea - it's so true. Just a little leg up is sometimes all that's needed to get to the top of the pile of resumes. Mike, I am on LinkedIn, but haven't done anything but register. That's a good idea. Bellona - I'm amazed at how many connections there are among people!

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Hi, sorry to make the humans do an extra step.