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. :)