Day #140

As you may remember (or as you may read if you look back one entry), the last time I wrote I had just accepted two jobs...one full-time (not graphic design) and one part-time (graphic design).

After working both jobs for the past few months, I am happy to announce that the part-time graphic design job officially became my full-time job, and today was the first day. The original full-time job is no longer employing me as I handed in my two weeks notice just over two weeks ago.

I have learned a lot during my stay at the non-design job, aside from the obvious of learning about the company and how to do the job I was hired for. One thing I learned is what it means to work someplace you know you aren't meant to be working at. I'm a graphic designer, and I have found that I become rather unhappy when working in a call center. Don't think I didn't appreciate having a job, or that the job was the worst thing ever...it was actually a rather easy job with good benefits, and the people I worked with were very awesome and nice. However, it wasn't graphic design and there was no creativity whatsoever, so I was never "satisfied".

I also learned that I am NOT cut out for customer service. I can handle the majority of the customers well enough, but it only took one exceptionally angry person to leave me crying at my desk. Embarrassing, stressful, and it happened more than once. For the love of cheese, people, don't take your frustrations out over the phone. Chances are, you're yelling at the wrong person and possibly ruining their day. Also, being yelled at just once gave me a case of anxiety before going in to work for a good week or two afterwards...and let me tell you, that much stress before a 10 hour day of work is not fun.

Regardless, I am no longer working there. As thankful I was to get that job, I am just as thankful to leave after discovering it wasn't really the job for me. I apologize to everyone who has had to deal with my complaining, stress, and tears. Believe me when I tell you, I had no idea it would be like that...however, I am completely thankful to the people who helped me get the job. I'd be living in a cardboard box behind the dumpster if I hadn't gotten the job, and while I didn't much enjoy my time there, I appreciate what was done to get me there and what I learned as well.

I am now looking forward to making everything I can of the new job. It's technically freelance, but it's full-time. I work for a person, not a corporation, and I like what I'm doing. It's relaxed, fun, and full of opportunities. This job also looks like it's going to last longer than a few months.

So now, on day one hundred and forty of The Unemployed Graphic Designer blog, I am a re-employed graphic designer. I do believe that brings an official end to this blog...

A few last words before I bring this to a close...

• Don't let unemployment defeat you. Keep busy, keep happy, and keep looking!
• Don't be afraid to take the unglamorous non-graphic design (or whatever your specialty is) job. Do what you have to, you can return to what you love when the economy gets back on it's feet.
• Don't give up!

I think that just about wraps it up. I hope things turn around for everyone sooner rather than later...until then, goodbye and good luck!

Day #43

let's start with this:

Jobs applied to: 21
Responses: 7
Interviews: 5
Jobs offered: 2

yep, two jobs offered...and i accepted both! on top of the part-time freelance position that i mentioned last entry, i also got the customer service position. it's full-time seasonal, and it pays decently. there are even optional benefits. ironically, the first day is on my birthday. i've also been offered another part-time freelancing position, but i'm turning that down because i just don't have the time. another of my previous jobs called today to offer me some work as well, but again...no time. kinda strange considering that for about a month, i had no luck finding any work. all of a sudden, i'm slammed! regardless, it's nice to have money coming in again.

the part-time gig seems like it's going to work out quite nicely. the guy is looking to hire full-time eventually, so i have that to look forward to. in the meantime, working two jobs will allow me to catch up on all my bills in record time. still waiting on payment from a previous freelance job and my tax return...those two items should set me ahead nicely as well.

as of March 30th, i will have a full-time job. that will be day #49 of The Unemployed Graphic Designer blog. considering how that makes me technically employed, i suppose this blog is coming to it's end...of course, i'm not exactly doing full-time design at the moment, so i suppose the blog will be on more of a hiatus. i will update if and when any job news comes through (full-time design, etc).

to all the other unemployed souls out there, don't give up! keep looking! i know it seems hopeless sometimes, but somewhere out there is a job for you. it may not be exactly what you want to do, but there will be time to pursue your interests when the jobs come back. good luck and goodbye (for now)!

Day #36

i didn't update for a while again...i know...but i have a REALLY good excuse this time!

i've been absolutely buried in freelance and interviews! that's a legitimate excuse for not updating my unemployment blog, right? oh, and check this out:

Jobs applied to: 21
Responses: 6
Interviews: 4
Jobs offered: 1

yeah, i was offered a job! now, before anyone gets all excited, it's a part time freelance gig. it's not full-time, i don't get benefits, and there is no guarantee it'll last. so, i'm technically still unemployed. however, i'll be working for this place all day tomorrow, and hopefully that will be a good thing...i need to get to know the guy i'm doing the work for, and then find out if i can continue to work for him.

i've also picked up freelance work from my last job...i've been working on that the past couple of days. my boss there said that he needs me back, but due to a retarded policy of the parent company, no one who has been laid off can be rehired. he's going to talk with HIS boss about that though, so we'll see what happens there.

had a phone interview today with a place hiring for customer service. it's not graphic design, but it is full-time...although it's only seasonal. certainly better than nothing! scored a "real" interview on Thursday, so i apparently did well on the phone interview today. if i can get this job, PLUS work up the freelance stuff, i could be doing quite well financially very soon. of course, by "quite well" i mean i can pay my bills and not have a panic attack when i look at my savings account.

regardless, things are looking up. i'm happier and more hopeful. can't wait for things to go back to normal...and STAY that way!

Day #29

yet again, i've slacked on the updates.

it's now been a month since i was laid off. my insurance is gone. i'm still unemployed.

Jobs applied to: 21
Responses: 4
Interviews: 2
Jobs offered: 0

as you can see, i have now been on 2 interviews...that second one was today. it was for a fashion design position at a hat company. i know i'm not a fashion designer, and i don't know diddly squat about hats (aside from the fact that they go on your head), but the man i spoke to said that mostly graphic designers were applying and that was ok. so i went for it. the interview went quite well, and lasted a long time. my only problem is that the job will most likely demand things from me that i'm not currently comfortable with. i am a soft spoken girl, but the job would require me to push products and be a salesperson, as well as do presentations for large groups. these things scare the bejeezus out of me. i'm not sure if the guy could tell that from the interview, but i suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

applied to a bunch more jobs today. most of them were sent to me by a friend of mine, since she was home sick (and apparently bored, haha). we'll see if anything new pops up.

finished redoing my portfolio site. it really needed a facelift, so that was good to get out of the way. i also decided to start paying for hosting so there will be no more stupid ads at the top of my site.

i've been keeping a check list of things i can do to keep busy. it was pretty long when i first made it, and now it's been whittled down pretty far. i need to make sure i always have something to do...even if i lose motivation and don't want to work on anything, at least there is something to go to when the motivation comes back. boredom will most certainly lead to feeling depressed, and we don't want that.

i've also been breaking my own rule about waking up at a decent time. shame on me, i know. had to wake up early today for the interview, but yesterday i didn't wake up til about noon. granted, we just had DST kick the clock forward an hour...but still.

i need nicer weather. i want to go outside and be distracted, but it's either rainy or cold out there.

i guess that's it for now. i'm out of things to talk about. i doubt i'll have anything interesting to talk about until i get a job.

Day #23

I've skipped quite a few days this time. Sorry.

Nothing happened Friday...nothing job-related, anyhow. I made the day a social day and drove to a friend's house for the afternoon.

Monday was not a good day for me. I had decided to work on my portfolio website, since it's something that needs to be done. After a few hours of tinkering with that, I received an email from a friend I had contacted about a possible job. She replied that the one open position had been filled, but she'd look around and see if any other locations were hiring. Granted, it wasn't a graphic design job...but I'd gotten my hopes up for actually being employed with a decent wage, nice insurance, and something to fill my long days. Apparently, this was the straw that broke the camel's back, because I spent the rest of the afternoon crying. Then evening came, and I pretty much had a panic attack on the phone with my boyfriend. Poor guy...didn't even have any warning. Within seconds of me picking up his call, I was hyperventilating, crying, and just freaking out in general. He managed to calm me down after a couple hours of chatting, and I spent a few more hours staying up with a self-induced migraine and stomach ache.

Stress is so much fun.

Tuesday, I treated myself to some coffee and yogurt at the local coffee place since I knew I needed out of my apartment. Stayed there for about an hour, then came home and got to work. Finished up some logo comps for a freelancing project, and I worked on my site a little more. Then the amazing boyfriend came by to deliver an application, feed me pizza, and keep me company with a movie. (Tired of hearing about the boyfriend yet? Too bad. He's a big part of why I'm still sane.) No panic attacks, so Tuesday was a pretty good day.

That brings us to today...Wednesday. Another good day, even though I still don't have a job. Received an email from a former employer saying that they had been contacted by one of the places I'd applied to. I will be calling or emailing the place tomorrow to see if I can land an interview. The application I filled out from my boyfriend was hand-delivered by his manager to HR, so that's cool. Almost finished my website today, which was a triumph considering I had to teach myself how to use a javascript that would allow me to stylishly show off my work. Now I just have to finish getting the images of my work ready.

I haven't run out of things to work on yet, but sometimes I find I really don't want to do anything. It's very frustrating trying to keep myself motivated every day. I'm realizing that I could probably never work solely from home...I've never had a problem getting my work done at an actual job, but when I'm the only person around to tell me what to do, well, I just don't want to listen to myself.

Keep your fingers crossed that I will score an interview in the next couple days!

Day #17

I have skipped yet another day of writing here...but I have an excuse this time!

Basically, nothing job-related happened yesterday.

I went to the dentist, had my teeth cleaned, had 2 cavities taken care of, and went home with half a numb face. Walked to the post office and mailed a ton of tax stuff out. Decided I'd done enough that day and watched hulu til I was tired.

Today, however, was a little more productive job-wise.

I contacted my visual insurance carrier, got the information needed to submit the claim, walked to the print place down the road to get a copy of my receipt, stuck everything in an envelope, walked to the post office, and mailed it. Had some coffee, came home, and received an email from one of the places I'd applied to (yes!), and responded. Every time I got another email, I jumped up and was quickly disappointed...they have not responded to my response. Hopefully I'll hear from them soon.

Made plans to hang out with a friend tomorrow, so that's good. Also watched Religulous today, and absolutely loved it. Worked on freelance a little more...I really need to get on my freelance stuff a bit. Every time I think I'll work on it, I suddenly don't feel like it. I need to get over that and stop complaining about feeling unmotivated. One thing I learned in college is that no matter how unmotivated you feel about working on a project, once you start working on it, you get on a roll and you're fine.

Also figure I should start adding this bit of info in:
Jobs applied to: 14
Responses: 3
Interviews: 1
Jobs offered: 0

I guess when "Jobs offered" becomes any number besides "0," this blog will effectively end...since I'd no longer be unemployed and such. I may not be a graphic designer though...hmmm....

That's about it for today. I'm going to push myself to work on another freelance project for a bit, and then call it a night.

Day #15

I did not write on Friday or Monday. I'm a horrible person, I know. You poor people that have been reading this are just dying to know what happened to those days!

Well, not a whole lot honestly.

I don't even remember what I did on Friday, so that tells you how exciting that day was. I believe I did some quick job searching, came up fruitless, worked on a little freelance, and then ran off to spend the weekend at the boyfriend's.

Monday was my dentist appointment. I only have two cavities: my old one that has a filling has apparently continued to decay, and there is one small new one. I'll be getting those both taken care of tomorrow (Wednesday). Not too bad, considering I haven't been to the dentist in over 5 years. I also researched a company a friend pointed me toward, and fixed up my cover letter and resume to send out to them. Towards the evening, I lost all motivation and ended up watching TV online. A friend called, and I ended up chatting with her for a bit.

Today, I mailed out bills and tax stuff, as well as the aforementioned cover letter and resume. I did another job search and applied to one place. Kind of sad that I only found one new place to send my information to...

Took some time to chill out and listen to music, ate some dinner, and then sat down to work on some more freelance stuff. That brings us to now, with me typing up this new blog post.

I think I've realized another reason why being unemployed is so god damned depressing for me. I rarely talk to ANYONE throughout my day. Today, I said maybe 10 words to the ladies who handle my parking fees, had a short conversation with my mother, and I chatted with the boyfriend for a half hour. Yesterday, I talked to the dentist, two friends, and my boyfriend. Most days, the only person I speak to all day is the boyfriend for a little in the evening. Sometimes I'll chat online with someone, but usually not, as I'm trying to not get distracted from things I'm supposed to be doing. Weekends are like a party for me, since I get to interact with more than a couple people for a few days.

I really need a job. Aside from the fact that I need the money to pay bills, I need the interaction to stay sane!