Volunteer Brooklyn - Gowanus Cleanup

Gentle readers, the following note popped into the UnemployedBrooklyn inbox this afternoon.

Anissa writes:

Dear Matchgirl,

I am an intern at the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and was wondering if you could post our volunteer opportunity on your blog? Here is the description and contact information:

Gowanus Canal Conservancy's Clean & Green volunteer program
Call for all volunteers! The Gowanus Canal Conservancy is looking for volunteers to participate in our monthly Clean & Green volunteer program. This month, volunteers will assemble at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 25 at Degraw Street off Nevins (east of the Gowanus Canal) and the program will run until 2:00 p.m. Volunteer tasks will include planting, weeding, and picking up trash and debris. All volunteer efforts will help the NYC Parks Department’s GreenStreets program and help street ends thrive, while improving both the health and beauty of the Gowanus Canal.

To sign up, e-mail us at volunteer@gowanuscanalconservancy.org and include your name, phone number, and the dates you’d like to participate.

Check out the website for more information. And, while I'm personally more interested in the mess that's in my own backyard (ie. The Newtown Creek), this is definitely a worthy volunteer opportunity.

Percentages

Here is why you have to network, my lovelies. It's so simple. It's something we all know, in our heads. It's easy and it's hard all at the same time. But it's a simple fact of life. Only 4% of hirings come out of job boards. All the rest of them come through networking - a friend, a friend of a friend, a friend of a colleague, a colleague of a lover ... a NETWORK.

And the thing about these networks, these people you know, is that they need to be fostered. They need to be fed. They need to be nurtured in order to grow.

In lunching with a dear friend today, the subject of my job hunt arose (as it so often does). And while this friend is in an entirely different industry than I am, he is still out there and in the world and he has a lot of good advice and a lot to say. And he asked me about the people from my last job that I was in touch with and, more importantly, when the last time I spoke with them was. And here's why it's important. Of course Ms X knows you're looking for a job. And perhaps Ms X has people she knows who are hiring. But, the reality of life, especially life in this city, is that Ms X has a lot of her own stuff happening ... and you're job hunt, while sitting firmly in the front of your mind, is so not what she thinks about all the time. It's not that Ms X doesn't care. It's not that Ms X wouldn't love to lend a helping hand. But Ms X has a lot to do. She has her own worries and her own problems and her own life.

Ms X just needs a gentle reminder. Just a little note to say hello and how's it going and to tell her that you're still out there and please to keep her eyes open. It's not pushy.

I promise.

Keep The Doctor Away

Raise your hand if you have health insurance ...
Not too many of you I see.
The question of health insurance comes up quite a bit in New York. There are thousands of underemployed, the working poor and unemployed people who don't have it. Freelancers can sign up through the Freelancer's Union, but it's expensive, so a lot of freelancers don't have it either.

If you were recently laid off, gentle reader, perhaps you were offered COBRA. My employers neglected to send me the paperwork. (I heard later that they discontinued insurance at the company, but they did that a few months after mine ran out and, therefore, they should have sent me the paperwork anyway.) Would I have been able to afford COBRA on the meager amount I make on unemployment? Most certainly not. Not if I wanted to pay rent, anyway.

On one hand, I'm lucky. I'm single (OK, as you all know, that's not really that lucky). I don't have any kids. I'm healthy and still pretty young. Young enough, anyway. But, on the other hand, I sometimes need to go to the doctor. I sometimes need a prescription. I sometimes need stitches. There are just certain things you can't avoid in life. Life happens.

So, with that in mind, here are a couple of links for my unemployed colleagues. I've not tried any of them yet, but you can be sure that I will.

The Institute For Family Health

The New York City Free Clinic

Healthy New York

More Fun With Craigslist

Please summit a short video describing your skills and personality. Mpeg, youtube, or facebook link are acceptable.

Job hiring immediately.

OK. The job I pulled this from actually looks all right. It's pay is unspecified and it's one of those jobs where you wear way too many hats and never make enough money. And, while pretty much everyone has a video camera, I don't. And I don't think I come across that well on video anyway.

There are always positions asking you to send a photo - mostly in retail, where they want their salespeople to look pretty (regardless of skill). But I am seeing it more and more for administrative and personal assistants.

Here's a couple more:

Part time personal ass't to work out of soho providing support for personal (travel arrangements, shopping, social calendar, etc) and business ( research commercial realestate deveopment and screen play research). It's important that the person have a great attitude and positive out look on life...No drama, organization skills , experience w/ Mac computer is important, responsible , exceedingly honest and ability to complete a task. The hours are flexible and will vary from week to week. Please send a resume , references, availability to meet as well as a photo.

* Compensation: Starting @ $20 per hour

We are a rapidly growing web company based in midtown Manhattan. We sell watches and jewelry primarily on the internet.

We are looking for a multi-skilled person who can act as an office utility player as well as model pieces of jewelry from our line. Modeling experience is not required, but is definitely a plus.
The person we are looking to hire must be well spoken on the phone and have customer service experience as CS will play a large portion of the job we are looking to fill asap.

Our company has a great energy and upbeat vibe!

Please send us photographs of head shots and/or portfolio pictures along with your resume and salary requirements. We are looking to fill this position as soon as possible.

Thanks!

* Compensation: TBD based on Customer Service and Modeling Experience

There was one more (that I can't re-find) that was a gay man looking for a gay assistant because he thought a gay assistant would be more anal in his filing ... Maybe it was flagged and taken down. Or perhaps he found someone right away?

Brian Lehrer And The Question Of Unemployment

This is a shout out to Brian Lehrer on WNYC. On yesterday's show he had a call-in for people who were recently unemployed and also asked people to comment on the show's page on the WNYC website - especially if they were part of the new 9 1/2% unemployment rate announced for June.

When I was laid off, in November (way before the biggest wave of layoffs, and before the handful of friends I have who are also unemployed), I had more time to listen to NPR and even then, when the rates were lower, I realized that Brian Lehrer was spending a lot of time on his show reaching out to the unemployed in his audience. From "UnCommon Economic Indicators", a series that he asks people to call or write in with things that are signs of the failing economy that are perhaps missed by mainstream media, to the fact that he regularly speaks to the unemployed in NYC, it's nice to know that someone is paying attention. And reaching out to all sorts of laid off people, despite ethnicity or industry.

I've gotten some really nice comments on this blog from a lot of other unemployed people here in Brooklyn. And I thank you so much for them. Because as nice as it is to know that there are other people out there in my situation (or close enough), it's really nice to know that what I put out into the world about my situation might give someone else a boost.

So, I thank Brian Lehrer for keeping it on the tips of our tongues and at the front of our minds. Even though one may spend most of their unemployed days alone, it's really good to hear that you are not entirely alone.

In Memory Of A Resume

The June before I moved to Brooklyn, a friend of mine passed away. She wasn't necessarily one of my closest friends, but we had worked together and ran in many of the same circles. She had undying spirit and energy and amazing talent. She was one of the closest friends to a woman that I will always count amongst my closest friends, my non-blood related family.

It was recently the 5th anniversary of her untimely death, and I've been thinking about her a lot lately. About conversations we had in the last few weeks of her life. About the changes we were both going through at the time. And about the expectations of the future. One that didn't go as either of us planned.

And as I have embarked onto the world of online dating, I have been thinking about an art project that she had done in the early 2000s (I think it was around 2002/2003). It was called The Love Resume Project (you can still find it here online). In it, Kirsten listed all her ex-boyfriends and the experience that she had gained through their ups and downs (knowing a handful of the guys, I can attest to the truth of it!). I have been wondering, as I look for a job and as I look for a man, about resumes and how one represents themselves. I wonder about how my profile online represents me and if it's reaching the "right" kind of man. Perhaps if I made my profile more like a resume?

Anyway. Kirsten was ahead of her time with the whole thing.

If you want to know more, you can read her obituary, donate to the scholarship fund that is in her name at MassArt, see an unfinished art project and some more art here.

As I think about her, and as I sometimes wallow in what I think of as my own crappy life, I realize that at least I am alive, to stumble through it all. And I will keep perfecting my own resume (my job resume and my love resume) until I figure it all out. And the last conversation I had with her, about all the real and hard stuff in our pre-30s lives, will always stay in my head (if I close my eyes, I am back in my kitchen in Allston, an after-party from a dance night, our mutual best girlfriend visiting from Cali, and just she and I in the kitchen, in the dark, drinking beer and talking about our next steps in life - she was killed exactly one week later). And that conversation, which seemed not so big at the time, will continue to push me forward and appreciate all the things that I do have, as opposed to all the things that are lacking.

I know it's a lot.

What A Girl Needs

I've written here, a lot, about the emotions one goes through while unemployed. I've written a lot about how looking for a job and looking for a man are both emotionally draining. Perhaps, gentle readers, I've written too much or too personally or divulged too much ... but this is a hard time in a gal's life, dear ones.

I've always been a girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. An old friend told me recently that was why it gets fractured so easily. And when I speak about its fracturing, I don't just mean the men in my life - the guys that I have dated, the ones who I perceive to have done me wrong. I mean friends, too. I know that not everyone will like me. I don't like everyone and it would be silly to expect others to have a different view. But sometimes ... you find out that someone really dislikes you. And you don't know why. And, though you may have suspected it here and there, to have the fact confirmed by others ... it's painful. Especially when it's someone in your circle, who you see often, who you have to see if you want to keep hanging out with your friends. Because we're all adults here. And you wouldn't want to make anyone choose. But they choose. They choose all on their own. The Friday nights when your phone calls to hang out are not returned. The brunches you're not invited to. And you find out who was there later and you guess why no one called you back. Why you were not wanted.

And, perhaps, if things were better in the other parts of your life - if you could get a job (or even an interview!), if any of the guys you've been going on a million first dates with would stick - then maybe this slight would not feel so painful. But it's hard to be unemployed (and it's hard to be single, especially when no one else is). You need a support system. And when one of the pieces (perceived or otherwise) is so unkind ... it's hard for your whole structure to stay standing.

I had one of those tumbles last night. After a pretty nice day - friends I believe to be my friends, movie watching, wine drinking - I had a suspicion confirmed ... and I fell apart. Because, right now, dear readers, I am only held together with little bits of scotch tape and a pasted on smile.