(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



My job search stories. What are yours? (Plz don't forget my GoFundMe!) [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2022-11-04

Not far from where I live...

Multiple DK members Kosmailed me to urge me that I should post an update and remind folks of my GoFundMe. I’ve never done this before so forgive me if it’s not perfect or comes across awkward. My GoFundMe is here…

Need help to survive the holidays, please

Since I posted my diary asking for help with my job search, here is what has happened to me…

Fellow DK member rachellj who is works on resumes and helps clients with job searches called me (from 2 hours ahead of me!) and we spoke for an hour. She was very encouraging and gave me practical feedback on my resume.

I’ve applied to 15 jobs this week on LinkedIn. So many “prefer” or insist on college degrees. L.A. Film School even requires their Tour Guide (!) to have a 2 year associate degree. WTH?!

I’ve had 3 phone interviews in the past week--with 2 more this afternoon. One of those 2 is a 2nd interview on Zoom which I’m very excited yet nervous about. The other is for a temp job in Burbank that would last for 6 months.

A couple days ago, an interviewer called me on the phone 30 minutes early...right after I got out of the shower! Luckily, I had toweled off and had 60 seconds to throw on clothes before I answered the phone, LOL. The person scheduling it had asked if I wanted to do a video interview or just a call—glad I said on the phone! :)

Per the advice of rachellj, I called a friend in her Seventies who once worked for James Cameron on THE ABYSS. She and I met when we volunteered for Kamala Harris. Unfortunately, all her contacts were on productions 4 decades ago and she couldn’t think of a single person to refer me to. Still, it was good to catch up and reminisce. And once I told her about my GoFundMe, she gave me a donation! :)

A semi-famous writer friend I know (sorry—I won’t out him) donated to my GoFundMe this morning. He has worked with Bette Midler and Jim Carrey. He, like most successful writers in Hollywood, are too busy and also looking for work to be a mentor to me as a writer so he made it clear he won’t read any script I write. But for him to go out of his way to donate to my GFM is a really big deal as he knows how long I’ve worked in entertainment and has always been supportive.

A friend who works as an Editor on several primetime TV series donated to my GoFundMe—and then told me she had lost her job. She’s very talented and has always had work ever since we met 6 years ago so I was crushed to hear she was out of work. Like my friend who worked with James Cameron, I got reminded why I’ve always worked on the corporate side of studios and never in Production: unless you’re pretty well-connected or a big name “A” lister, TV & Film Productions are rarely stable employment. Yet still she chose to help me out and give me a little bit of money. The generosity of people even in hard times is always a pleasant surprise that never ceases to amaze me.

One of my old managers at a major studio forwarded my resume last week to a friend who is a VP looking for an Admin. She told me I need to message her on LinkedIn today (which I did). Then she’ll message the VP a reminder about me on Monday morning. But that whole process could take a month or 2 so while I’d love to work there again, I’m not getting my hopes up. :(

I called a temp agency I used to work with and managed to get someone there on the phone (Thank God for small miracles!) to re-register me! FYI...temping in Hollywood is very different from 3 years ago pre-COVID. It used to be you’d call into the temp agency every day or once a week @ 8AM to say “I’m available!” and they’d often call you a few hours later to have you cover someone out sick for the day or the rest of the week. But none of them do that anymore. Now, most make you go to their website, look at job postings, apply with your resume and then you sit around and wait for them to call you. Which totally sucks.

So, I don’t have work or a job lined up yet. But the fact I’m getting a 2nd interview today on Zoom is a big deal. And so is the temp job interview (1st interview—hope I nail it!) after that. It’s more going on than I had when I posted about this on DK the first time.

Thank you to everyone here who has encouraged me and especially to those here who have been able to donate to my GoFundMe. I know with inflation, high gas and food prices that it is hard for many and not everyone can donate. But I wanted to make sure everyone knew how incredibly grateful I was & still am for every little bit of help I get .

More grateful than mere words can express.

What interesting or funny stories can you share about your job search? Hell, what horror stories might you have to share? What have you learned or feel helped you in your own job search?

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/4/2133644/-My-job-search-stories-What-are-yours-Plz-don-t-forget-my-GoFundMe

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/