I have a lot of thoughts today, apparently.

[kmase1021]

Today, I signed the offer letter on a new role, after a long stretch of unemployment.   Everyone hang onto your butts, here comes the context!

I lost my job last summer and it was a gigantic one-two punch to my confidence.  I had never been let go from a job before, and I had never been unemployed in my entire professional career! Some days were better than others. Other days were absolutely terrible. Those were the days that I questioned my knowledge, skills, and most of all, my worth.   

Mostly, I felt terrified, as my LinkedIn was full of green bannered "Open to Work" profiles.  Every time I refreshed, a new batch of job seekers bared their souls to the black hole of the internet, begging to be seen, heard, and given the chance to prove themselves.  People who have exhausted all of their options, faced homelessness or their utilities being shut off, all while raising children, or caring for elderly parents.  I realized I was joining a pool of tens, if not hundreds of thousands of job seekers. 

So, I got to work.

I updated my resume and LinkedIn profile. I joined every job board that I could think of, and found several new ones.  I added skills, job histories, profile pictures and biographies to every account that I created.  I kept track of every application that I sent, scoured my network for referrals, and spent countless hours doom scrolling job sites, just to see the same roles get posted and reposted over and over again.  I did everything "the right way".

I tailored my resume using the same language as the job descriptions. I spent hours researching how to make my bullet points stand out.  The recycle bin on my laptop must have over 50 versions of my resume.  I repeated this process daily and obsessively refreshed my email inbox hoping for any response, not just silence.

Eventually, the responses started to come. Most of them used the same canned message. "Thank you for applying, we love that you wanted to join us, but after careful consideration, we've decided to move forward with other candidates....".  It wasn't all rejections though.  I had the pleasure of interviewing at some incredible companies, even making it to the final round of interviews, but still no offers.   

With each interview, I learned a little bit more about myself.  A recruiter friend of mine told me that I needed to "refine my storytelling", and I kept that advice in the back of my head with every call.  I sought out roles where I know I ticked every box. I even had roles where my resume was a 100% direct match, and I still kept getting passed over for others. 

I'd never had imposter syndrome before, but after all of this? I started questioning every thing I did, and whether I deserved the roles I was aiming for at all.  Now, it was early December and the holidays were fast approaching.  Trying to enjoy the holidays while being unemployed SUCKS.  

Then, a few weeks ago, a friend of mine sent me a job posting. He knew the CEO and wasn't sure if the role would interest me. It was contract-to-hire, and it looked beefy. Still tech, but instead of Insurtech, which has basically been my entire professional life, it leaned into education and financial operations.  I applied.

The next day, an unknown number popped up on my phone.  I googled the number, because first and foremost, I'm a millennial, and that's what we do.  Secondly, my phone likes to categorize EVERYTHING as spam. Turns out it was the company that I had just applied to. I rushed to answer.

The CEO herself was calling me.  I was zero percent prepared for this screener, but she was warm, genuine and enthusiastic. We talked about our mutual friend, she explained the role, and it turned into a lovely conversation.  She invited me to come in for an in-person interview, my first one since my iPipeline days, over a decade ago. 

I walked out feeling like I had knocked it out of the park. On Friday, I got the offer.

Which brings us to now!


Things I was able to do during my career break:

• Spend more time with my parents
• Finally tackled the house projects I kept shoving to the back burner
• Leveled up my cooking and baking.  Homemade marshmallows are shockingly easy to make, and SO much better.
• Kept up with my language learning: brushing up on French, and adding German and Spanish to the mix.  Polyglot goals.
• Maintained a schedule - mornings with my husband and dog, coffee, stillness, and a few focused hours of applications before reclaiming the afternoons
• Leaned into painting, crafting, and trying to teach myself how to crochet
• Kept a CrossFit style workout routine with the garage gym I built during the COVID era.  Although it's been WAY TOO COLD to touch anything out there!

Overall, I'm relieved.  This has been a stressful 7.5 months, and I've learned a ton about myself, and how resilient I am.  I have a phenomenal support network, and I'm just happy that this chapter of my life is over. I'm excited for the new one to begin on Monday!


It feels good getting my thoughts out, so enjoy, Dreamwidth community!

Comments

[tommx]

Congratulations! I'm very happy for you. Being unemployed in the current climate is definitely a harrowing experience. You clearly took your job search very seriously, and approached it pretty much the way I would in the same position. There's a lot to be said for perseverance, even when it seems like every door is locked.

I also like that you were able to name positive things you were able to do during your hiatus. I'm glad you have such a great support system.

I hope the new position works out well for you!