2014 was a year of firsts, including the first time I was unemployed in another country.
Trying to make myself a viable employment option to publishers is challenging. It’s a time of managing printer breakdowns, PC breakdowns, and wondering when I get to have a breakdown of my own.
Things have changed since my last job searching three or so years ago. These are now actual job vacancies: Data Wrangler, Happiness Engineer, Drupal Themer, Deep Thinking Product Designer. And the companies they come from sound like great companies to work for. One insists that only left-leaning political types should apply (is this legal?), while another talks big about changing the world one child at a time.
Applying online has developed too. Upload a resume and the really good sites will populate their tedious application forms straight from your gleaming work of career-listing genius. I love living in the future. It’s the little things that make life better.
It took longer than it should have for me to finally get around to claiming unemployment. It was very much a stranger-in-a-strange-land fear of not understanding the system. It took a few days of having nothing to do before I caved and reached, metaphorically, for the online form.
So, finally, I applied for unemployment; now, if I can also get around to remembering to include my bath mat in my laundry, I’ll officially be a successful human being. These are how my standards have adjusted, in less than a month. But still, it could actually be a whole year since that bath mat has been washed. It’s time.
Small Change on Strangers 