Jobiversary

You must give a job the 6 month test, an ex-friend once told me. Six months is the tell-tale time, as long as the checks clear.

Can’t hate a new job too soon; can’t love it too soon. There’s a honeymoon stage, a trial-by-error stage, a stage for new hire and bosses to dance around each other in the ring, not wanting to show too much too soon, either way. Not wanting to show all their cards. Except…

I showed all mine. Every single one of them and bragged about cards I didn’t have, but rushed home to figure out how to get them.

I put on the best I Can Do That, Let Me Do That dance possible, and she cut me loose. Then I practiced some new moves. And she liked them too.

I’m actually at almost 7+ months since I first interviewed; I lost track being too busy working.

I not only say “I can do that,” but now I also don’t hesitate to admit, “I don’t have a clue how to do that, but I’ll learn.”

This old dog is learning new tricks every day, often from little boys and girls too young to rent cars. But when I deliver the goods, I earn respect and more importantly, with college Kid1, and Kids2 and Kid3 in high school, and Boy forgotten on a soccer field somewhere in cleats too small, a much needed paycheck.

Keep looking for that job, any job. Take work you can’t do. Go part-time, flex-time, temporary. Interview, apply, contact anything that is a remote possibility.

Take jobs you’re underpaid for and under-appreciated. Gather names and network. Keep in contact. Look up old, forgotten colleagues. Don’t piss anyone off. And eventually, that $8/hour job may indeed lead to something that not only pays greater dividends, but you’ll wake up wanting to do.