Settling In...

I had a fabulous weekend...

Filled with people who pulled me out of my suburban shell and made me get into the city, and enjoy it. I truly did! Catch you up to speed with the new DC adventures:

The Recruiter Game: Play or Be Played

As a recommendation of how to get started in the city, I graciously set out to initially start my job hunt with recruiters. Wear suit, check. Glasses, check. Pearls, check. Croc kitten heels, check. Faux-leather binder, check. Resume on nice paper, check. Then you get to the office. Mostly filled with no career placement tests, only your resume, a few questions, and off you go. For the most part, I can say it feels a bit like you are being championed into a whirlwind of intern-level jobs. In the beginning I said,"YES, I'll take whatever. This is what field I want to break into. If you've got something in healthcare, take me." Then comes the lovely recruiter who sold me a job at a lovely resort in the area. I must say it is a breathe taking place, palatial and grandeur. If I were on the wave of early immigrants coming to America, I'm sure that they were fed the same game..."The roads are paved with gold! Everyone loves working here! Love the people! If I didn't have a job I'D BE here!" ...So I jumped the gun in what was thought to be an extremely crunched time line. Ha. The time crunch was supposed to stop me from thinking it through. As I thought to myself, this won't be too bad. It'll be something to fill my time while I'm looking. WRONG. It was a paper-shuffling gig that was poor planned, to where to staff did not even know where to place me and said, hmm, ok you can start with learning how to answer the phones. Tactfully smiling and acting eager to learn, inside, I thought I was dying! I clearly thought this was something different. Clearly, I was fed "the game." Play or be played. With the advice of my MommaC, I was able to stand UP to the recruiter. Tell them that this isn't what I was looking for, and dust myself off. The anxiety of wanting to not burn a bridge quickly faded as I thought, is this bridge worth crossing to begin with? Well the game is a commission game. A game of competitive placements, with me redefining my search to the remaining recruiters! As I have the tendancy to be polite with out wanting to disappoint someone, that's what you have to do to change the game. :)

There's no place like home...

So the past couple of weeks were full of fun commuting, meeting with recruiters, computer testing, and all that jazz....it's nice to take a deep breathe and come home where your family is to rest and catch your breathe. "Home is where the heart is," as they say.

DC update: It's the smaller milestones that make me happy again! For instance, WOW, I decided on an apartment and negotiated the start date to April. There is something about knowing where you are going to lay down at night, and being happy with that, that brings an odd sense of accomplishment! After 30+ emails looking at places, I was exhausted mentally of searching. My new roomie and I clicked immediately. We said to one another, "You are the most normal person I have met in this search!" And so it was.

In navigating an unfamiliar city, it bring me back to first landing in France. We took a pricey cab ride from the train station to the hostel, and went through beautiful and not-so-pretty areas of downtown Marseille and the coast. I was speechless. It was awe and fright rolled up into one big ball of mystery. I thought to myself, "Oh wow. What now?!" Well, we got over that fright. I think the first night the girls and I secretly cried, and tried to smile to one another..and eventually cried to one another over a fine and inexpensive bottle of French wine. Oui oui..weeeeeppppp.

I used that hurdle to propel me to a city that is second to international cuisine and people to NYC. In a sense, I am le Americaine! avidly hoping to make some huge impact on my resume, and have some fun in the mean time. I truly always love a good flair to my stories. I get bored easily. Why not move and make a good story?

Although my time now is push, push, push towards an industry/job/career that I hope carries me well, I rest assured that HP always figures out some way to have some fun shenanigans along the way. It's hard to focus on true fun right now, but sometimes you have to break up that monotony of the job search :)


Til next time...have a wonderful weekend!