[The information below is a bit old but I only got the blog set up today. Many thanks goes out to my husband, without whom this blog would look like a total mess. Most likely, if had I tried to set it up on my own I would've given up in frustration and counted this blog as another incomplete project.]
Starting at the beginning of this month (June) I started to take the job hunt seriously. It’s more serious now that my husband updated me on the status of our savings. As our landlord surely wants his rent money, we really need to find decent jobs soon.
I’m used to being confounded by the problem of needing experience to get a job but not being able to get a job without experience. While I worked three to four jobs with 30-40 hour work weeks when going to school full-time (and often taking far more than the minimum 12 credits), I don’t have the experience that most employers seem to be looking for. I also followed the advice of my psychology adviser and did a research assistantship rather than interning with a company. Then and now, I am limited by not having a driver’s license, never mind my own vehicle. Many of the jobs I’m finding related to mental health require one or both. While I can understand the reasoning behind it, it doesn’t make things any easier for me.
Since applying for caseworker and related positions hasn’t been working out so far, I’ve requested a bunch of informational interviews. No luck on that front either, as my emails go unanswered and my phone calls lead to voicemail messages that have yet to be returned.
I admit that I’m impatient. The last time I hunted for a job, it took me five months to find it, and it had not been advertised. I only got it because I got through to the prospective politician after he secured enough donations to hire someone. Coincidentally, the position required that I man the same phones which weren’t answered by my new boss any of the times that I had called offering to work for him. This time I don’t have the luxury of five months, bad economy or not.
However, I have been successful at getting in touch with professors (five so far). I’ve spoken to one twice and thanks to her, I am confident in my decision to apply to the social work program that she’s teaching in, so long as she’s still there. Her current research is very similar to what I’d like to do and she’s great to talk to. A nice bonus is that she’s at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a public university.
In addition, I was able to talk to a neighbor at length, who is a school social worker. Unfortunately, she is likely to move back home to Michigan because the school she was working at closed a week ago. She said that while she has been looking for a new job for eight months, she hasn’t found one.
The main advice I’ve received so far:
- look into the applied social psychology program at Loyola
- look into the position of caseworker
- the job I eventually want might be clinical caseworker or director of research at a nonprofit
- get a driver’s license and car
- weigh my interest in a graduate school’s program heavier than the professors working there and the reputation of the school
- masters students consume research while doctoral students produce it
- contact the Mexican consulate about working with immigrants
- contact Thresholds (done)
- contact C4
- contact SAMHSA
- contact NAMI
