Quickly – I’m going to kick in full-on on Monday. A good friend took me out last night to allow me to bitch and drink on him. We stayed out too late. Today I slept too late, went to the gym to wake myself up and wrote to an old supervisor to check on the reference.
And now? It’s Friday. Let’s go into repression mode and have a nice holiday weekend. But I gotta tell Mom one of these days...
Friday, April 10, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Portend
I am on Idealist, a non-profit job searching site. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but I don’t like the look of my search results:
UPDATE: I hadn't entered the country first. But I think the symbolism of those original search results speaks volumes.
Contract, Full time, Part time, Temporary Nonprofit Jobs within 16 kilometres of New York NY that were posted to the site in English.Uh oh…
Sorry, but there were no matches for your search.
UPDATE: I hadn't entered the country first. But I think the symbolism of those original search results speaks volumes.
Day 2
I didn’t mention this yesterday, but starting yesterday they began some sort of construction in the front of my apartment. I should say – specifically just the length of the front of my apartment building. These last two days I have been awakened by some sort of post-apocalyptic concrete-smashing vehicle cracking and bashing the sidewalk out front which has the added benefit of shaking the foundation of the building to the core, and my bed to boot. I’m not saying that I need to sleep all day, but do I really have to get up at 7:30 in the morning? Is this karma twisting the knife?
Anyway, I’m going to keep the update short today. Last night, I got an email from my past assistant. I shouldn’t really call her an assistant because she didn’t do errands and the like. She basically did the same work I did but also the filing and research and other things I didn’t like to do. I’d love to reprint it in its entirety, but that wouldn’t be quite right. Suffice it to say, she’s devastated and horrified by the situation. And without saying it, she seems a little scared for the direction of the department and scared for herself without me around. The most interesting thing she said was that after I left, she had a meeting with the crazy boss and kind of stood up to her regarding the mistake she was making. She made clear to the boss that I made our work better in more ways than the boss realizes and that things are going to get worse without me there. (The ironic part of the problem is that I used to do a lot of work on my assistant’s work and then let her turn it into the boss directly. This made the boss think that the assistant was doing everything great, and as such they could just do without me. I thought I was being a good supervisor by letting her take credit for things but it ended up getting me fired.) The interesting thing about this conversation is that no one ever stands up to the crazy boss, so for someone in essentially the lowest position in the department to do so took some real courage. And for whatever small consolation this might be, it feels good to know that the person who worked for me really respected our work together. Despite all the times I corrected her or was short with her because of irritation with the boss, or even sometimes irritation with her, she still liked working with/for me. She’s dedicated and motivated – she will do well in her career.
My “you’re fired” papers just came certified mail. I guess they know I’ll be home. For the rest of the day, I’m going to get in touch with my references and perhaps flip through job listings just to get an idea of how things look out there.
Anyway, I’m going to keep the update short today. Last night, I got an email from my past assistant. I shouldn’t really call her an assistant because she didn’t do errands and the like. She basically did the same work I did but also the filing and research and other things I didn’t like to do. I’d love to reprint it in its entirety, but that wouldn’t be quite right. Suffice it to say, she’s devastated and horrified by the situation. And without saying it, she seems a little scared for the direction of the department and scared for herself without me around. The most interesting thing she said was that after I left, she had a meeting with the crazy boss and kind of stood up to her regarding the mistake she was making. She made clear to the boss that I made our work better in more ways than the boss realizes and that things are going to get worse without me there. (The ironic part of the problem is that I used to do a lot of work on my assistant’s work and then let her turn it into the boss directly. This made the boss think that the assistant was doing everything great, and as such they could just do without me. I thought I was being a good supervisor by letting her take credit for things but it ended up getting me fired.) The interesting thing about this conversation is that no one ever stands up to the crazy boss, so for someone in essentially the lowest position in the department to do so took some real courage. And for whatever small consolation this might be, it feels good to know that the person who worked for me really respected our work together. Despite all the times I corrected her or was short with her because of irritation with the boss, or even sometimes irritation with her, she still liked working with/for me. She’s dedicated and motivated – she will do well in her career.
My “you’re fired” papers just came certified mail. I guess they know I’ll be home. For the rest of the day, I’m going to get in touch with my references and perhaps flip through job listings just to get an idea of how things look out there.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Day 1
Welcome! I got fired yesterday. I’d like to say I was laid off because of the economy but that would be misleading (although I'm sure it's related). I don’t need to get into it too deeply because this blog is about moving forward, not looking back, but without sounding bitter or anything, my boss was fucking insane. I had been there for just short of five months, but I was still asking questions about our 70+ programs and she had had enough. (The HR guy summarized it best: “The learning curve that was expected of you was more than you were able to achieve.”) I enjoyed the place and the job, but my boss was giving me heart palpitations from my first day, so maybe it’s for the best? Eh…
So, today I begin charting my experience finding a job in New York City. I have a bachelor of science from a major, well-known university. I have nearly 10 years of professional experience in New York, the last three years spent as a grant writer. Partially the purpose of this journal is to keep those writing chops active, to exercise the muscle as it were.
The day is off to an inauspicious start. I don’t necessarily intend to start applying for jobs straight away. My resume isn’t even updated yet. I need to figure out what I want to do for real this time. I sort of fell backwards into non-profit development because of my experience in the np industry and because some friend of mine said I would be pretty good at it. Now that I’m out altogether I’d really like to take the time to decide what I’d like to do.
Looking on the bright side, the extra free time will give me a chance to take care of some things that I never seem to find the time to do:
I hope you choose to join me on this journey. I’ll try to post at least once a day and I’ll try to keep in entertaining. Maybe sometimes it’ll be about me; maybe sometimes about the economy; maybe sometimes a bitchfest about the government (you can’t teach an old dog new tricks). We’ll see where this leads together.
So, today I begin charting my experience finding a job in New York City. I have a bachelor of science from a major, well-known university. I have nearly 10 years of professional experience in New York, the last three years spent as a grant writer. Partially the purpose of this journal is to keep those writing chops active, to exercise the muscle as it were.
The day is off to an inauspicious start. I don’t necessarily intend to start applying for jobs straight away. My resume isn’t even updated yet. I need to figure out what I want to do for real this time. I sort of fell backwards into non-profit development because of my experience in the np industry and because some friend of mine said I would be pretty good at it. Now that I’m out altogether I’d really like to take the time to decide what I’d like to do.
Looking on the bright side, the extra free time will give me a chance to take care of some things that I never seem to find the time to do:
- read a book
- catch up on my drinking
- reach expert on Guitar Hero
- write the great American novel
- get a dental check-up (before the insurance runs out)
- learn how to write iPhone aps
- tweak my lottery number selection system
- look into grad school
- actively manage my fantasy baseball team
- go to the gym for the first time in months
- figure out what I should have said when they fired me (stay tuned)
- start a new blog (check!)
- catch up with old friends
- send letters to my elected representatives
- learn about The Face Book
- check out Citi Field
- get the recommended 11 hours of sleep per night
I hope you choose to join me on this journey. I’ll try to post at least once a day and I’ll try to keep in entertaining. Maybe sometimes it’ll be about me; maybe sometimes about the economy; maybe sometimes a bitchfest about the government (you can’t teach an old dog new tricks). We’ll see where this leads together.
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