Kathryn Mayer • Writing Out Loud
I write stuff down. writer • humorist • activist
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
Took 5 teenage girls (because I am that cool), one miserable 11-year-old boy and one bald rather attractive husband (because I am that stupid) shopping because I am looking for the Mom-of-the-Year medal and didn’t want to sit through the Bieber movie. Actually, after days of listening to: “The NEW FOREVER 21 STORE OPENED AND IT HAS TWO FLOORS AND EVERYONE IS GOING AND PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE DON’T MAKE US WAIT ‘TIL
Okay in 1980s dorm room. Not okay in cubicle. I need to clarify: my new job is in addition to other work. Not instead of. All the well wishes and congratulations is making me feel a slight bit guilty, especially since the many of my friends are still out-of-work. I’m luckily adding to the hodgepodge of what I do, not taking anything away. I would never take anything away. I
I had a kick-ass interview today at 10:00 am, a short 23.5 miles away. A perfect job. A job is fabulously perfect when you read the ad and think: I could do that. And that. And I can do that, and that too! Like matching winning lottery numbers. Check, check, check! And it’s part-time! And tele-commute! And pay is somewhat normal. Okay, maybe not normal, normal, but definitely more than most.
Cover Letters Not Included I want to implore all potential job seekers: STOP WRITING BORING COVER LETTERS. Whether you are a high-level, high-heeled, high-earning Manolo Blahnik wearing executive, or a mom like me returning to work part-time to buy soccer cleats – you must, and I mean must, stop writing cover letters, emails, querys so unbelievably last century. They just make you sound, well, like everybody else. And when everybody
Reinvention and discovering opportunity is exactly what smart people do to keep in the game. It’s what the career changers, laid off, and outsourced do diligently to get employed, and is exactly what smart moms like us should do when thinking about going back to work. Women invented Networking. Networking may be a business term to secure clients, colleagues, and sales, but it’s what we moms have been doing since the
Uh oh, I found my current job posted on Craigslist! Recently, I was cruising Craigslist for freelance gigs (a great idea if you don’t watch too many Law & Order episodes), when I came across an advertisement that sounded perfect, perhaps a bit too perfect. I quickly ran down the list of requirements: good writer? check! deadline oriented? check! update blogs and social media? check! work remotely? check! agency experience? check!
Ready to return to work yet? Okay, school’s in full swing, open houses just about done, flu shots received, and first bouts of strep and pink eye dealt with. Now what? Honestly, there’s only so much Facebook stalking a mom can do in one day. I’m all about the kids, and firmly believe a parent needs to be accessible 24/7. But as their needs change, so can your availability. And
An irreverent storyteller with a foul mouth and big heart, Kathryn Mayer (aka Kathy and/or Kate) is a writer, humorist, and (former) activist writing out loud with humor and grace about little life moments with big ripples, including the space between parenting and aging parents, social issues, angsty reflections of midlife, and, sigh, gun humpers. Still. Sometimes a big deal, sometimes not Mayer is a national award-winning columnist, according to the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and her essays have been recognized as Voice of … Read More Here...
kate[at]kathrynmayer[dot]com
xo Kate