Thursday, August 27, 2009

Adventures I've had while waiting for full-time employment

(Sadly, I have not received free coffee, donuts, or soup.)

Adventures in the Mission:
  • Gone on a mural tour.
  • Eaten the best and most creatively flavored ice cream of my life.
  • Participated in the spontaneous block party, complete with dancing in the street, popping champagne, and embracing complete strangers, that erupted when Obama won the election. (Also very cool: On November 5, approximately 70% of the student body at Mission High School appeared to be wearing some sort of Obama t-shirt or pin or carrying a newspaper with his image on it.)
  • Survived the bajillions of illegal fireworks set off on the 4th of July (and, since it was the Mission, also the 3rd of July and the 5th of July).
  • Watched the Carnaval parade, which happened to take place on my 23rd birthday.
  • Gone to a climbing gym with my roommate, who makes bouldering look easy. (It's not.)
  • Discovered the free farm stand and not one, not two, but THREE secret gardens. (No links because they're secret.)
Adventures on Public Transportation:
  • Been applauded by the entire bus upon finally catching it after a three-block chase (the 49).
  • Received free transfers (for the 48 and the 14).
  • Witnessed two fights (BART) and one arrest (also BART)
  • Finished up my cross-town move in the middle of the Folsom Street Fair (the California Street cable car and the 49 bus). Traumatizing.
  • Overheard a 30-something couple break up on the seats directly in front of me (the 48 bus).
  • Transported the following home-cooked food via various modes of public transportation: chocolate chip cookies, a strawberry-peach pie, queso, pasta with cherry tomatoes and proscuitto, chocolate cupcakes with Bailey's frosting, and olive oil salt bread. Carrying food on the bus is a good way to make friends, especially if you're taking the 48.
Adventures with Famous People and Fancy Stuff:
  • Been an extra in a friend's Scary Cow-funded film. Once she becomes a big-deal director, which she will, look for me in the party scene of the yet-unnamed project. I'm the one who directs the drunk girl to the kitchen.
  • Sampled so much fancy chocolate I can't believe I don't weigh at least 400 pounds. Highlights include a bacon chocolate bar (don't knock it 'til you've tried it), camel's-milk chocolate, sheep's-milk chocolate, goat's-milk chocolate, pistachio-chile bark, sea salt caramel chocolates, chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, blue cheese truffles (again, surprisingly tasty), rosemary chocolate, and many, many more. All this thanks to the incredible generosity of Cady and Jack at Chocolate Covered, San Francisco's finest chocolate store.
  • Seen and/ or met Michael Chabon, Alice Waters, Dave Eggers, Amy Tan, Sam Mendes, Maya Rudolph, John Krasinski, Neko Case, Michael Pollan, Harold McGee, and Gus Van Sant (all thanks to 826).
  • Made friends with people even cooler than those listed above.
Adventures Related to Jobs:
  • Learned to write fantastic, if (so far) ultimately ineffective, cover letters.
  • Tutored some amazing kids.
  • Become a pro at fixing copy machines and alphabetizing files.
  • Started this blog!

Monday, August 24, 2009

Flexing my English major muscles

I wouldn't consider myself a rabid Emily Dickinson fan, but this one poem of hers has been knocking around my head for at least the last two years, and I think it sums up my views of what I want out of a job (not to mention my life) much better than I ever could:

I dwell in Possibility--
A fairer House than Prose--
More numerous of Windows--
Superior--for Doors--

Of Chambers as the Cedars--
Impregnable of Eye--
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky--

Of Visitors--the fairest--
For Occupation--This--
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise--


I wrote an op-ed about this poem for my college's newspaper a couple of years ago, and I find my assumption that I'd have my pick of job offers simultaneously cute and pathetic, sort of like in elementary school, when I was convinced I could make a fortune by mashing up mountain laurel petals and selling them as perfume. (In case you're wondering, crushed flower petals stuffed into water bottles do not make perfume. They make a wilted, stinky mess.) But I still stand by the words I wrote. I still believe--perhaps more strongly than ever, now--that I have a moral obligation to the greatest amount of good I can do. And although I'm no longer counting on Paradise, I am spreading wide my hands, waiting for something to fall into them.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

I'm on another blog!

My high school college advisor and personal hero recently completed an Ironman (!!!) and I wrote her a congratulatory email because, well, clearly congratulations were in order. It was the first time I'd been in touch with her for a couple of years, so we emailed back and forth a bit, which was lovely. Then my dad emailed me today to tell me that she quoted one of my emails on her blog! How cool is that? Check it out here.


Phew, that's all for today. I'm back from what turned into a five-hour volunteer shift at the Street Food Festival. I was taking orders at the Estrellita's Snacks booth, which was serving pupusastamales, and agua fresca. It was INSANE. I took well over 400 orders and was the only person at the booth with a solid command of the English language (thank goodness I speak Spanish!), which meant I never stopped talking for more than about two seconds at a time. Believe it or not, it was also fun, albeit the kind of fun that makes you want to lie down and watch trashy TV for the rest of your life. I can't imagine how Maria and her helpers are going to make it to 7:00. They are way tougher than I will ever be. But I knew that already.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Reason #4: I am stubborn.


That might not sound like much of a selling point, but let me elaborate. I'm not stubborn all the time. I work well as a member of a team, I like collaborative projects, and I rarely mind compromising on where to eat dinner or whatever. When it comes to things I really care about, however, I can be just as stubborn as that mule in the picture. 

For instance, back in college, I almost always had a passable paper written at least 24 hours before the deadline, and yet I routinely found myself sprinting across campus to hand that paper in on time. This was due not to procrastination, but to a bullheaded refusal to hand in anything but my very best work. I recall one paper in particular that I trashed a day and a half before it was due because I realized a slightly different reading of a key passage could lead to a significantly more interesting thesis. Thirty-six hours later, I was cursing that decision as I ran through snow in sandals to get the paper handed in on time (I'd been so focused on the paper I'd failed to notice the first snowstorm of the year had blown in), but it was worth it. My professor liked the paper and, more importantly, I was really proud of what I'd written. 

This whole job search process is another prime example of my particular brand of stubbornness. I'm quite sure I could have found a full-time job as a receptionist for a company or corporation I didn't care about, but that's just not good enough. That's not why I went to college. That's not why I've spent so much time and energy trying to figure out what I want to do. I don't mean to imply that I think certain jobs are somehow beneath me (they're not), but, as mentioned in an earlier post, I feel strongly that, given the amount of time, money, and energy invested in my education, I have a strong moral obligation to find a job that will benefit people besides me. And, mule-like, I've refused to budge on this issue.

Now, as I see it, digging my heels in about finding a job that helps people is different from refusing to adapt to a situation that's been radically different than I expected, and I think I have adapted. I moved to San Francisco assuming I'd find work with an educational nonprofit, but I quickly realized I needed to broaden my search, to compromise a bit. I think that's actually a good thing. If I'd gotten a job at an educational organization, there's a good chance I would never have looked back. I've applied for educational, environmental, urban planning, social justice, and even a couple of public health jobs, and would be genuinely excited to take on any of them. I'm also getting less stubborn about staying in San Francisco, so, friends, if any of you are reading this and wish I would come join you in New York, D.C., London, Bozeman, San Antonio, or wherever you may be (or, alternately, if you want to get me as far away from you as possible and send me to Timbuktu or Perth or wherever), go ahead and start sending me job postings. I would even consider moving someplace with winter again. 

But I am still determined to do good work, and I don't think I'm ever going to change my mind about that. 

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Hearing my own thoughts on public radio

One of my absolute favorite things to do is listen to NPR, usually "All Things Considered," as I cook dinner. There's something inexplicably wonderful about learning what's going on in the wider world as your own world contracts to contain just you and the clove of garlic you're pressing, the cheese you're slicing, or the pasta you've just spilled all over the stove.

This evening, as I was starting to bang pots and pans around (the apartment's short on storage, so most meals begin with a ruckus as I try to pull the correct cooking implement out of our cabinet), I was surprised to hear a story by Firoozeh Dumas about something that's been bothering me for a long time. She was talking about her teenage son's quest for employment and how he's been rejected from everywhere he's applied. Fine, she says, but why couldn't any of the employers be bothered to write him an email telling him they've hired someone else? 

I couldn't agree more. Possibly the single most dispiriting thing about this whole search process has been the silence from the vast majority of employers I've contacted. Usually, after submitting an application online, I feel lucky to get a system-generated email informing me that my application has been received but I probably won't hear from anyone at the organization due to the number applicants. What's more demoralizing is when I don't hear anything at all. No news is not good news. It means you can't ever quite get that job out of your head, while also making you feel that your life isn't worth the 30 seconds it takes for someone to send a form email thanking you for applying, informing you of the organization's decision to hire someone else, and wishing you luck in your future endeavors. 

I didn't even realize how much this silence bothered me until I got a signed letter from the ACLU of Northern California letting me know that they'd chosen another candidate but they wished me luck--precisely the kind of letter Firoozeh Dumas wished her son had received. 

So, to paraphrase one of my favorite Otis Redding songs, employers, I implore you to try a little tenderness, or at least a little common courtesy. We young girls do get weary.

Unemployment Mix


OK, OK, so technically I'm employed, but "unemployment mix" sounds much better than "underemployed and a little bit desperate mix," so that's what I'm going to call it. Here's the track list so far:
  • Under Pressure, Queen
  • Money (That's What I Want), The Supremes (or maybe someone else)
  • Everything's Just Wonderful, Lily Allen
  • Unemployed in the Summertime, Emiliana Torrini
  • Charm School, Bishop Allen
  • This is Not a Test, She and Him
  • You Can't Always Get What You Want OR Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones
  • Coffee's Cold, Abigail Washburn
  • Carry That Weight, The Beatles
  • You Ain't Going Nowhere, Bob Dylan
And here are a few more that I think might be a bit of a stretch but are still under consideration:
  • Respect, the one and only Aretha Franklin
  • Ain't Wasting No More Time, The Allman Brothers 
  • I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking for, U2
  • Legend in My Living Room, Annie Lennox
  • Young Woman's Blues, Bessie Smith
  • Blindsided, Bon Iver
  • The Underdog, Spoon
I assumed someone who knows more about music than I do would have made a seriously amazing unemployment mix by now, but despite repeated attempts to locate it on iTunes or Google, I haven't come up with a thing. Strange, right? Am I just looking in the wrong places?

Monday, August 17, 2009

A bit of background

I was born and raised in Austin, Texas with two siblings and an ever-evolving array of pets. From grades 1 to 12, I attended Saint Andrew's Episcopal School, where I learned to appreciate the humanities, community service, and Friday night football. By the end of high school, I was ready for a major change and chose to attend Williams College in western Massachusetts. I took all sorts of great classes in history, Spanish, art history, and studio art, but ended up majoring in English. (I was also one class away from a dual degree in English and art.) 

I've never been afraid to venture out on thin ice.

I loved almost every minute of college and, for a time, assumed I would become an English professor. Then some point during my senior year, my bleeding-heart liberal tendencies kicked in and I realized that I need to have a career that speaks to my keen interests in academia, art, and writing while allowing me to have a tangible and positive impact on the lives of people around me. 

Teaching at a public school seemed the most logical way to go, but I didn't want to spend more time in school getting certified to teach. I'd been a student my entire life and was ready for something else. Eventually, I decided I wanted to work at an educational nonprofit. 

I have, in fact, graduated from college.

After graduating, I accepted an internship at 826 Valencia, an absolutely amazing nonprofit in San Francisco's Mission District. I cannot say enough wonderful things about 826 or the internship: I worked directly with kids and on the more administrative end of things, and I knew within two weeks that this was absolutely and without a doubt the kind of work I want to be doing. 

Because the internship was unpaid, I took a temp job at an investment management firm to support myself, figuring I'd be able to find something a bit more permanent and meaningful within a month or two. Then the economy tanked, and, well, here I am. 

Things are looking up... and so am I, dang it!

I've grown a lot this year, both as an employee and as a person, but even so, it's been tough to keep my chin up and not despair. I know there's a recession, I know California's broke, I know social services are getting cut (oh, don't I know it!), but I also know I'm smart, motivated, organized, and creative, and that virtually anyone I've worked with or for will tell you the same thing.

Employers, start your engines. 

P.S. Thanks to my dad for helping me get this post posted. 

Sunday, August 16, 2009

The universe might be out to get me, but I'm still determined to track down my dream job.

Sorry for the lack of recent blog posts--there will be a lot this week, I promise--but I just had to share my latest job-search snafu. This morning, I added the blog's URL to my resume and blithely began sending it out as an attachment. After sending the first couple out, it occurred to me that I should double-check that the link was working, and I am so glad I did. The link did not work, and it took me longer than I'd care to admit to notice that the auto-correct had kicked in and changed "blogspot" to "bloodspot." In other words, I'd been directing potential employers to http://www.hireelizabeth.bloodspot.com, which makes me sound like some sort of serial killer for hire. Great. 

Anyway, I sent out follow-up emails explaining that I'd found a typo and was attaching an updated resume, so I'm hopeful that it will be fine, but I can't help but feel there's some sort of cosmic conspiracy to keep me unemployed.

On a happier note, I finally found the secret garden on Harrison Street today! I had pretty much given up on ever locating it when I walked past an unlocked gate--definitely a rarity in this neighborhood. Certain I was trespassing and about to be attacked by deeply territorial dogs or possibly even people (I mean, it is the Mission), I poked my head inside and found myself in a grassy alleyway with murals on the walls. The street noise melted away and it was like I'd stumbled into someone else's daydream. The alleyway opened up and suddenly I was surrounded by plum trees (with people in them, picking the fruit and also causing it to rain down on everyone on the ground), vegetable beds, more murals, and a whole bunch of seriously cool neo-hippies. I was too dazed to do much other than give the woman in charge my email (I said I'd come help them pull weeds next Saturday), but the whole thing was so spectacular it almost made up for the bloodspot fiasco. Almost. 

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Reason #3: Hungry? I can help.

I cook a lot. This is not an activity that initially seems related to the working world, but I think there are several connections. First, cooking requires some advanced planning. Vegetables need to be peeled and chopped; crusts need to be blind-baked; fruit needs to be blanched; etc., etc. Second, especially for baking and especially if you're a new cook, you need to be able to follow directions and pay attention to details. Otherwise, your pie crust won't come together, your eggs won't whip properly, your cookies will melt in the oven, and all sorts of other dire and annoying consequences. Third, if you want to be a great cook--not a good cook, but a great one--you need to be able to improvise and be creative. I'm not quite there yet, but I've been cooking a lot this year and I've had very few disasters and a good number successes. 

For instance, an asparagus, tomato, and avocado omelette:

Or salad with pears, feta, and walnuts:

French toast with berry compote:

Chocolate chip cookies with sea salt:

If you hire me, I'll bring the advance planning, attention to detail, and creativity I employ in the kitchen to the office. And I will also bring treats.  

Monday, August 10, 2009

Reason #2: Multitasking is my life.


About 99% of the job descriptions I've read in the last twelve months stipulate that applicants must be able to multitask and manage competing priorities. My cover letters tend to outline ways in which I’ve succeeded in doing both those things in a professional environment, but secretly I always want to include a sentence or two that says something along the lines of, “Of course I can do this—can’t you tell that multitasking and prioritizing are a way of life for me right now?”

My résumé shows clearly that I’ve been working four part-time jobs for the past few weeks and that, since August 2008, there’s never been a time when I’ve worked fewer than two jobs. What it doesn’t show is that I’ve worked all these jobs while searching for and then moving into an apartment, learning to navigate an entirely new city, making new friends, shopping for groceries, applying for jobs, volunteering, keeping up (for the most part) with current events and old friends, cooking dinner at least four nights a week… I think you get the picture. None of this feels like a big deal while I’m in the midst of it—in fact, I usually feel like I really ought to be doing more things with my time—but that list looks pretty impressive when it’s written out like that, right?

By now you may be wondering why I put a photograph of a tomato plant at the top of this post. That’s my big, beautiful tomato plant, which I got months ago from the free farm stand when it was just a tiny seedling that could be housed in a single-serve yogurt container. Managing not to kill a single tomato plant--and also a couple of basil plants, a fuschia, and some thyme, sage, and rosemary (the parsley went to seed, thereby preventing us from having a Simon and Garfunkel song on our front stoop)-- may not seem like much of an accomplishment. But think about it: when I decided to grow these plants, I took on responsibility for the lives of seven other living things, and I've taken that responsibility seriously. They aren’t sentient beings and don’t require as much attention as, say, a toddler, but they are still gloriously alive and still dependent on me to make sure they that stay way.

I’m not saying anyone should hire me solely because I’ve managed to keep myself afloat and my plants alive on a messy schedule full of freelance work. What I’m saying is that I’ve managed to keep myself and my plants not just alive, but also thriving in the midst of what I sincerely hope will turn out to be an anomalously turbulent time in my life. Imagine what I could do if I wasn’t spending so much time and energy on the job search. 

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Sometimes, the job search feels like this. But other times, it's strangely OK.


I wish I could claim credit for this fabulous graphic, but I can't. (Credit goes, I think, to a photographer named Jonas Eriksson; his site is here and well worth checking out.) I stumbled across it when I was looking at blogs like mine to see if I could shamelessly steal anything from them. Mission accomplished! 

So, yes, it's been a frustrating several months. At the same time, however, I've learned a TON. Here are three things the job search process has taught me about myself and the world in general:
  • If you need help, ask for it. I know, it sounds painfully obvious, but it took me months to realize it's fine to ask family, friends, or even complete strangers to lend a hand. Provided you're polite, most people are eager to help however they can. I've had so many encounters with fantastic people I would never have met if I hadn't shamelessly asked them to help me out. For instance, I found out about La Cocina on Yelp, decided it was somewhere I'd like to work, looked them up, and emailed a woman named Leticia to see if she'd talk with me about similar organizations in the Bay Area. A week later, I met her and we spent over an hour brainstorming places I could apply, and she continues to email me occasional job postings. I still haven't gotten a job out of the encounter, but it's improved my life in many other ways. (Example: the Street Food Festival has been on my radar forever.) How cool is that?
  • I am even more disciplined than I thought I was. Since September 2008, I've spent at least six hours a week doing job-search-related work: searching for job postings, emailing Williams alumni, drafting cover letters, contacting people for informational interviews, and, more recently, working on this blog. While sometimes this effort makes me want to roar like that lion in the photo, it's also been great to find out that I have the willpower to carve out a place for myself in the world.  
  • Rest is important. I sort of like setting my own schedule, but if you're never technically at work, it turns out that you're also technically never NOT at work (take that double negative, George Orwell!), which is exhausting. Lately, I've been trying hard to take one day a week to take a walk, explore a new neighborhood, draw, write, cook, or do something else totally unrelated to work or the search for work. I'm not living the life I had in mind for myself right now, but I know I'll get there eventually and in the meantime I should really enjoy being alive, healthy, young, and in a fantastic city. Besides, it totally shows if you've mindlessly cranked out four cover letters in two hours, and no one's going to hire a mindless person. Or so I'm told. 
With that in mind, I'm going to see if I can find that secret garden on Harrison Street that I keep hearing about. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Reason #1: I will organize the heck out of your files.



I have always been incredibly organized and tidy. This particular trait became apparent quite early on. My parents still love to talk about how, as a first-grader, I was so eerily consistent about doing my homework and putting it in my backpack before bed that they considered taking the homework out of my backpack so that I would see it was OK if I messed up. (In the end, they elected not to interfere, and one fateful day in April, I finally arrived at school, opened my folder, and realized I had left my worksheet sitting on the kitchen table. Although I still remember feeling my stomach drop in panic, it turned out not be a big deal.)

In the years since first grade, I'll be the first to admit that I've spaced on a few assignments and deadlines here and there, but I remain one of the more organized people I know. Right now, I work three freelance jobs and volunteer for two organizations, and I have yet to miss a deadline, fail to show up for work, or bring the wrong materials to a meeting. I can do this in part because I am good about writing to-do lists and putting meetings on my calendar, but I was also just born with an organized brain. I won't go so far as to say that filing or alphabetizing are my favorite pastimes, but I do actually experience a certain satisfaction in organizing big stacks of paper that used to be jumbled messes. (I'm also one of those shoppers who puts clothes back on hangers.)  I like knowing where things are, when they're due, and what I need to do to get them done, all of which has served me well in the working world. 

Here are a few concrete examples of how my organizational skills manifest themselves:
  • Almost every message in my Gmail inbox is labeled. Once I've responded to it, it gets filed in a labeled folder for future reference. 
  • Ditto for my "My Documents" folder.
  • I keep a planner. 
  • I use my planner. 
  • I don't have a closet, so all my clothes are kept folded on shelves. 
  • I remember birthdays, usually because they are written down in my planner. 
  • I have never been late paying a credit card bill. 
  • Friends, colleagues, and family members have been begging me to organize their desks, studios, offices, and lives since I was in middle school. 
In short, you should hire me because I will organize the heck out of your files, inbox, and database.