Wanted: A Job...
er, Make that a Positionby Terry Ward

I'M BEGINNING TO THINK THAT I LIVE IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. For months now, I've been bombarded by media reports of a fabulous job market. Unemployment the lowest in years...etc., etc.. Hmmm. Did I miss a hidden code or something?

My search for a job began at sort of a slow trickle. February 7, 1997 was my final day as a server in Woodbridge, Virginia. I knew that I would be moving home to Owego and I wanted a few weeks to pack up my house. My mother, always one to want people working to full capacity, sent me an ad for a Civil Service job. Sounds good, I thought. I applied to take the exam and planned to move home the day before the test.

I hadn't really given much thought to what I would do when I moved back

home. I had toyed with the idea of staying home until my sons were finished with their teenaged angst. Practicality won out, however, or rather the mounting pile of NYS Higher Education notices on my school loans. Back to work it would be. But this time with a difference. I had decided that the time had come when I had to make a stand and do SOMETHING with my degree. My criteria for a suitable job was that it had to be one that I could stay with for many years to come, one that I could build into a career. I had worked hard to get a Master's Degree, and now I was going to use what I had learned. Armed with an education, years of volunteer service to various organizations, experience, and good references, I went in search of that elusive quarry, a decent job.

From March to May, I was busy settling my house, but found time to do

some searches for Civil Service jobs. I filled out the applications to take the exams. Mostly, I got myself organized.

May. The real work began. The first thing that I did was to compile all of the addresses for every school district that I could find within a fifty mile driving radius. Then came the resumes. I don't have a computer, so every one needed to be hand-typed. Amazing that I failed the Clerk-Typist Exam for Tioga County. I didn't get an actual count, but at last glance, I had applied to about fifty school districts.

Trust me, the application process for these didn't stop with a cover letter and resume. Oh, no. Every district has its own little pile of paperwork to fill out. It would probably be safe to say that for every district that I applied to, I spent about five hours on the materials

to complete the process. I had finished with these by the last week of June.

July - August: I broke down and started getting the "Binghamton Press." I have never liked the bias of this newspaper, but, I did need the classified section, so... Thus began the daily ritual of looking through the classifieds and running to the typewriter. School districts that I had never heard of before popped up here and there and were duly applied to. I had had experience as an Adjunct Instructor in a community college, so I made sure that I had applied to every college that I could realistically drive to. News came that I had passed two of the Civil Service Exams. I was now officially on the list of candidates. I continued to look for Civil Service jobs, though not as faithfully as I had. Academics took up most of my search time during this period.

September. The realization that I wouldn't have a teaching job this year hits. OK. Time to look at othe resources. College Administrative jobs bloom during this period. I applied for the ones in which I had some experience. I branched out in the Civil Service arena. I expanded my search to Tompkins and Broome Counties. I still looked at the classifieds faithfully each day.

October. More of the same. This is the point at which desperation sets in. Would I ever find a job?

November. Few straws left to grasp. Christmas was coming and I wanted to at least have a little extra money for the festivities. I decided to look into waitressing jobs again. At least the money would be good and it would help to keep me going until I found what I was looking for. No such luck. The first, and might I add, only job that I was offered during my search was as a waitress in a restaurant with little business, working nights and Christmas. Not worth it, I decided. I had come this far. I could wait it out longer. I was lucky. My husband has a good job and we can pay most of the bills until I find work.

I was really downhearted at this point. I had applied for over two hundred jobs. What was wrong with me? Even my kids began to ask me that. The tension breaker came the last week of November. I had interviewed for a Teacher's Aide position. There were very few applicants and I felt sure that the interviewing committee was impressed with me. I was certain that I had the job.

"...we have chosen another candidate..." As I read that rejection letter, I started laughing. The whole thing had gotten to the point of the ridiculous. I had been turned down for so many jobs, jobs that I was well qualified for, that it was actually funny. The moment of decision had come and it was up to me. I could be depressed and quit, or laugh, and keep going. I chose the laughter.

I'm still looking for a job. It's almost a hobby now. You get hooked.

When the time is right, I've decided, God in His infinite wisdom will plop the right job in my lap. Until then, I've decided that I'm going to take up another hobby. This year I'm going to change my looks. I'm going to turn myself into a "Bond Girl" (Bond, as in, James Bond).

Hey, it's my alternate universe, it's cold outside, and I'm jobless. I can dream, can't I?