My job search

As some of you may know, I am currently unemployed. Well, I sort of am working for a startup business opening at the end of the month but I haven't gotten paid yet. So I guess that doesn't really count. In my time of being unemployed, I have had a lot of time to think about how to attack my job search. I found out VERY quickly that my current job search is not like any other job search I have ever done. Below are the 6 biggest observations from my job search.

6. My degree stinks!: After I got out of the military, I went back to college to finish my degree in exercise science. I did this because I absolutely love fitness and thought that after a bruising time in the military, I deserved to do something I loved. It is awfully nice to go to work in sneakers every day and not have to worry about ironing that tie crumpled up on the floor of my closet. But at the same time, I'm finding out that in our current economical situation, my degree may as well be a BA in history, or art, or Indonesian anthropology. My degree is not what people look for right now regardless of what my experience is. I guess I should have listened to my dad, again, when he said he didn't think this was the right move to make.

5. Job search engines stink!: Currently there are 3.8 job seekers for every job opening in our country. So when a job is posted on a job search engine, every flippin person with a resume applies for it. So what happens is recruiters get tied up in hundreds, if not thousands, of applications. Basically, my application turns into a needle in the haystack of everyone else's application. Also, I'm finding out that job search engines, I'm talking to you indeed.com, absolutely love health care. I'M NOT IN HEALTH CARE! If my wife was looking for a job, it would be no problem. Grrrrrrrrr!

4. My experience: My biggest problem that I am realizing I have is that I have a ton of work experiences from a lot of different backgrounds. Because of this, it is hard for me to come across as an "expert" on a particular subject matter. I guess I could right up a few different resume's that each showcase me as an expert in a particular field, but who has time for that...wait don't answer that.

3. Unemployment pay: This could be seen one of two ways. I could look at it as a huge blessing in that I am getting free money. Because it is a set amount per week, it is extremely easy to budget and I am really not in any dire straits financially because of this. On the other hand, because of this great comfort, it limits the job search a little bit. I have passed up on a couple of jobs because they didn't pay as much as unemployment does. While these particular jobs didn't pay a whole lot now, they could in the future if I stayed there long enough. But with my family, that a risk I'd rather not take.

2. My computer stinks!: I need a new computer. The more I am doing on it now, the more I realize that it is holding me back. The only problem with that is that I just paid off a ton of credit card debt and am simply unwilling to use that credit...EVER! So, until I get another good job, I'm stuck with this piece of crap.

1. The search stinks!: I'm a worker. I was a worker before the military, during the military, and after. I need to be working. The problem with that is that I am currently not working. There are a lot of emotional problems that go with this that I might get into some other time but not having a job stinks. If you are reading this and you have a job, or better yet, a career, feel blessed. You could be one of the millions of Americans like me who don't. It will get better and I will continue to have a positive spirit (that's who I am).