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Employed at Last
12 years ago
General
For the last six months, I've been looking for work. I wasn't having a lot of success so I took an unpaid internship doing grant writing and blogging for a nonprofit. As luck would have it, the week I finished the internship, I got a job offer. One of my coworkers at the framing store had left for our parent company, Michaels, and once a full-time position opened up, she recommended me. I went in yesterday to fill out the paperwork and I start the job Wednesday.
On one hand, I'm real glad to have this job. All my credit cards are maxed and even though I'm getting unemployment, I'm barely making my student loan payments. I'm just keeping my head above the water, so a 40 hour job with $11 an hour (hey, that's the most I've ever got!) is going to be a real lifesaver. Hell, maybe I can save up some money and even buy my family some decent Christmas presents. I'll be doing work I'm familiar with so all I really have to learn is their computer system and whatever minor changes they have in ordering. I get to work with a former coworker, so she can explain how things differ and give me some pointers. I'll even get health insurance.
On the other hand. I feel like I'm back at square-one. I wanted a job and now I have a job, but somehow I feel like I've settled. When I got out of college, I took this framing job telling myself I would only be there for a little while and soon find a job in my field and be able to move out of my mom's and start a life of my own. Well, three years passed and it didn't happen. Getting laid off was a bit of a wake-up call. I researched grant writing, freelance, and technical writing jobs and got an internship that gave me some much-needed experience. Now I'm back at retail once again. I know I should be happy, but it feels like I didn't get anywhere.
I suppose I can always work this job and keep applying for better jobs, but a little voice in my head tells me I'm going to be doing retail for the rest of my life. My life is passing me by and I'm not making any progress. I haven't got a job in my field, I'm not putting my degree to use, I haven't even written that damn book or gotten more than one or two paintings in a gallery much less sold one.
I shouldn't complain so much. Some of my friends have graduated with master's degrees in the sciences and have only done seasonal work and internships thus far.
Needless-to-say, this means that there's going to be a longer delay between art postings. So if you're waiting on a trade or for commissions to open up, please bear with me a little longer.
Best,
Artizek
On one hand, I'm real glad to have this job. All my credit cards are maxed and even though I'm getting unemployment, I'm barely making my student loan payments. I'm just keeping my head above the water, so a 40 hour job with $11 an hour (hey, that's the most I've ever got!) is going to be a real lifesaver. Hell, maybe I can save up some money and even buy my family some decent Christmas presents. I'll be doing work I'm familiar with so all I really have to learn is their computer system and whatever minor changes they have in ordering. I get to work with a former coworker, so she can explain how things differ and give me some pointers. I'll even get health insurance.
On the other hand. I feel like I'm back at square-one. I wanted a job and now I have a job, but somehow I feel like I've settled. When I got out of college, I took this framing job telling myself I would only be there for a little while and soon find a job in my field and be able to move out of my mom's and start a life of my own. Well, three years passed and it didn't happen. Getting laid off was a bit of a wake-up call. I researched grant writing, freelance, and technical writing jobs and got an internship that gave me some much-needed experience. Now I'm back at retail once again. I know I should be happy, but it feels like I didn't get anywhere.
I suppose I can always work this job and keep applying for better jobs, but a little voice in my head tells me I'm going to be doing retail for the rest of my life. My life is passing me by and I'm not making any progress. I haven't got a job in my field, I'm not putting my degree to use, I haven't even written that damn book or gotten more than one or two paintings in a gallery much less sold one.
I shouldn't complain so much. Some of my friends have graduated with master's degrees in the sciences and have only done seasonal work and internships thus far.
Needless-to-say, this means that there's going to be a longer delay between art postings. So if you're waiting on a trade or for commissions to open up, please bear with me a little longer.
Best,
Artizek
felicidades amigo :D
1) I learned in my Welfare classes that the important thing in life when it comes to employment is separating a "job" from a "career" or "vocation". The first is something you do to pay the bills. The second is what you truly want to do, your life's work. The first is a necessary step to the latter. Yes, it can become easy to get stuck on the first step if you have bad luck, if you settle, or if you get lazy/give up, but it is still something you have to do. Doesn't make it wrong or bad.
2) That little voice in your head is what you need to keep from getting stuck on step 1. Don't let it ruin the good job you have, but do let it drive you to keep looking on the side, to keep doing things to build your writing and art cred and get work related to that. Once you find it, and it takes off, then you can leave the retail job with a clear conscience.
3) But don't forget (and I know you know this) that it is very hard to get successful in the arts and humanities, and even when you do you often can't live on it. So you may very well need to keep working in something (retail or otherwise) to pay those bills even while you are writing/making art. I myself have that intention in what I am seeking: I'm trying to get into office work because I am detail-oriented, it's service which I like, and it's still related to my English background. But on the side I will continue writing and trying to get published because I know even once that happens, I won't be able to depend solely on it for the income.
The long and the short of it is, do what you have to do, give back to society, but also pursue your dreams on the side. As long as you do both you should have the money and security you need now, while still being able to do what you dream about, and someday that can be all you do with yourself.
*hugs* Congrats, stud.
Just a suggestion you might find useful. Could help you be at peace with your job since you know what you want out of it financially, and while you're comitted to it for now, you know you don't plan on staying there forever.