The Road Less Travelled

Your MatchGirl, gentle readers, has been freelancing since her layoff in January.

This has been an interesting ride for a girl who always takes the safe steps. The secure path. But the more I think about it, I wonder how secure that path has really been.

It's been the easy path. Yeah. That's right. It's been the easy one.

And I'm done with the easy path.

Because the easy path hasn't brought me the security that it was supposed to. It didn't bring me a 401K or a ton of money or a house with two cars in the yard... The easy path has just been the not scary one.

So now, dear ones, your MatchGirl is on the scary path. The one she's not quite sure where it leads. There may be bumps ahead, but there might be mountains to get to the top of. All I can do is keep travelling down it, making choice as I go along.

What path have you taken, gentle readers? What is the scary choice that you've made lately? And was it for the best?

I want to know.

Work For Free

Your MatchGirl, gentle readers, is from a generation where few people had internships. They were the exception, not the rule. Something that the very ambitious or very connected did. Not really the provenance of the common student. But now ... not it seems, especially in NYC, to get ahead at all, one must have not one but several internships while at university.

And here is where we get to the sticky part.

Unpaid internships, while common, are controversial. To say the least.

A recent article from NPR refers to a class action suit against Fox Searchlight for using unpaid interns as entry-level employees. That, dear ones, is illegal. In fact,"the Supreme Court ruled over 50 years ago that only work done for training purposes could go unpaid. The Labor Department says companies began skirting the rule. Last year, it moved to issue six-point test that for-profit internships must pass to comply with labor laws."

In this rough job market, though, people are looking for any foot they can get in the door. Your MatchGirl certainly relates to this. It's something she pondered during the long, hard stretch of unemployment she faced not so long ago. And, at the end, it was not something that was possible for me.

But I have known people who were looking to change careers who took unpaid internships - to get some experience under their belts, to make some connections in a new environment, to get a foot in the door. For some of them, it worked out well. They have new careers and make more than they were before. The internships were a way to meet the right people and kickstart a job change. For others, it worked out not at all, leaving them still unemployed, out of money and back at square one when the internship ended

I recently moderated a panel on breaking into the tech world in NYC and the folks on the panel, all in their early to mid-twenties, were very positive about internships. They all used them to get interviews, if not their current jobs. Even interning at a prestigious place helped them to get a foothold into a world they were trying to break into - even if they mostly were fetching coffee and running errands. A high end name on your resume, as opposed to a bunch of boutique mom'n'pop places gets you further than you may imagine. When I asked these panelists what they thought of these internships, they were all very positive - very excited. They recommended that anyone looking for a job in our field take any internship that they could get. And that if, in the end, it wasn't what they were looking for, they could just leave it.

I'm not of the same generation. And I have mixed thoughts, personally, on this.

At the end of the day, a lot of companies are on really tight budgets right now. But I think there is a need for transparency. If there is no possibility that intern will ever be hired... they need to know. If there is now way that they will be doing meaningful, resume/portfolio building work... they need to know. I've been lucky to work with some very smart, capable, and talented interns over the years. But I always strived to make it a learning experience for them as well. To offer your experience to someone coming up behind you, and to help them grow into a career/life that is going to be great for them, that is worth so much more than someone bringing you a cup of coffee or doing your filing.

I promise.

Follow Your Dreams

This morning, I woke up in a hotel in Bogotá, Colombia.

I'm here to represent my company for Social Media Week. And I'm stoked.

With my recent promotion, to Head of Social Media, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what got me here and where it can take me. I've been thinking about the people who have helped me along the way and what I have learned from all my experiences.

This path is my own.

No one else could have made it for me. I could not have imagined it five years ago, let alone in the mid-90s, when I was graduating from University.

Catching up with a friend the other day, I told her of the new title and she looked at me, eyes wide, and said "That is so perfect for you."

It might have taken me a long time to get to where I'm going, but I'm very happy to be on the right path!

Love In The Time of Recession

Yesterday, gentle readers, your MatchGirl wondered if doing what you love for a living is playing with fire. Of course, it is every person's dream to wake up every single morning and get to do something they like, no - LOVE, all day long, every day.

The thing about doing what you love, though, for work, is that it is still work.

If you love crafting and you start a little Etsy shop that takes off, that's awesome. But you need to do the work. You need to produce. Every day.

If you love writing and you figure out how to sustain yourself so you can write every single day, you need to write every single day.

If you're in a band you go one tour, you record and mix your album, you put videos on YouTube and music sites. You practice, you write songs. You play. Every day.

The reality is that work is work is work. If you're passionate about what you're doing, that's awesome. If you love and enjoy what you are doing, that is amazing. You're one of the lucky ones. But you still need to put yourself out there. You need to work and you need to work hard. You'll just like it more than if you're working on something you don't feel passionate about. Than if you're living the life of a nine to five drone.

So. What do do if you're unemployed? What to do if you're underemployed? What to do if you are afraid to reach for the stars and follow your dreams in this scary economy?

Fuck it.

Screw your fears, gentle readers. Reach for what you want - reach for what you need to make you happy. It's terrifying, of course, but go for it. Go. Go. GO!

Turning Tides: Resume Reading

Gentle readers, your MatchGirl found herself, last week in an odd position. She found herself being the person on the resume receiving and reading side of things. As you well know, your MatchGirl was unemployed for a year and a half, during the height of the recession, and sent out hundreds and thousands of resumes herself.

So. after having posted the position, only to one place, I sat back and waited for the resumes to roll in. And roll in they did. Hundreds. Seriously. Hundreds.

Now, you might think that if you received hundreds of resumes that you would not take the time to read them all - to look through all those cover letters and open all those MS Word attachments. But I did. I did because it's the right thing to do. I did because you never know who you will fin in the 60th or in the 150th resume. Just because someone is fast on the submit button doesn't mean they're the right fit for the job, after all.

Here are some tips, though, dear ones, for those of you still unemployed. For there were some major fails in the piles and piles of resumes and cover letters that I received.

°Formatting still matters. I don't care what the other websites say. You never know who will be reading your resume and you need to lay it out nicely, and to have the information be relevant. I promise. It's important.

°If there is a salary advertised in the post, don't send a cover letter with a salary requirement that's higher than the cap. Seriously. I cannot tell you how many cover letters I read through with salary requirements not only a bit about the advertised high end, but $10 to $15K higher. Gentle readers, you are all a lot smarter than the average bear, so this is probably a "duh" to you, but in this day and age, with the economy as it is, there is no way that you can do this. I promise there is someone who will require a salary within the advertised amount who can do the job just as well, if not better. Also, since they are less conceited, they'll probably be a lot more fun to work with.

°Use proper grammar and salutations in your cover letter, and when the person's name is listed in the job posting, address it to them! One second of research will get you so much further than copying and pasting your rote cover letter - dress it up, even just a little bit, if you want to get your foot in the door!

°Include an email address. Maybe another "duh", but we received several resumes with no email addresses included. If you want to work with/for me, why are you making my life harder?

I think that I read these cover letters and resumes with a softer eye than my colleague may have. Because unemployment, though over a year ago, was really just a minute ago in the grand scheme of my life. And I know how very frustrating it is to apply for job after job after job. And how demoralizing it is not not hear back. So I wanted to take my time and judge these cover letters and resumes with the eye of hiring the right person and reading between the lines to find them.

We start interviews this week and I'm excited and nervous to see how they go. At the end, there is only one position and we can only hire one person for it. And then I'll be the one to give the good news ... and the bad.

Some Press

In April, right before getting her new job, your MatchGirl was featured in the Finnish newspaper Aamulehti.  If anyone knows Finnish, feel free to let me know what it says about me!

 

Without work but full of energy
A fighter: a New York bachelor of arts has been actively applying for jobs for 6 months without success.

B.C. from New York lost her job 18 months ago, but hasn't let it get her down. "I was let go in November 2008. I'd been working in DEX New York-fashion company as an executive producer for three years and just couldn't believe I was being let go. I considered myself an integral part of the company and good at my job. The reasons they gave me were related to production and the economy. The first couple of months were depressing. I missed the job, the daily rhythm it created and my colleagues. I spent a lot of time at home by myself not doing anything.
After a few months I reasoned with myself that I couldn't take the dismissal personally in this economic climate. I've been applying for jobs constantly, honing my CV and my application and training for interview situations thousands of times. Still, I haven't had luck in landing a job.
I have a bachelor's degree in arts. Because of my degree and my job experience, I'd really rather not go for an underpaid trainee position. At the moment it feels like, however, that there's little else on offer. And the competition is tough. Last week in an interview I was told that they picked me out of 450 applicants, which is encouraging."

Saved by a blog
"New York is an expensive place to live, but I seem to get by ok. I recieve 1720 dollars in unemployment benefits per month. I live with my friend in Brooklyn in an apartment with a rent of 1700 dollars a month. A lot of my friends are also unemployed which isn't surprising given that the country's unemployment rate is nearly 10%. I know a few people who see their lack of employment as such a disgrace that they haven't even told their parents about it. There's a huge risk that they'll get depressed and isolated. My savior has been my blog.
The now nearly one year old Unemployed In Brooklyn blog started receiving comments from other unemployed people almost immediately after its launch and these days it enjoys a tight knit but wide community. The blog has 1500 individual readers per month and we meet up with the most active readers regularly. The group has brought a lot of joy to my life and some unbelievable friendships. The most important part though, has been the peer support. Who knows, I might even find my next job through this community."
Your family connections?
I live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with a gay friend who I consider a part of my family these days. My parents and one of my sisters live in Boston, another sister lives in Los Angeles.
What do you do in your spare time?
Anything free. I meet friends, go out or visit the library. I don't shop.
What do you watch on the TV?
After I was let go I would watch TV around the clock until the morning soaps really started to bum me out. Now I only watch my favourites like Mad Men, Millionaire Matchmaker and Top Chef.
Do you dream about traveling?
Being unemployed I can't afford to travel even if I have the time and the will. As an employed person I would treat myself to weekend trips.
Do you watch your energy consumption?
Electricity is so expensive in the US that you have to control your use. Fortunately heating and hot water are included in the rent.
How would you describe your diet?
I try to eat healthy and avoid red meat. But occasionally I'll succumb to a hamburger in a restaurant. I cook a lot at home and favour local produce. I enjoy baking and my Nutella-oatmeal cookies are my biggest weakness.
Are you concerned over healthcare issues?
I feel healthy and in good shape. But since my income is so small, I don't have a health insurance and suddenly falling ill is a concern for me.

(Image caption: "I live frugally and often have to say no to temptation. To prevent myself from living outside my means, I cut my credit cards in half after I'd been unemployed for 6 months")

Thanks to my dear friend Diana, I've gotten a translation of this article.  Some of the facts are off - I'd been looking for a job for longer than six months; I was the Operations Manager at DEX; and I haven't had a credit card since 2001 (though it's probably more interesting to make up a quote like the one above - journalistically not cool, but ...  eh.).  But it's still pretty cool to be featured in a huge newspaper in Finland!

Reach For The Skies

Ah, gentle readers, your MatchGirl is remiss.  It’s been days upon days since she’s last shared any of her life in this little tome.  To be fair, she has been busy.  There is work. There is the planning of the next Work It Brooklyn. And there is play, catching up with friends, old and new, whose lives are taking them on adventures and to places that your MatchGirl can only imagine.

That said, I am drafting this post en route (and, but en route, I mean literally from the plane) to Bogota, Colombia, where I am headed for four days of work and play combined.

My new job (I say new, though I have been here since April), has a big office and a ton of staff in Bogota, the hometown of one of our founders, and your MatchGirl, a coworker and a lucky prize winner are all going to Bogota for the first time – to meet the staff of the office, to immerse ourselves in company culture, to take pictures, to eat great food and to find out what it is that makes our partnership such a special one.

While I’m in Bogota, I will be Tweeting and blogging for work, as well as posting my personal thoughts, images and videos on my own Twitter feed and Facebook page (sorry, no link to that – you know where it is if you’re my IRL friend!).

This is a journey that I could not have imagined a year ago.  Heck.  This, dear ones, is a journey that I could not have imagined six months ago.

I know that many of you are still unemployed and underemployed, just looking for something – that right fit.  That job that you not only don’t mind getting up for in the morning, but that more times than not, you want to get up for.  I know that you cannot imagine that six months from now – four months from now – even next week – you could have that job in your hands.

I want to remind you of the possibilities.

So many people that your MatchGirl has been fortunate enough to meet, in real life and simply via the web/blogosphere since I started jotting my thoughts down in this space, have found themselves employed.  And well employed.  So many people that put their heads down and just kept working on what they love have found themselves doing just that.  Have made opportunities where they never imagined opportunities could be.  Have been discovered for doing thing that were, to them, simply works of passion.

So, while many of you struggle still, please, do not abandon hope.

There’s no advice in this post, dear readers, just a glimmer that better days are on the horizon.  Whether it’s according to plan or something entirely unexpected.

Best of luck to you, gentle ones.  I can’t wait to hear the adventures that you find.

Holiday Weekend

This was a holiday weekend, gentle readers.  It's been a long time since your MatchGirl has enjoyed a holiday weekend.  And, before those of you who have not lived the unemployed life say that the whole thing is a holiday weekend or a vacation or whatever you say - believe you me, it's not the same thing.

But this weekend, your MatchGirl was able to really enjoy a three day weekend (because, even in previous employment, I always had such crazy schedules that they just weren't the same as my friends who worked in the 9 to 5 world).  And enjoy it, I did.

While the whole weekend was mellow and lovely, it was really Sunday that epitomized the start of summer.  The way I hope sets the tone for weekends for the rest of the summer.

Sunday started mellow, listening to NPR and puttering about the apartment.  But in the afternoon, I met up with my friend T and went to a little BBQ on my friend Tony and Jackie's roof.  There was a ton of meat, cold beer and interesting conversation on a Greenpoint rooftop.  When T and I were leaving the rooftop, we ran into a couple of the guys from Cafe Royal, sitting outside and enjoying the weather, so we stopped for a chat - where the conversation ran from barbecue to the neighborhood to the intricacies of the Arabic language to the USS Iwo Jima.  Then we touched base with a couple of friends who had a friend in town from Germany and, though we had just eaten delicious grilled meat for several hours, we somehow found ourselves at Fatty Cue eating even more.

It was one of those easy, sleepy, dreamy summer days with not a care in the world.

It was one of those kinds of days that is so easy to not appreciate when you're unemployed.  But it was also one of those days that is so easy to overlook when you are used to the rhythm of the working world and those Bank holidays that happen from time to time.

I'm happy to be in the working world, and happy to be getting into the swing of things.  And very happy that it's still new enough that I can truly appreciate things like a three day weekend.

I Am Joan Holloway

Gentle readers, you've all seen that online quiz.  Which Mad Man are you?  Well, your MatchGirl has taken that quiz many a time.  And every time she is Joan Holloway.

Here's the thing, dear ones.  That is the case.  Your MatchGirl, when she was previously in the working world (and now that she is back in it - full force!) is Joan Holloway.  She is the one that gets things done.  She is the one that knows the in and outs of how the place works (OK, at my new job, I'm still sussing that out, but it will come to me sooner than later), whether it has anything to do with what is in her job description. 

The best thing about Joan Holloway is that she's entirely in control.

And that, dear readers, is the key to everything.

Adjustment Period

It should come as no surprise, gentle readers, that going back to work after a year and a half on the dole has been a bit of an adjustment. 

I was nervous about going back to work after being unemployed for only a couple of months, not because I felt like I wouldn't do a good job, I know I'm capable and know I can do a good job wherever I am (though I was a bit nervous about living up to expectations - everyone wants to shine, after all!).  But, after a long period of unemployment, I was mostly nervous about the adjustments. You get used to doing your own thing.  You get used to sleeping in if you feel like it and staying up till 3AM to get your work (blogging, sewing, writing, art-making, what-have-you) done and going out till all hours on a Tuesday just because you can.  Even if you, like me, are doing a million things and working on a thousand projects and going to loads of meetings - it's still, for the most part, on your own time.

When you get a job, suddenly, all the work your doing is according to someone else's schedule.  From commuting with the masses to being at your desk at a certain time to making sure to be available when your boss needs you, your time is no longer your own.  This is something to which your MatchGirl must adjust.  I still have lots of projects of my own happening - fun Work It Brooklyn events being planned for the next few months, a sewing party with me and the fabulous Hip Girl's Guide To Homemaking, a little blogging here and there - and while I have always been fairly good at managing my time, I need to relearn how to manage my personal time with my project time and my working time.  I need to get used to organizing my nights and weekends around things that I need to get done as well as things that are just fun.

This weekend was a prime example.  I had homework to do.  I had blogs I wanted to write.  I had reading and research that needed to get done.  But it was a beautiful weekend - so many interesting things to do, so many friends to run into while strolling through the neighborhood on the arm of my gentleman friend - your MatchGirl simply could not focus on blogging or homework or laundry.  It just seemed like it would be such a better idea to keep walking around, holding hands and soaking in the sunshine.  And it was a lovely weekend.  But Sunday night came too soon and I'd gotten very little done.  I wouldn't have spent my weekend any other way, not this particular one, dear readers, but I definitely didn't make the best use of a lot of my time.  No worries.  I was up early Monday morning to do a little yoga before getting ready for work.  And I was up late Monday night, finishing homework and writing blogs and making food for the week (or, at least for part of the week).

It's only the start of my fifth day of work.  I suppose a little period of adjustment in only natural.  I'll be glad, though, once a little time has passed and I've re-learned to juggle my time with a little more ease.