Unemployment Chronicles Chapter 4: Thank You

For a second there, I felt like a teenager using social media.

That second was the moment I checked a simple posting on Facebook that I was debating even putting out to the world in the first place. A short, simple statement with not much depth, but with a lot of potential impact in my life.

Brian Bolek

Interview time. Let's do it

This simple status was posted a moment before I got out of my car Wednesday afternoon, dressed in my powder blue dress shirt that I wore while standing up as best man in my friend's wedding a few years ago, accompanied by a tie from a wedding I attended Memorial Day weekend. The marriage of these pieces of clothing built my confidence to an appropriate level entering the interview.

Instead of spoiling how the interview went, what the job was for, what were some questions I was asked  (and so forth), I would rather focus on the feeling that I felt, hours after the interview was done, once I checked to see the encouragement I received from a simple social media posting.

We all know the deal with these postings - we all have our lives and like to share them with people. Some like to get a rise out of people; others like to share pictures and news with people who they may be lucky to see once a year, with a bunch of different circumstances in between. I've shared my share of Unemployment Chronicles in the past couple months, none which featured details of an interview or great job lead. And now that I have both, I feel like I'm Mileying you with my flesh-covered resume, teasing you with what may have happened (or not have happened).

It's not the actual job or the interview that matters to me at this point - it's the reaction I felt when I saw the plethora of "likes" and the words of encouragement from many of you, wishing me luck and wanting me to get out of this unemployment state. Yes - these messages we post are often self-serving, and yes - we unreasonably need reassurance from time to time that we have a great network of people behind us. And that's what I felt at that time. I want to thank all of you for your encouragement.

The biggest thanks go to the closest around me - Jen, my parents, brother, sister, sister-in-law, nephew, grandma, my closest friends, etc. It's for all of you that I wish to succeed and make the most of these 7-9 decades of life that we're lucky to have on this earth, wherever I decide to work.

The Unemployment Chronicles Chapter 3: Running for Sanity

It's been about a month since I gave an update on my unemployment goings-on, unfortunately because there has not been much to update.

There has been a few leads here and there, resumes submitted for this and that, but no major bites. In that time, I attended a social event of HIMSS professionals (i.e. people that are in the healthcare industry that I've been associated with for the past six years in some form). I did meet some great people there, including a few who I've spoken to or connected via LinkedIn since the event. One position would have allowed me to branch my writing off into subject matters involving healthcare and consulting-related matters, but would have been part-time had the opportunity not fell apart. While there were no other positions at that organization available for hire, I will make sure to keep in touch with these folks, who were a joy to speak to both in person and on the phone.

Then last week, a friend recommended that I submit my resume for some positions at his organization. The best part of the organization? Their focus on sports data. I received an email back and was informed that the job would be part-time (32 hours/week) and would have no benefits. I'm still in touch with this guy, although it would be hard to take a job with no benefits. If it fits into my schedule, should I decide to go this route, I would look into one of my old jobs (covering sports at the high school level) once or twice a week - this is something I'm still thinking about.

I've also been offered the chance to write for a couple of people who have recently-launched sports-based websites. Like the other opportunity above, this is something I am thinking about - I'm thinking I will do something of this nature since I have still yet to launch a website of my own and would really like to spread my writing to more outlets.

My new running kicks. These, along w/some Chuck Taylors, will soon be part of my shoe rotation

All the while, one thing I have had to make sure to keep up with is my workout routine, specifically my running regimen. Fit Happens ended on July 1, so every bit of energy spent running around the neighborhood has been to maintain the healthier lifestyle that I created for myself in the prior six months (somewhat related to all of this - a nice surprise that Jen gave to me when we went out to dinner the evening I was officially unemployed included giving me a $100 gift card to Zappo's - so I just got myself a new pair of running shoes that I can't wait to break in). This, along with my girlfriend and great network of friends and family, has kept me sane during my unemployment. It's been a battle in itself cutting out unnecessary and/or costly expenses over the past month and a half like ordering delivery and drinking at bars, the latter which will be difficult to deter myself from doing should I be watching more football at random places this fall. So far this summer, I haven't really gone out much outside of Wednesdays after bowling - the drinking occasions with Jen and her co-workers have been quite sparse (or I'm just not aware of these occasions) considering that we've had some decent weather. Then again, we've started to get busy pretty much every weekend, so that helps with the bar cutback.

Wherever I end up work-wise, one thing I am going to have to adjust to better than I did the last time I got hired at a new job is maintaining the positive momentum of my healthier lifestyle. That means I will either have to do my runs in the morning or get in the habit of running after work (assuming I don't get a job at home like I had before). Or perhaps it will be better for me to join a gym, as the weather will be getting crappy in Chicago before you know it. Outside of the brief hot spell we had about a month or so ago, this has been great weather to run around my Logan Square/Bucktown neighborhood. Winters can be rather unpredictable, so an affordable gym might be what the fat loss doctor ordered.

Until next time, keep enjoying the summer. I hope to have more updates on some of these fronts soon. Also, expect some more football blogs coming up.

And remember, nobody cares about your fantasy football team.

The Unemployment Chronicles Chapter 2: Linking Myself In

Last week, my unemployment became official when I submitted my lay off notice to the Illinois Department of Employment Services (IDES). It felt weird waking up on a Monday and having no work junk emails to delete. It also felt weird waking up around 10-11am or so. I decided to give myself a little time to unwind following the lay off, hence the extra sleep.

That's not to say I haven't been looking for jobs - I have. But my focus in the days leading up to my last day at Tango2 and my first days/first week of unemployment were more or less about getting my cards in order. The best way to do that, I've found, is through LinkedIn.

Many of you are probably already familiar with LinkedIn, but for those who aren't, the site is a more professional version of Facebook (let's just say, you might not want to have that picture of you taking jello shots with your friends as your profile for this site). LinkedIn is basically an online resume of what you want prospective employers and networks to see.

For those of you who wish to use LinkedIn optimally, here's a few things I've found out that can help the most:

1. One of my favorite features of LinkedIn is the recommendations section. The people you add as connections and vice versa can vouch for your work history by writing up a small blurb of their interactions with you at your current or past job.
   
   One of my recommendations for the recommendations section is to initiate the recommendations yourself. Write about your colleagues who you have interacted with the most and let the world know about their professional strengths. In many cases, you'll find that these colleagues will return the favor and publicly vouch (on LinkedIn) for how great of a job you did for the company.
   
2. There's also an option on the site for you to endorse people's skills. This can work in several ways - you can add skills yourself or you can have someone endorse you for a skill. In this particular section, the skills that you have been endorsed for the most will show up towards the top of this section. Again, like the previous point, I recommend taking the first step and endorsing people's skills in hopes that they can return the favor.
   
3. While I haven't utilized these yet, I recommend joining groups in your area of employment or desired area of employment. There are groups for just about every different type of profession, and to help you further, there are a lot of groups specific to professionals in a certain city or region. This can help you connect quickly to people in your area and profession that you may have never known before. I am in a few groups myself, but have not utilized these as well as I should.
   
4. And last but not least, you can check out jobs a lot easier than you can on most of those job building sites. Most of the jobs that pop up on my page are relating to my last role as a Sales Support Specialist. My guess is that it caters to what you have mentioned in your job history in your profile, so make sure you provide up-to-date and accurate job titles for the companys you have worked.

In addition to my networking through LinkedIn, I have reached out to most of my old co-workers and friends who have jobs in similar industries to see what might be out there and hope to get a name-drop here or there. A few of my former co-workers were kind enough to write recommendation letters for me, which I will have at my disposal should potential employers ask for them.

Now's the time for me to set myself up with some hard leads and get myself some interviews. Hopefully that will be chronicled in one of the next Unemployment Chronicles.

I may need some help with my resume, so anyone who knows anyone who specializes in resumes, I'd be glad to send you mine to see what I may need to edit.

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn if you haven't already. I would be glad to write you a recommendation if I've worked with you in the past or endorse some skills of yours.

The Unemployment Chronicles Chapter 1: The Strife of Brian

Since my weight loss blogs are nearing an end, what a perfect time to get laid off so I can start a new blog series - The Unemployment Chronicles! And what better a first chapter name than this - The Strife of Brian!

No Longer The Warming Voicemail of the Company

Reality hasn't set in yet, but I'm sure it will Monday when I haven't woke up from my 7:45 am alarm. Just to make sure that does not happen, that particular alarm was just deleted from my phone.

Or maybe it will be when I send my computer back to the IT folks via FedEx. I spent a part of my week making sure to email all those fun excel sheets that I used in this very blog space.

Or quite possibly,  it will be when I file for unemployment to start the hopefully short process of collecting those checks. I'm hoping that I won't have to receive more than a few.

One thing I almost forgot to do was change my voicemail to a more generic one. With my cell having been the phone number connected to Tango2s website,  I needed to have a company-detailed voicemail.  My warming voice lent itself to the voicemails of my old company.

The Next Steps

The past 12 days have shown that I have a great group of people around me that don't want me to be on the ground for long. Family and friends have been messaging me, asking me to provide my resume so they can send it to their networks. For this, I am forever grateful. Hell, there's even a few Facebook friends who I never met in person who are helping in my search.

I have had the pleasure of speaking with a couple of recruiters from unrelated fields,  and while neither call led me directly to a job, they both led me to the same conclusion: I need to have a clue of what I'm looking for before going all out in this search. There's no sense in rushing right away into something if it's not what I really want. 

Within reason, regardless, I will need a job of some kind,  but at this juncture, assessing my next steps is the way to go.

If any of you have your own unemployment stories, I'd be glad to hear them. I've gone through this before but I always welcome a good story or advice as it relates to the process (more so the success of escaping unemployment or how you may have coped with an extended layoff). 

If you would like to potentially help with my search,  I would be glad to send you my resume for you to send to your networks or even just constructively edit. Thanks in advance for your help.

This is the strife of yours truly. At least for now. Until next time, peace.