Thursday, March 15, 2012

The not so great "career" search

The great job search begins.  But this time I want to do it differently.
I am so over the shitty job that I don't really enjoy but NEED to take because I'm starving.  I don't want to continually be in this cycle.  I keep getting jobs that are boring to me, don't offer any sort of challenge, don't pay much, and have no growth potential.  I can't imagine I'm the only person that has ever felt this way.

I have an Associate's Degree in Marketing, and am on my way to my Bachelor's Degree in Business Leadership, this shouldn't be too hard of a task.  But it is!  It's overwhelming, stressful, and discouraging.  I'm a smart girl, I have experience, I learn quickly, I like a challenge, PLEASE JUST GIVE ME A CHANCE TO IMPRESS YOU!!  That's what I want to write as my cover letter from now on because essentially, that's what I'm trying to say.  Obviously the economy being in the shape its in isn't helping, but my issues aren't from not being able to find a job that I want so I won't use that as an excuse.  My issue is fidning confidence and feeling like I CAN DO the job I want.   Or maybe it's finding the confidence to believe that somebody will give me the chance.

I've found that I am truly lacking confidence.   This is very strange for me because I am a normally confident person, and I don't get these feelings of inadequacy like I have while reading job posts lately.  I feel like I could do so well if  I could just get my foot in the door, but I can't get a chance to get my foot in the door.  I'm worried that my experience isn't "the right kind,"  whatever the "right kind" is.   I have this overhwelming sense of fear when I look at jobs in the marketing field, which I truly think is the field I want to work in.  I'm so worried that if I do even get an interview, perhaps if the person is offering pity interviews that day, I won't be able to answer any questions right.  What if I don't even know what they mean when they ask things??  I can't be the only person who has read ads and been baffled as to what the hell the job requires a person to do on a daily basis.  Yet I often wonder if some of these ads are just using "big words" that they don't need to be using.  Maybe it makes the company sound better?  Maybe it makes the job sound more important?  I don't know.  But I do know that I don't enjoy it at all.

It's overwhelming reading some job postings and getting confused.  I wish there was a "google translate" button to turn it into "plain english" instead of "I know every industry term and I'm going to use it while writing this."  Is that too much to ask?

 So I'm trying the ususal places in my search.  Craigslist is nice because of the sheer size and the ease of it.  But there are a lot of scams and shitty jobs.  When I say I want a marketing job, I do not mean that I want to cold call people or stand in the mall selling a freakin' fingernail buffing nail file.  Sadly, many of the jobs listed are just that.  I've become a big fan of Indeed and found it to be one of the most beneficial sites so far.  I like the ease of searching and the organization.  I feel like CareerBuilder should be re-named to "staffing companies post here," and Monster has so many damn ads that it's a taks just trying to look at postings.

Being that I'm trying to find a career, not just a "job" this time, I've also been using LinkedIn and Northeastern's Career websites.  They offer a lot of good tips, but many jobs are in Boston, and it's a bit far for me to travel.

But I'm going to keep reading articles to help me make my cover letter's better.  I'm going to keep searching.  I'm going to try to stay postive. And I'm going to TRY like hell, to gain back some of the confidence that I once had ample amounts of.  Wish me luck.

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