Aug '08 - Jul '09
I'm not going to bother restating here how bad the job market is; I'm pretty sure you all already know.
I did know that it was going to be bad a long time ago, however, which is why I started applying to jobs back in February. I got several follow-ups, and I had a few interviews. The third and most recent interview was with a company in Denver a couple of weeks ago for the position of "energy modeler". This was looking pretty good; they called all of my references, had me take a personality test, the whole deal. In the end, they decided to redefine the position to be geared towards someone with a physics degree. I like Physics! But I never got a degree in it. :o/ So the third time was not the charm, and it's back to the job-hunting grind for me.
The good news is, I got all of my loans deferred due to unemployment, and I got some great advice from a lady at the Federal Direct Consolidation offices: she explained to me that you should NOT apply for consolidation of your student loans until very near the end of your grace period. If you apply too soon, as I was about to, they will think you are ready to start paying your loans! Obviously you do not want to lose your grace period so you should wait until that's almost up.
Also, since I have so much free time right now, and partially due to the fact that I'm a worrier, I've decided to start a new initiative on my Web site, the GreenDesignCollective. I've recently learned that several of my good friends have lost their jobs in the past couple of weeks, and several others have had their hours reduced. Therefore, I've decided to offer free Web hosting to my unemployed friends for their portfolios, complete with a sub-domain and their own user name. More details can be found here. Let me know if you are interested!
Finally, my thoughts are now shifting to what I might do with my free time. I once thought it would be a good idea to criss-cross the country in an RV and really explore America. And now that I have nothing on the agenda....well, I'm seriously considering it. The mere mention of it on my Facebook page launched a full-fledged planning effort! And an RV makes sense but I'd really love to do it in one of these beauties:
So what do you think? Should I get an RV/EuroVan/micro-bus and go on a national tour? Perhaps a blogging adventure? Maybe I could pick up Marlin and we could get a few more episodes of Archinect Travels completed? :-D
5 Comments
national tour sounds like a wonderful idea and a great networking opportunity...watch out for weirdo's (sorry for sounding like a parent).
maybe you can get a sponsor? be sure to budget so you don't dig yourself into a hole with your other loans.
reminds me of that guy travelling around the US doing a different job every week - he's sortuv famous now (except i can't remember who he is).
good luck!
you probably looked at this already, but it seem like you would be a good fit
http://www.rmi.org/
National tour sounds GREAT! Enjoy the trip!!! And I feel your pain about the three times not a charm-interviewed with a company 3 times-had to travel cross state twice, and then rejected, and then found out they decided not to hire anyone! Waste of my time completely! Good luck Emily! You will do great things-I know it! Have a fun trip across the country! And keep posting!
don't bother with the RV. the mileage is terrible and it's difficult to take off road. i'd go with the vw bus
Just get a modern mini-van for the road trip. The reliability and efficiency is worlds ahead of any old VW...and something like a Honda Odyssey is just plain comfortable to ride in the back of, speaking from experience.
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