The four-step program for unsatisfied housewives

Today I had my first informational interview with a local firm. I have to admit that I was overly excited about finding kick ass firms doing interesting work, and so when a friend blew off my interviews as if they were nothing I was defensive.

In Colorado I was unemployed for eight months. 8 months!! I landed in Boulder just as the economy was crashing in 2002. Public agencies cut funding for parks and recreation as well and science related positions. So I applied for bilingual teaching jobs and chemistry lab tech jobs and forensic autopsy tech jobs and coffee shop jobs and framing (art) jobs and grocery store jobs. And no one bothered to call me about my resume. And no one returned my phone calls. And no one hired me for eight months. I picked up temp part time jobs when I could including an apartment manager position and a brief stint as a carpenter for a theater set. Meanwhile I pretended to be domestic. I learned about cooking. I did the laundry and cleaned the house. I thought about all the checks I had bounced.

And though it seems funny to me now, I hated my life as the financially dependent domestic unsatisfied housewife. After coming out of my unsatisfied housewife darknessI decided that I would learn how to get hired. I would learn how to make people look at my resume. So I've developed a plan:

Step one: find kick ass firms

Step two: get them to talk to me in person

Step three: leave them with my resume and portfolio

Step four: annoy them until they hire me

So when I asked for informational interviews and actually got positive responses I was psyched. Step 1.5 completed. And today I've completed three steps of my four-step program with one firm. And in a couple weeks I will do the same at another.