Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Time of Month, Update #1

I can add another name to the potential employer list.  I talked with DirecTV this morning and they are passing my information onto the hiring manager to see if they want to interview me.  The pay is great and the position would start as a 3-month contract assignment and then transition into a DirecTV employee after that.  It's in El Segundo, across the 105 from LAX, an area I'm familiar with as Chevron is about a mile and a half from there.

I also sent a follow up e-mail to Accenture since they said they should be in touch with me by today.  We'll see what kind of response I get.  Hopefully I'll be posting another update soon.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

That Time of the Month

Hahahaha.  The title of this entry cracks me up.  No it has nothing to do with the female species or my wife.  It just happens to refer to a pattern of activity I have noticed during my job search being let go last October.  It seems, very much so, that this job search thing is cyclical.  There will be times of dealing with multiple potential employers, and then there will be times without any contacts.  It seems as though the entire cycle (busy to slow and back again) will last about a month to a month and a half.  Right now is one of those busy times, and it happens to be the most exciting activity I have had yet.  That is because I will be setting up an interview with my dream company: Disney!

I worked for Disney as a Ride Operator in Disneyland from 1995-1999 and only left when I became a teacher.  They offered me a promotion to stay at Disney, which in hindsight I should have taken, but I elected to pursue my desire which was teaching.  Ever since I left teaching (2001), I have sent in multiple resumes for a number of positions at Disney.  I have never been contacted by them other than the generic "Thank you, but no thank you" e-mails.  When they initially contacted me via e-mail last week, I couldn't believe it.  After speaking with the Disney HR recruiter last week, she let me know that she would pass my information on to the hiring manager and will let me know if they decide I should move forward with the interview process.

Yesterday (and today) I received an e-mail stating the hiring manager/team would like to meet with me, as well as a call making sure I received the e-mail.  She said that one of her recruiters would be contacting me to look at my schedule and setup an interview for the week of August 1st.  Needless to say, I am very excited to have gotten this far.  I feel like this is my one opportunity to get back in at Disney.  I will feel horrible if it doesn't work out, but I will feel a little better knowing that at least I was given a chance.  Hopefully at this time next month, I'll be making the long drive to Burbank on a daily basis, but only God knows if that will be the case.

So while Disney is easily my main focus right now, they are not the only potential employer that I have had communication with.  I also had a screening call with Accenture (based out of Mountain View/San Jose) and am awaiting a notification (tomorrow probably based on what the recruiter told me) as to whether or not they want me to move forward in the interview process with them.  I also received a confirmation from the federal government (yes, in Washington, DC) that I had been certified to have my information forwarded to the hiring manager.   I haven't spoken with anybody yet, but I made it past the first small step apparently, which is a step in the right direction.  I also expect to hear from Chevron next month since I put in for a position at the Salt Lake City Refinery for the same position I was doing at the El Segundo Refinery.  If I don't at least get considered for that position (assuming I don't already have a new job), that will tell me that there may be more problems with Chevron than it already seems there are.

One of the nice things that makes more confident about wanting to pursue the three opportunities (not Chevron  yet) above is that I know salary will be not be an issue with any of them.  Disney's target/goal for salary is slightly above what I was making at Chevron, Accenture didn't have a problem with my minimum requirement, and the DC position starts at about 10% above what I was making at Chevron.

So it is that time of the month where I enjoy the job search activity and get very hopeful.  However, the stakes feel a bit higher since Disney is in the picture.  Oh, and for what it's worth, I applied for this Disney position back in April.  Here's to hoping the end of unemployment is near!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Summer Travels

After spending a long day in El Cajon last Saturday, helping our pastor friend and his family move, I realized that this coming weekend (starting in a few minutes), will be the last entire weekend I spend at home/in town at least until mid-August.  I guess I better enjoy it.

Next weekend, we head to San Diego for a day for Traci's family's (dad's side) annual family reunion in Mission Bay in San Diego.  It's always fun and when it's not overcast, it's great weather usually.

The weekend after that, I am in St. Louis for my friends wedding, which I am a groomsman in.  I'm very excited about this because we have been friend for about 20 years now.  Also, I've never been to St. Louis, and the night I get there (two weeks from today), I will be enjoying a Cardinals-Astros game at Busch Stadium; another ballpark I can check off my list!

The weekend after that is our annual camping trip with Traci's family, which normally is at Shaver Lake, but this year will be at a new place in northern California.

Th weekend after that, we will be in the San Diego area (again!) to support our pastor who is being installed as the new Co-lead Pastor of a young church in La Mesa.

The weekend after that, we are all home for the weekend.  The weekend after that, I will be camping with the guys from my Bible study group.  And believe it or not, that leads up to the week that the girls go back to school.  No wonder Summer flies by so quickly!

Hopefully somewhere in all that craziness, I will start a new job.  I have a few prospects out there, and they are scattered all over the U.S.  The job I want the most is also the one local prospect I have right now:  Disney!!!!  If you know me, you may know that I worked at Disneyland (1995-1999) while working on my undergraduate degree.  I loved it and once I realized teaching was not where I wanted to be, I wished I had stayed with Disney because I loved working there.  Well, this may be the one opportunity I have to land something there.  I have sent them so many resumes over the years and to actually talk to a Disney HR recruiting employee this week was awesome!  It seemed like the screening call we had went pretty well.  I should know by Friday (tomorrow) whether or not they want to interview me for the position.  The commute would not be fun as the job would be located in Burbank, but for Disney, I would do it in a heartbeat!  I'm praying and hoping that this works out.  Only God knows, and I hope this is His plan for me, but that is for Him to know and me to find out.

I also have a resume in with Chevron for the same type of position (same exact work) I was doing before the layoff.  However, this position is located in Salt Lake City.  That would be interesting since the weather is a lot different than here and we have no family there.  Fortunately we do have some friends that live in that area.  I haven't heard anything from Chevron yet since the posting is open until July 29.

The other prospect is for the government, and is located in Washington, DC, but the salary starts at about 10% above what I was making at Chevron and goes up from there.  Again, much different weather, but for that much money, it would be worth the move, and the extra money could go towards travel to come back and visit family once in a while.

However, I still sit here waiting for more calls regarding positions I've applied for and continue looking for new jobs and using new job search resources I learn about.  I'll tell you though, if you are currently searching for a job, I highly highly highly recommend LinkedIn.  I have been contacted by a number of recruiters who came across my profile there.

I should probably sign off now since it's about midnight, which means it's almost Friday, which means it's the day I should hear back from Disney, which could be the beginning of something magical!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Crazy Week

This week has the busiest one in a while and it's not slowing down.  The girls started swim lessons this week and will finish them up next Friday.  i love watching them because they love to be int he water and swim.  It just makes me a proud daddy...makes me very happy.

It all goes back to Sunday.  If you remember, last weekend was a bad weekend emotionally for me due to the rejection from Hawaiian Airlines.  But nonetheless, life goes on.  Sunday after church, we went to a picnic at the park with my Bible Study group and their families, which was pretty fun.  After that we spent the evening at our church for their Patriotic Concert on the Lawn.

Monday, of course, was the 4th.  We started off going to a friend's house for an lunchtime holiday BBQ and the kids had fun with some water play.  After that it was straight to Traci's aunt and uncle's house for a huge block party and fireworks.  Skyler was scared by most of the fireworks, especially the illegally professional ones that were very loud.  There was actually one down the street that exploded before leaving the ground.  I couldn't tell if anybody got hurt, but it was pretty scary to see.

Tuesday the girls started swim lessons and that was pretty much it besides my quarterly psych appointment.

Wednesday after swim lessons, we headed to the beach for the first time this year.  Of course the girls had a ton of fun.  This also represented the first time that we let the girls go in the water without holding their hands, so Traci and I were kind of on edge watching them nearby.  They actually did pretty well and between that and playing in the sand, they were pretty happy.  After that we headed to my sister's mother-in-law's fiance's house for an impromptu BBQ.  She treats our girls as if they were her own granddaughters which is very sweet.  It gave us a chance to get to know her fiance a little better too, which was nice.  He has two dogs and the girls enjoyed playing with them and petting them.  Dinner was also great!  We all even took a walk to a nearby park where the girls got play a little before we finally headed home.

Thursday after swim lessons we headed to a friend's house for some fun swim time.  I was used as a floating jungle gym by the girls, and it was a lot of fun.  It's times like those I really cherish.  After that, we went home for a little bit before heading off to my kickball game, the first time Traci and the girls had been able to make it to a game.  I enjoyed having them there to watch, and we won so that was pretty cool too.  (We are 2-1 now, by the way!)

Today after lessons, our swim day was cancelled which was nice because it gave enough time to come home and prep the girls for their auditions today.  Yesterday we were notified that each girl had an audition today, so Traci took Skyler to her audition in Santa Monica while I took Courtney to her audition in Hollywood.  When Courtney and I arrived, we learned that the casting people were on lunch for another 45 minutes so we walked down the street (in Hollywood, remember) to a nearby Jack in the Box for a snack.  As we arrived, there were a man and a woman yelling at each other looking like they were going to go at it (fight) right outside the JITB.  I calmly walked Courtney way around them and into the restaurant to make sure we were both safe.  Once inside we got our food and I had to let Courtney know not to stare at a woman who was talking to people who weren't there, if you know what I mean.  Ahhhh...just another day in Hollywood!  After we made it home, we had a chance to eat dinner and get the girls packed and over to Traci's parents' house for a sleepover tonight.  The reason for the sleepover?

Tomorrow morning, Traci and I head over the house of one of our pastors to help them move to their new house in El Cajon, near San Diego, since he is becoming Co-lead Pastor of a church down there.  Needless to say it will be a busy Saturday...again.

Despite all this busyness, I have still made time to apply to a number of jobs.  How many will I actually have a chance at?  Based on my success so far...none.  But if I don't keep trying, nothing will happen.  However, I am getting in touch with a recruiter that helped one my friends a little while back.  I'm hoping that may help end the drought, but I'll believe once it happens.  So in honor of Will and Kate's visit to L.A., chin up!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Rough Weekend

Usually this is a very fun weekend as we celebrate the birth of our country.  This year has been a little different so far, though.  As you may or may not know, I recently had two interviews with Hawaiian Airlines.  This would have been a major move as we would have needed to relocate to Hawaii since the position was based out of Honolulu.  However, yesterday morning I received an e-mail from the recruiter who originally contacted me about the position.  It said that they decided to pass on me and provided 3 reasons the VP, who most recently interviewed me, gave for taking me out of the running.  Two of those three reasons were total crap, which is the main reason I am so pissed and upset about this missed opportunity.  The one that gets me the most is that he didn't understand why I left Chevron because he assumed they were doing fine.  Here's the two part problem I have with that.  First, he assumed!  Secondly, he never asked me!  I'll give him the fact that although Chevron was crying that they weren't doing well (I guess only making $10 billion in 2009 isn't good enough, never mind the $20 billion they made last year, you know, the year they made all the workforce cuts...don't even get me started on that).  Most companies would be fine with that, but not Chevronor other oil companies.  Regardless, if he wondered about it, why didn't he freakin' bring it up?  But, what's done is done.  However, if the first guy "really liked" me (per the recruiter who talked with him), did he talk to the VP?  Now I'm just running "what if?" scenarios through my head.

Of course our parents are glad that we aren't moving, but I don't care and don't want to hear that right now.  That's almost motivation for me to look exclusively for jobs outside our current area.  (Can you tell I'm a little bitter?)  I really had my hopes up for this possibility, especially since the first interviewer liked me so much.  All I've got to say is thank goodness for my meds.  If I didn't have those, who knows how low I would have gotten this weekend; yesterday was bad enough on them.  At least I have my next psych appointment on Tuesday.

I have applied for a couple of jobs since the rejection, one based in Texas (with another airline) and one based locally with a high-end sunglasses company.  I'm not expecting anything to happen, but at least I've applied.

I have become very frustrated with this whole job search thing.  My career coach said that if you get in for an interview, you are 80% of the way there (to getting hired).  He also gave me a stat about if you get a second interview.  I think it was over 90%, but I'm going to assume only 90% for hte purpose of the following calculation.  If it were true, that would mean that I have a (.1 x .1 x .1 =) .001 = .1% chance of not getting hired by any of those three employers.  So does that mean that I suck that bad or am I just lucky to be the one person out every 1,000 that has 2 interviews with 3 different employers and doesn't get hired.  See where I'm going with this?  If I assume that the probability was 95% instead of 90%, there would be a .0125% chance of me not getting any of the three jobs.

Now that I have passed the 9-month unemployment mark I feel like my faith is starting to be challenged.  I know God has a plan for me, but what is it and how long will this continue?  Is He going to take me to the edge again, like 2 years ago?  Is this some kind of test?  Whatever it is He's doing, I hope He enlightens me soon.  I'm getting sick of this waiting game!

Oh and on top of all this, there are other things to worry about...big things.  We have only one payment (for August) left on our temporary loan modification plan.  After that, we are done with payments if I'm still unemployed, which means we will have to get rid of the house.  Then, after October 1 (ironically, the 1-year anniversary of me being unemployed), my unemployment claim maxes out and we will have pretty much no income.  Feels like a perfect storm is brewing to me.

One more thing that irks me is that I keep hearing that those who are currently working have an easier time finding a new job that those who are unemployed.  Please tell me I'm stupid, because this doesn't make sense to me.

Ok, I think I'm done venting.  Now I just need to calm down so I can actually sleep tonight.