On The Eve

Every year as New Years eve approaches, I cautiously start to make plans. I’m not a big partier, unless you count parties thrown at home between The Mister, myself, and our puppies but I like to get up to something a little special. This year I think that something special is going to be very simple: thoroughly breaking in the new martini set that we procured on boxing day and then convincing Jesse to let me style his hair a la Don Draper.

Which is a battle I seem to be winning, by the way!

Starting out on holidays this year was rough for me. I’m a busy body. I like routine. I like things to be the same, and this year for the first time I’ve had a lot of stability in spite of all the upheaval. My resolution for my  extra week off was simple:

• Update my resume so it’s as perfect as I can make it.
• Make a professional portfolio site so I can wow potential employers with a selection of my project management/design/social marketing work.
• Apply for jobs.
• Spend Monday and Tuesday dissolving into tears when one of the puppies looks at you sideways, because it’s probably about how you’re thinking about changing jobs. Again.

I am a very good employee. I am someone people would like to employ – I’m friendly, professional and creative. I’ll get behind what I’m doing and I’ll shoulder in. I want to train more, I want more responsibility, I want to work. Maybe it’s just the people I hang out with – all who have had their jobs for over 3 years, but if I’m a monogamist in my personal relationships, I have been an all out polygamist in my working relationships.

Can you promise to judge me with a sense of humor?

From 2006 – 2007, my first year out of university, I had five jobs. Five. Where do I even begin?

1. The Government Job – They started you as a summer student but when the program ended you stayed on! Everyone except for you knew you were being paid under the table by your sneaky supervisor who didn’t tell payroll you were still there! Shock/awe/horror reaction when two years of employment turned out to be….illegal!

Resume Result: Two years of steady employment + a couple union friendships.

2. The Design Start Up Job – Cute boy overload! They are sweet, you’ve known them for years, you even know their parents! There is start up money, Angel Investors, and an office space! Month One: Gain access to banking information and discover….zero money. Angel investors turn out to be parents. Office space turns out to be in parent’s basement. Month Two: Work hard to get the lead balloon off the ground!! Come on!! Month Three: Realize that you’re the only person not living at home, who needs income. Leave.
   Resume Result: Bruised friendships & three months of record design/web project management. And debt shaped like a Macbook Pro.
3. The OMG I CAN’T MAKE RENT!! DAD!! HALP! GIVE ME A JOB! Job - Because not being paid for three months while perusing what could have been a dream job take guts. And walking away does too. And althoguh he was a very nice man, my landlord Harold didn’t care about either of the above statements.
   Resume Result: I realize how lucky I am to have a business in the family. Nurture post-design job seething anger &  Dad’s filing systems. Resume Result: I have been a legitimate office manager for a finance office.
4. The Crazy Cool Television/Advertising/Movie Job That Turns On You So Fast Your Head Spins Job -  Cute boy overload jackpot #2! Become friendly with some of the most talented 2D and 3D artists in all of Canada, learn how to speak developer! Fall in love with company and all of the people at said company. Get a promotion! Start working 6 day weeks, planning kitchens for the executives, and booking corporate travel 95% of the time. Watch heads roll left right & centre in corporate buy out. Learn that position will be completely changing into an executive assistant role. RUN!
   Resume Result: Have one of the hottest companies in town on your resume & remain close with your old time besties over there, who may or may not be on the path to working at ILM or Pixar.
5. The Comfortable Not For Profit Job You Can Stay In So Your Resume Doesn’t Look Like You’re Some Kind of Drug Addict Who Is Stealing From Her Employers and Being Forced Out Or Something - Because the above was starting to become a real concern, and if I changed jobs again, I might have collapsed.

Resume Result: Proof of stability!

+ Freelance graphic design work all year round, which kind of makes it 6 jobs. But I’m not counting that

If anything, that year taught me a lot about what I need in a job, what I need in a workplace, and what the red flags are in work situations. For example, If your future employer says they can interview you anytime between 7 AM and 8 pm they aren’t being accommodating – those are their unofficial hours. There is an expectation there. And if you’re getting involved in a start up, ask to see the bank records immediately!! It taught me how to make friends fast, and how to read the cliques. It taught me when to bring a lunch and when to go out with work friends – and it taught me who you want to be friends with and who you want to avoid.

Staying in one place for a year taught me a lot too – that not for profit really can attract a different personality type all together. That at the end of year, if there is money left over they have to spend it! On things like new monitors and unicorns that you just don’t get in a lot of other places. And the built in community you can access is phenomenal. The kind of phenomenal that will make you really want to go to work every day. And at the same time, the organizations can be small and claustrophobic. If everyone has been there for 8 years and there is no middle management, what place is there for a twenty something who wants to dig in?

Looking into new possibilities is frightening. There are only questions for me, and I don’t know if I’ll even find what I want in the next year or three. But I want to be ready when something does come my way, because I think I can do one job change in 2009. Just not five this year.

Again.

I’m just very employable, I swear!