Frogs and Ravens

Employed!

Starting tomorrow, I will be working as a registrar for a small private college in the area. Yay!

The position is a temporary one while they are looking for a permanent hire, but they will train and the starting pay is not bad. In fact, while discussing this with my Associate at the temp agency, I became aware of a nifty little advantage to working through such an agency. Since the agency gets its cut based on what its employees make at the client institution, it has a vested interest in making sure that its temps get the best pay available. Therefore, if, as I go along, I can make the case to them that I warrant a salary increase, it will be my Associate, not me, who will do the negotiations for my raise. Cool, isn't it?

I will admit here that I'm slightly daunted by the position and am hoping that my trainer will be forgiving of mistakes. From the description my Associate read me, many many eyes will be on me, as everyone from the dean to the students is likely to have some work go through the registrar. Yipes.

But I'm gonna get paid! Yippee!

A Useful Chronicle Article

This piece by Kristen Kennedy addresses the general differences between working for academia and working professionally outside it; unlike many of the Beyond the Ivory Tower articles, it is remarkably lacking in fluff. It still does not address the means of initially making the leap from one field to another, but it does offer good advice on how to begin the acculturation process.

(I expect I'll be needing it.)

So Much for Nothing to Do

Ack! How did I forget that I was supposed to send my final revised manuscript to my editor this summer?!

Good-bye, idleness!

Hiatus or Doldrums?

I'm feeling less anxious today. I believe it is because I have been knitting a sock and went to a farmer's market this morning. Here's why: making the sock gives me an outlet for my nervous energy while simultaneously satisfying my desire to get something positive done. (It's a rather attractive "Turkish" sock, with a swirling pattern of subtle orange and purple design; it may make a good lounge-around-the-house sort of sock.) Going to the farmer's market combined exercise, interesting things to see and smell, and the opportunity to do a small amount of paying my way. (I feel self-conscious about essentially bumming off D.; his income is not much more reliable than my own, so it feels good to help out with the groceries at least.)

All in all, though, the main benefit was the feeling of purposeful activity resulting in clear outcomes -- something in short supply these days. I should brainstorm about more such activities, though I very much hope that this sort of time-filling will not be necessary.

I wonder if the library down the block is open on Sundays?

Puzzle Pieces

One of the more annoying things about my current situation (perhaps I should say my ongoing situation) is my great desire to get things DONE while being forced to wait on circumstances beyond my control. There's the housing issue, which is hanging on both the availability of desirable places and my monthly income. Then there's the employment issue, which hangs on so many little variables that it doesn't bear trying to enumerate them. So I have all this energy wanting to be directed somewhere, with little or no outlet. It's a wonder I haven't exploded!

I did achieve some small accomplishments on both fronts today. First, I went and viewed some apartments and left an application with one of them. If things work out, it's an airy place with a view of a park, pleasant neighbors and landlady, and only a short bike ride away from a nearby neighborhood with dog washers, candle-n-soap store, used music shop and soon-to-arrive books-n-yarn store. Fingers crossed! (The other places were okay, but fell short in many regards, like busy streets, lack of storage space and weird landlady.)

On the job front, I discovered an entry-level editorial assistant position at my alma mater and have posted a resume with them. It would be a good job and would definitely make use of all my skills and give me some useful experience in publishing. Again, fingers crossed!

(I hope my fingers don't get cramped from all this wishing.)

Productivity

Today was one of those days which feels productive in that the day was spent doing useful things, and unproductive because the useful things have yet to result in anything definite.

I began the morning with my appointment with the temp agency. I was all togged up in full interview mode (after a hasty dash to the nearby K-Mart to purchase -- shudder -- pantyhose) with ID, resumes, etc. and a full half-hour early. After this it was mostly filling out forms (some for background checks -- at least I didn't have to pee in a cup!) and watching an informational and safety video. It was fairly boring, though I was amused by the founding CEO's appearance (he seemed to be wearing lip liner!) and the oh-so-obvious safety information ("Hold the handrail when walking up or down stairs." "Do not pick up anything weighing over 50 pounds." "Adjust your chair and computer monitor before beginning work.").

My meeting with my "Associate" was much better; she was very helpful and seemed genuinely interested in finding work that I would enjoy and do well at. I did feel a bit like I was hunting with an elephant gun, however; she seemed somewhat at a loss as to how exactly I'd fit into their administrative schema while being appreciative of the skills I could bring to the table. No positions were immediately forthcoming, either; the two openings were for specialists in things like benefits and accounting.

(The problem of hunting with an elephant gun is that you're as likely to obliterate your prey as nail it, so it's not like you're going to be much better at collecting squirrels for the pot than someone with a BB gun.)

After this I drove around looking at apartments and neighborhoods. In my usual way, I found that the places and buildings I most liked were all out of my price budget or not vacant. I made the mistake of stopping at one "showing" in a lovely little community; I adored the apartment on sight, but have not been able to get through the phone line to find out how much it might cost. Now I am spoiled for just about anything else I might encounter. *sigh*

Here's where that ol' chicken and egg dilemma pops up again, too -- if I knew how much I'm likely to make each month, I'd have more freedom to be picky. I don't, so I'm having to look at potential apartments in terms of non-grottiness rather than in terms of desirability. (In a sense, I'm betting on my earning potential, with my home happiness and credit at stake.) Oddly, within my price range, there is surprisingly less correlation between price and ickiness than one might think. That is, within a $100 spread, you can have quite nice at the low end and rather dubious at the high, as well as the expected reverse.

I wish I was more enthusiastic about the whole process; I usually am when it comes to envisioning new places to live, but with that one exception, I have not felt inspired as yet. *sigh* Back to the classifieds...

Vrittis (Fluctuations)

I'm back... How many of you are still out there?

I've been a bundle of nerves the past few days, not that this is at all surprising. A long drive down from the Pacific Northwest (including rush hour L.A. at the end of a long day) will do that to a person, even if the trip goes smoothly. Add in the anxiety that comes from not having a settled home or job, and I think that some twitchiness is justifiable.

My yoga has also been sorely neglected, compounding the problem. I practiced this morning in the kitchen (itself awkward and not exactly soothing) and I was stiff, stiff, stiff! I can only imagine how stiff and antsy I would have been if I hadn't done it!

My current preoccupations are finding a job and finding an apartment. Unfortunately, there's a bit of the chicken-and-the-egg about this; ideally I'd like to not have to change all of my contact information with the temp agencies et al., but renting an apartment without a clear sense of one's income seems foolish. I have arranged one temp interview for tomorrow and hopefully the other place will get back to me soon.

I have to say that selecting a temp agency is a bit like selecting a college to attend. There's the dream agency that doesn't seem to have any openings (but if it did, they would be very cool ones), there's the national one that's a good fit (it helps place "Talent" in the "Creative" industry) but for the best jobs I'd have to relocate to Los Angeles or Texas (!), and there are the local "safety" agencies which will find you dull, but reliable work.

I finished filling out an online application for one of the last just before this; how is it possible for one process to make you feel simultaneously extremely over- and under-qualified? There are long lists of skills I don't have (like touch 10-key entry) and the "what jobs have you interviewed for and how did you do this?" questions are farcical from an academic's perspective. For one, there are only three slots for prior interviews or applications, so how they will be able to determine my job search abilities from that is unclear. For another, being asked why you did or did not get interviews, and how those interviews did or did not result in offers, is unenlightening or grossly misleading. "I was splendid in the interview and everyone liked me and my qualifications were excellent, but I didn't get an offer" is very hard to interpret properly outside the weird world of academic job searches!

Well, we'll see how this goes tomorrow, when I have my first appointment/interview with one of the agencies. At some point I will also write about the apartment hunting experience. Expect postings on a more frequent basis, but I cannot promise the regularity, as I am sharing this phone line with D. Between his hours online, our calls to friends and the need to keep the line fairly open for job contacts, I feel uncomfortable taking up too much online time.

But it's good to be back!

Briefly Checking In

We survived the move with sanity and health intact -- barely. The trip itself went quite well despite occasional thunderstorms and the slowness that is U-Haul; moving into the storage place was an exercise in patience. Note to self -- do not attempt tricky spatial arrangements while tired and hungry in the presence of family. Crabbiness will ensue.

However, now that most of my possessions have been squeezed in successfully, I've had a day to rest and I won't have to think about housing-related things for a couple of weeks, I'm feeling more calm and sane. I've also been given a lead on some adjunct work on the local military base (interesting!) so I may return to employment -- a nice thought.

The laden U-Haul
Creaks slowly along the road
Moving adventure?

(When I get a chance I'll try again to respond to the comments you've left; enetation was not -- unsurprisingly -- working.)