Take THAT Kinko's!

With this-here internet thingamabob it is now entirely possible to do a large perecentage of your job-seeking while wearing a robe, sprawled out on the couch with Jerry Springer playing in the background. Not that I would do that, of course... I get up and get dressed every morning (although in much more casual clothes than I would normally wear to work), and I much prefer The People's Court to Jerry Springer.

Seriously, though, it's amazing. In some ways it has made job-searching INCREDIBLY easy. Not only can you find jobs and submit cover letters and resumes via e-mail, but you can also POST your resumes to sites like Monster.com and recruiters will CALL YOU with job opportunities. I've gotten three such calls so far. They've all been for jobs in the field that I am attempting to leave. I've informed all of them that I was hoping to LEAVE the field, and hence the reason I'm looking for a job right now. I informed them of what I'm hoping to do, and the first two said they'd keep an eye open for me, but don't hold my breath. Lucky #3, however, had another job that may fit the bill. I've got an interview on Monday at the employment agency, and pending how that goes we may move to the next step of interviewing with the company.

Have you ever worked with an employment agency before? You know all those annoying tests you have to take to test your software prowess? Well, I get to do those from the comfort of my laptop as well. They send me a link with a login and password, and I just go in sometime over the weekend and knock 'em out.

How will Kinko's manage to stay in business? I mean, without the unemployed going in to photocopy resumes, how will they earn their keep?

There is one thing I miss about the old paper resumes being plopped into the mail, and that is the fact that in the current mode of job search it is entirely possible to never leave your house until you get to the interview stage of the game. Which can lead to some EXTREME cabin fever! I've got myself a little routine that I'm working with now, where I go out of the house twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, to run some stupid kind of errand or another, or I'd be suffering from some severe cabin fever.

So, on the whole I'm feeling good about things. Last night while lying in bed attempting to sleep I even came up with the perfect response to the inevitable question as to why I'm looking to jump industries.... the socialist in me just couldn't remain in such a capitalist industry. (Not that I'm THAT much of a socialist, but given that I'm looking at a lot of non-profit type places, it will fit. And given that me, with my middle-of-the-road politics was practicaly a communist compared to my co-workers at the last job, well, it fits.)