On Unemployment

The weekly reminder that I have still not procured employment arrived in the mailbox today. That itty-bitty check from the unemployment office evokes an interesting mix of relief and humiliation. While it helps buy a few bags of groceries, it's definitely not enough to live on. And with my severance pay running out I am glad I have several good prospects in the queue.

The interviewing process is interesting. With the internet available to research prospective employers, knowing what a company is about (the business side) is fairly easy. What is fun is to ferret out is how you would fit into their personnel puzzle. The kinds of questions the interviewer asks you, who else they bring into the interview, how much they expect you to query them all gives you a little clue about how you would work together. Lots to think about. Keeps me busy in my dreams.

The biggest thing I have to keep in mind is to not lose hope. I tend to obsess a little bit if I don't find five or ten new places to send my resume every day. Obsessing can be a good thing when you something constructive to pick to death. When you are depending on the randomness of pixels flying over the net to take your well-defined qualifications to some faceless potential employer, it can be a little bit nerve wracking when you don't hear anything. Ever. I understand the appeal of employers in putting that wall between their HR department (if it's a large enough company) and the hordes. When you're on this end, though, it occasionally feels like they're telling you to "let them eat cake" when there's no response at all.

So hope. Counting my blessings. All the interviews I have had so far have progressed to second interviews. Several of the companies will go through a third round, and I am optimistic that I will get invited. And there's always the five or ten resumes that I will send out tomorrow.