ISO A Great Job or Some Sympathy

I went to my first job fair today. It was less fun than any other fair I've been to.

I mean I wasn't really expecting to find any great leads there; I'd reviewed the companies attending and unless, unbeknownst to me, my future lies with the border patrol or that company that sells inflatable hot tubs, well then there wasn't too much to be had. In truth, I felt more like the recruiters than the job seekers--like I didn't fit in with the latter and should have instead been there in a professional role myself.

Which is not to say that the pool of job hunters was anything to scoff at. Sure there were the kids in either baggy street wear or too-tight club ensembles that really weren't getting much attention from anyone except the armed services, but I was amazed at the number of people who looked way more professional and experienced than I, be it their age or their attire or the air of confidence they projected.

I wanted to go up to all the twenty-somethings that looked like they could be friends and talk to them. I mean, I'm at home all day alone looking for job, are they too? I tend to do that, make up stories about the people I see in passing and what their lives and backgrounds must be like. In this case, I assumed most everyone I saw in my age group was in a totally similar boat and that they were just itching to get approached, make small talk about how lame this career fair was, and split for a beer and a half hour of sharing job-hunting horror stories.

But instead of talking to my cohorts I forced myself to speak with a few recruiters. Really the only ones I approached were the staffing agencies. I know AFLAC and Dreyers Ice Cream have positions I could enjoy--maybe writing their ad text or preparing website copy--I just suspect they weren't looking to fill those jobs today at the Reliant Center.

The staffing agencies didn't seem to have too much in my area either, but they certainly wanted to be helpful. One recruiter suggested I should try their agency since they have a lot of clerical positions for companies that promote from within. "After only a year, or maybe not even that long, you could transfer to something in your field!" I know I am a cry baby, but a year?! I couldn't cut that.

Good news is that the temp agencies seemed to find me totally employable, unlike any of the other companies I have applied to thus far. One recruiter wondered aloud whether I'd ever considered sales (me: nooooooo!) and then divulged that she was holding interviews tomorrow for potential candidates to join the staffing agency's own workforce and that she would call me if they hadn't found the right person by the day's end. The next recruiter not-so-subtly wrote "*hot*" at the top of my resume in her bubbly script.

So I know I can find a job, but I can't help but think my pickiness is a good thing. I know what it's like to dread getting up every morning and to count down the minutes until 5 pm on a clock that never seems to move. I also know what it's like to not mind working, sometimes, in fact, to even enjoy it. And to make friends at your job and to care about what you produce and the quality of your efforts simply because it matters personally to you.

So I'll meet with these agencies when they call and look in to what they have to offer, but I won't take a job that sounds like it'll have me ripping my hair out by the end of week two solely for the sake of being employed. I'll wait for something I don't have to convince myself I can care about, something I can wholeheartedly commit to.

Of course after the first job offer it will be a lot harder for me to continue with the nightly complaints I've grown accustomed to, directed at any friend or family member who will listen, about how this is so hard! and how I will never find a job! and how I hate job hunting! I guess at that point I'll have to grit my teeth, swallow my pride, and go ask a stranger from a job fair to grab a beer.