How LOW will you go?

I had a strategy, right?Right. I was going to do my own thing. You know, go get 'em tiger. I am great and I deserve great and I can do so much better!

Well, I didn't stick to my gut, yet again. I took yet another lame gig as a receptionist. I should have said no. But, nooo!!! I still hate myself for it.

First and foremost, who doesn't ask what the compensation is? Well, I forgot. -Really?? And one thing I learned in this industry is that you ask about MONEY!! (Cause you could end up driving 40 miles one way and spend all that money at the pump! And who wants to do free work when you can drive that far to go to the beach and spend a calm day?)

The job (answering phones) wasn't as bad as the people I was surrounded by though!

The idiot receptionist:
Please apologize the language. But woman, do you know what being a receptionist tells me about you, at a firm like this?? That you're only good at answering phones and other receptionist tasks; that you probably don't have two degrees and that you have probably read less in your life than I did in a year!
But she'd beg to differ. She had so much to teach me. Man, all those faxes that might come in, and the emails... And sometimes, you get calls, and people ask you questions and you have to look the answer up from the computer. WOW. Tough shit!

As I listened, my mind raced: "OMG, why the fuck would I accept such a lame job, I'd rather live on beans & rice than get an education on the importance of transfering a line from the receptionist! "

Well, off she went to her appointment, and I thought I was at peace....But unique characters didn't stop there....

Let me clarify something for everyone: When I take the "receptionist" title, that doesn't automatically mean I am an idiot. Some people don't understand that. I suppose other temps have been idiots... Or this was their first time hiring a temp, may be? I don't know. But what happened was, I met this one woman - the boss- within the first 2 hours of starting my shift. She introduced herself ( let's call her Anna). 4 hrs into my shift, she came up to me and told me to let her know when her friend Matt got there. I said "okay". She said to call her, I said okay. She said, "Anna, Anna, my name is Anna"... And I was like "yes, yes, I know!!!"

Woman, get off my back. I have the list of everyone in the office right in front of me. All I have to do, when your Matt arrives is to dial your number and tell you he is here!!

Did I just spend half a million dollar worth of education so I can be answering phones at the reception?? SHOOT ME!

Oh and the mail boy... You see, I am innately a very friendly person. People who know me would agree. So when I am the first person to see everyone at the reception, I wear a smile on my face and say a hello to whomever comes in. This mail guy came in multiple times, so I was like "hello" once then, hello twice. But when you repetitively come in and out of the office, I am not gonna say hello all the time. So, I kept my smile for when he came in.

One thing you don't realize in Hollywood, is the hitting-on-you factor. Apparently, many people hit on each other. Or else, there's no reason a guy like that would get cocky. He must've thought I was hitting on him because after my second smile he started throwing me a dirty look. Dude, if you don't want me to greet you with a smile on my face, USE THE BACK DOOR!
I cannot believe, even the lame ass, right-out-of-college guy who sucks up to everyone in the office, gets to have that much pride in himself.

I am sorry, but I feel sorry for you.

But then, he has got the permanent gig and I don't!
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After these people, I am yet again reminded of that initial feeling, that I should be selective about the jobs I take. It's not like spending a day as a receptionist will get me a permanent gig. It's not like I am going to meet some great people who will help me make my career move. SO WHY DO I KEEP AGREEING TO THESE JOBS?
I don't have a true answer for you. Sometimes, I cannot say no because I want the money. Sometimes I cannot say no because I just want to work. Sometimes, it is because my innate positivity hopes that this will be the route to that permanent job I've been looking for. Sometimes I am just afraid, if I said no, the temp agency would stop calling me and I'd be unemployed forever.

So how low will I go? Well, I am determined to not go too low. But I have not defined "too low" yet...

Changing My Game Strategy

I have been missing for a week, I know. That's because I got hired to work on a set, as a PA and I was working 15 hr days; was left hungry most of the time and was very underpaid and underappreciated. No, I didn't meet any worthwhile contacts. Yes, it was one of the worst experiences I have ever had...

No, this wasn't my first time.

Listen, I have done so much crap work until I got to this point - even until I got into my grad school, that I feel I have paid my dues. ALL of them. I earned my place, a higher place that I have been getting hired for. It is true! People who graduated the year I did, from college, didn't end up starting as low as I did. And while those people are getting paid a nice sums now (they have that "at least 3-5 year assistant experience" every job asks for) , I am wondering when my next pay check is going to come...

Is it my fault? Well, not really. Am I going to whine about how unfair it has been? Nope.

All this has been a combination of lack of opportunities on my way throughout years. I have also short-sold myself. I have been easy to take-advantage-off, because I was okay with free work for waaaaay too long. I love work, so instead of setting a standard for myself, I took anything.

All that has been a mistake.

But I woke up, so that's what's important.

All these negative things about my career taught me a one- big lesson. I came to a realization: I have the power to create/generate my own work. At the end, that's what matters to me. I need the money, but in the long term, I don't need to wait for anyone to hire and pay me.

This doesn't mean I am going to stop taking these short-term crappy jobs! I will take them, because you never know what positive thing might come out of them.
But while looking for a long-term stable job, I will not go insane and upset. I will create a game-plan of my own future.

And who knows, may be I will be successful at it sooner than I thought!

Employer Tricks for cheap/free labor- Part 2

This is part two of my two-part “employer tricks to slave you” observations. Such slaving could be for way too cheap or for free. I have observed this first hand.

The “Trial-Period”.

Did you know, some employers are smarter than the law? They can hire you for free and call it “trial period” make the same false promises of “if we like the work you do, this might lead to a job.” Guess what? You work there three months, with the hopes to get hired ( and no, you have not signed anything yet.) At the end of the three months, they come up with a lie about “the shape of the economy” and not hire you.

Oops. Just spend 3 months, working for free and didn’t get hired.

I don’t think you can even put that on the resume. What am I going to tell during my next interview? “Oh yea, that? I was a trial period, but I didn’t get hired because….” Okay. You know you’ re not getting THAT job! Noone cares about the “because” once you’re not hired or fired.

I am not sure how one can ethically justify this or morally. But those employers, they do it.

What I advise one in this situation? Don’t take it. Free labor is only for when you go to school and that is  to "make contacts." If you do it after school, you will seem more like a loser than a hardworker.

Employer Tricks to slave you- Part 1

This is part one of my two-part “employer tricks to slave you” observations. Such slaving could be for way too cheap or for free. I have experienced this first hand.

The “Internship”.

Did you know, some employers can actually hire you for free, call it an “internship”, make false promises of “this might lead to a job” and after they work you for the most heavy-load part of their working year, and say “sorry we are going to fill that opening with someone else?”

Dishonest? Precisely! But many get around it!!

This type, especially when you’re no longer in school, is 100% slavery. They don’t pay you for your gas, for your food and treat you like shit as they make you do their admin work of copying faxing data entry…etc. At the end, they wouldn’t even be a worthwhile reference to you…

Do I have any advice for anyone in this situation? Not really. I understand how you feel, buddy, but it won’t be worth your time at the end, so quit before you regret having wasted your time.

“I’m all booked but please call back in the future”

Another week without a gig and everyone can smell my desperation from miles away. I keep calling to be booked as a background because I am about to lose my mind out of boredom.

So I called in for this work the other day. The announcement asked for attractive ladies mid 20s to mid 30s. I figured, I am not so attractive, but I meet the age requirement. So I will try my chances. If I get booked, that’s great. If not, I won’t have lost anything.

The line kept ringing busy for about 15 minutes. I kept calling with 15-20 second increments. Finally, it rang. And rang, and rang. I must say, it rang for about a minute or at least, it felt like a minute. A polite lady answered. She got my information down, and checked my picture out. Then, she said, “I’m all booked now but please call back in the future.”

I must admit, I don’t do well with rejection. This rejection, I figure, wasn’t because it was booked, but because she was polite enough to not tell me I wasn’t attractive enough.

I always work very hard, so I most often than not, get what I want. But really, this time there was nothing I could work hard at to get that job. Generally speaking, finding a stable job has nothing to do with how hard you work. I have yet to figure out what it has to do with, though, besides a personal contact. Any ideas?

The Truth about Unemployment in America

I have NOTHING to do. No jobs to apply, no temp gigs to go, no background work. The employment tree has dried up, that's for sure. My patience has started drying up with it, as I celebrate my quarter-year anniversary of having graduated & being unemployed.

I figured I would read up about what's going on out there for other people. I was reading on other job-related blogs as well as some newspaper articles about education and umployment. And I was amazed to find out that there are a-whole-lot-more unemployed college graduates than I anticipated. On the positive note, I am a step ahead of them (hah! I've got a master's!). On the negative note, I paid more for my education and am much older for anything they qualify.

So I have spent two full days thinking ( yes! you heard me right, thinking) about an avenue out of this. What can I do to create a job opportunity for me? What can I do to find my own "path" so I won't have to compete for an "entry level" position that asks for 3-5 year assistant experience, along with a bunch of my classmates AND recent college graduates? Cause thousands of people are finishing college each semester and the competition pool is getting bigger and bigger. That means, having graduated last year will no longer be "recent" when the summer comes around.

Did I get anything out of my thinking? Nothing. Nope. Nada. So, I'm going to be taking another day or two to think some more. I have nothing better to do anyway, right?