I think I hesitate to write because I'm waiting for that entry when there's really good news. I dream of writing the entry letting everyone know I'm gainfully employed once more (or that I've won the lottery, which is much less likely to happen).
I'm getting tired of writing entries about jobs I've applied for that I would really like to have and for which I think I'm well-qualified, but I don't get an interview or even a rejection notice. It's like having a lover who keeps wooing you but ends up texting to someone else just when you're primed. And March has been especially slow for appropriate job postings; only four that I felt were worth the time applying for.
I did have one last week where the application was actually fun. They had an essay section with questions like, "Tell us about your biggest, most monumental professional screw-up. What did you learn from it?", "Why are you wrong for this job?", "Scenario: You have to generate $500 in profit for [the company] by end of day today using a phone, a pen and a cardboard box. What would you do?", and "If you had to go into battle, what kind of weapon would you choose? Battle axe, bow and arrow, sword or spear: Why?"They also required a 90-second video pitching yourself for the position (that's a new one for me). It took several takes on the iPhone, but I got something that was sincere and comprehensive on the third try. Even if I don't hear from these people, at least their application form was a lot more compelling than the typical online form.
So I keep hanging in there with the joblessness, but at some point all the wise and meaningful things I say to myself about unemployment ("You only need to find one job") start to sound like bytes from impotent self-help books.
And I keep wondering what it is that God wants me to do with this time that's been forced upon me; what kind of change or growth should I pursue? I've gone back to school and learned web design, I've put together two websites and I'm on my third, my personal and internal reflection is almost constant (with so much time on my hands) and my patience, at this point, seems almost eternal.
Maybe He wants me to clean the house more often.
The third website mentioned above is for the same Pearce Plastics that Steve works for (I did their cosmetics line site last year). They have a line of pet products that I'm putting a site together for now. Woody, the owner of the business, is 91 years old and just doesn't get the web. He asked me to put something together and so I came up with a home page and a look and style for the site, and went in with a quote for the work (extremely reasonable, but pricier than before).When we met, he said he just wanted to put a web page up with a flyer for their Smart™ Locking Crocks and leave all the other stuff off. I kept trying to explain the concept of interactivity to him and the fact that folks will click through the site and view various products in one visit; they want to feel in charge of their search through your site.
He said, "I'll bet only 15 percent do any clicking at all." Here was a statistic I could run with. "Actually, Woody," I said, "It's just the opposite: 85 percent of the people who visit a website will leave within 10 seconds if there are no links to click on." He harumphed. "Besides," I said, "We have a page on the site where people can download copies of all your flyers and catalogs and print them out to show their bosses and buyers."The more I talked, the more stubborn and confused he got. I had his wife (who also works there) call up their website to show Woody how the links worked and the page where people could click on pictures of their flyers and download a PDF file for printout. The receptionist (the only one in the office under 60 years of age) chimed in, "I like to be able to move around a website and pick and choose what I look for. I think that part's important." Woody grumbled and said, "Well, maybe I'm just not up on this technology stuff."
I finally said, "I'm a designer and you're hiring me to develop this website as a marketing tool for you, so you need to trust me. The last one turned out well, ('Oh, yes, the customers love it,' his wife interjected) and this one will turn out to be just as effective."
In the end, he signed the quote, and that was all I really needed. From my experience last time, he will never look at the website once it's up, and he won't even write any of the copy. Still, I think it could very well increase their sales to small pet shops, since they have no real marketing plan for this line at all.
So that's about it. The only other news is that the local water treatment plant (which serves about 4 million people here in the San Gabriel Valley has been offline for maintenance for the last 10 days. This means endless laundry and cleaning this coming week, as we have had to cut water usage 40 percent during this period.
Maybe God does want me to do more housecleaning.
No comments:
Post a Comment