Today dawned bright and sunny. I was scheduled to take the last computer class today, and I actually got up before the alarm. I had enough time to negotiate with Verizon to lower the price on our DSL after breakfast. Got a break, too. Rachel was up to help me put stuff in the car and I got off on time. The commute was a little thicker on the traffic than I had experienced before, but I still got there on time.
With a one-on-one with the instructor, I cruised through the MS Excel class. The beginning was shaky, but once I woke up.. :) I finished the class an hour ahead of the time normally allotted to it. (This accommodates multiple students' questions.) I received certificates for finishing the class and the total course, filled out a course review, and said goodbye. I'll still be in touch by email.
Since the school is 13 miles from home (in the opposite direction from Paradise - see post on art) and I had the car, Bob expected me to shop my way home. Considering I only had 5 dollars cash and some change, this took some planning. First to Produce Junction, a fruit, vegetable, and flower wholesaler 1 1/2 miles away. Three heads of green leaf lettuce and 3 pounds of carrots came to $2.75. Then to the Dollar Tree store for the county newspaper, 75 cents. Check out BJ's Wholesale (local Costco competitor) to see if the 2# burger chubs were near expiration date. No luck, try next week.
So I had 3 greenbacks left - used the change on the paper and the veggies - so I considered rye bread at Acme (local Albertsons). I didn't find our favorite unsliced caraway light rye on the shelves, so I went to the bakery to ask for some. The baker had it, but she tagged it at a price 50 cents higher than the sale price on the shelf sign. I pointed this out, and got the break. So I had one dollar left for white bread for the girls' PB&J. Over to Giant, where I had a question on a previous shopping trip.
I didn't get a break on the other trip - a double coupon contention - but I found the house brand soft Italian bread on sale for a buck. Home, do-it-yourself supper (the girls were still at the barn), and fall asleep with my feet up in my recliner.
Classes done and some good financial deals for today. The organic horse fertilizer may hit the fan tomorrow, but Lord, thank you for all the good things of today.
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Friday, May 22, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
One busy day
My computer school had a 'workshop' for resume, job search, and interview skills scheduled for today. I figured my information in that sector dated back to the dark ages, when women weren't supposed to reveal marital status for fear of being shut out of a job "because you'll quit to have babies and never be back". Plus my past and current job searches were duds. So I signed up. Then my instructors told all the students that they could bring friends. My mind jumped to some job searchers I know..."Maryrose, how about my daughters?"
They actually got up for this workshop. (Now we'll hear it from Bob about why they can't always get up for church. :P ) We ran on Frantz Standard Time, aka 10 minutes late, but since there were traffic problems on US 202 the presentation was right in synch with us. It got down to business after coffee, cookies, coke, soft pretzels, and bottled water.
Karin led off with the seminar on resume writing. First, the reverse chronological history I learned in high school was OUT. Highlight strengths with action verbs; don't mention negatives - there's no law compelling it; and disclosing gaps in employment are still the kiss of death. (Face it, someone my age with a continuous employment history has either never been married, never had children, or had a very understanding husband or mother around for child care. I was not fortunate enough to have had close child care.) Maria actively participated in question and answer, in contrast to her sisters. The discussion was summarized with the statements "Your resume is NOT your autobiography" or "The Great American Novel" - would its headline be "Stuff I used to do" or "Look what I can do!"
After a break, Maryrose demonstrated a sample online job search site: selecting keywords to limit searches (2000+ entries?!??), mileage radius limiters, and going into company websites to find information and employment applications. Even then, she recommended dropping off a resume live and in person over an electronic/email submission.
Karin returned with her own take on online searches: don't make them a be-all and end-all in the search. Introducing oneself and inquiring if any local companies are hiring is a better form of networking than 'being lucky enough to know someone'. Then she dug thoroughly into preparation for an interview.
This is the part that leaves "back in the day" in the dust. Research the company, research your financial needs and goals, research the problem areas in your experience and rehearse answers for them. Consider yourself under scrutiny from the minute you enter the parking lot - you may be coming up on the elevator with the person interviewing you! Respect the receptionist...s/he may be telling the boss what sort of uptight person you were in the waiting room. Karin even stated that this was a good time for silent prayer, to put the matter into the Lord's hands. As you are questioned, listen.
The point that got my attention was the question, "Do you have any other questions?" The interviewer's hope is for you to divulge information that can be used against you. (Not that many people got this.) Your defense is to restate information you heard in the interview, to shape your impression of the company and their impression of you.
I must admit, I was never a practitioner of the thank-you for the interview note. I was always under the impression that one would be offered the job at the interview, or within the week. The only time I heard back directly on a job - in my life - is the Honey Brook Library calling me to give me the turn down live and with a follow-up letter within the week, last year. I guess I felt too burned on rejection to consider that a prospective employer would keep me on tap for a second choice. Gotta get the bipolar in gear on that.
After the workshop, the girls thought that they would be picking up our girl cats at the vet, where they were to be spayed. The girls were fortunate in that the vet they picked from the local SPCA list had a vet tech who lives 3 doors down from us. And we didn't know it!! (And Rachel has vocally thanked God for this 'coincidence'.) This person recognized the cats and offered the girls the low income/feral cat price for the shots and surgery. However, the vet had a problem with a cat with an eye infection, and our cats had not yet been spayed. The office said that this tech would bring the cats home with her tomorrow.
Then Anne fell asleep in the car, saying she felt off. I had to take Maria and Rachel to the barn, where they were too late to ride, but not too late to work. So Bob wanted to eat supper when we got back, and not go to Shady Maple Farm Market/Good's Store in Amish country. Drat. I wanted to go. We were out of high-gluten bread flour, and during Lent we eat a loaf of my homemade bread a day. Shady Maple also has the best produce prices in Lancaster or Chester County.
I just hope the poop doesn't hit the fan when Bob finds out the cats were spayed. He still begrudges the girls the price of the cat food, and they buy it out of their barn work money at wholesale warehouses.
They actually got up for this workshop. (Now we'll hear it from Bob about why they can't always get up for church. :P ) We ran on Frantz Standard Time, aka 10 minutes late, but since there were traffic problems on US 202 the presentation was right in synch with us. It got down to business after coffee, cookies, coke, soft pretzels, and bottled water.
Karin led off with the seminar on resume writing. First, the reverse chronological history I learned in high school was OUT. Highlight strengths with action verbs; don't mention negatives - there's no law compelling it; and disclosing gaps in employment are still the kiss of death. (Face it, someone my age with a continuous employment history has either never been married, never had children, or had a very understanding husband or mother around for child care. I was not fortunate enough to have had close child care.) Maria actively participated in question and answer, in contrast to her sisters. The discussion was summarized with the statements "Your resume is NOT your autobiography" or "The Great American Novel" - would its headline be "Stuff I used to do" or "Look what I can do!"
After a break, Maryrose demonstrated a sample online job search site: selecting keywords to limit searches (2000+ entries?!??), mileage radius limiters, and going into company websites to find information and employment applications. Even then, she recommended dropping off a resume live and in person over an electronic/email submission.
Karin returned with her own take on online searches: don't make them a be-all and end-all in the search. Introducing oneself and inquiring if any local companies are hiring is a better form of networking than 'being lucky enough to know someone'. Then she dug thoroughly into preparation for an interview.
This is the part that leaves "back in the day" in the dust. Research the company, research your financial needs and goals, research the problem areas in your experience and rehearse answers for them. Consider yourself under scrutiny from the minute you enter the parking lot - you may be coming up on the elevator with the person interviewing you! Respect the receptionist...s/he may be telling the boss what sort of uptight person you were in the waiting room. Karin even stated that this was a good time for silent prayer, to put the matter into the Lord's hands. As you are questioned, listen.
The point that got my attention was the question, "Do you have any other questions?" The interviewer's hope is for you to divulge information that can be used against you. (Not that many people got this.) Your defense is to restate information you heard in the interview, to shape your impression of the company and their impression of you.
I must admit, I was never a practitioner of the thank-you for the interview note. I was always under the impression that one would be offered the job at the interview, or within the week. The only time I heard back directly on a job - in my life - is the Honey Brook Library calling me to give me the turn down live and with a follow-up letter within the week, last year. I guess I felt too burned on rejection to consider that a prospective employer would keep me on tap for a second choice. Gotta get the bipolar in gear on that.
After the workshop, the girls thought that they would be picking up our girl cats at the vet, where they were to be spayed. The girls were fortunate in that the vet they picked from the local SPCA list had a vet tech who lives 3 doors down from us. And we didn't know it!! (And Rachel has vocally thanked God for this 'coincidence'.) This person recognized the cats and offered the girls the low income/feral cat price for the shots and surgery. However, the vet had a problem with a cat with an eye infection, and our cats had not yet been spayed. The office said that this tech would bring the cats home with her tomorrow.
Then Anne fell asleep in the car, saying she felt off. I had to take Maria and Rachel to the barn, where they were too late to ride, but not too late to work. So Bob wanted to eat supper when we got back, and not go to Shady Maple Farm Market/Good's Store in Amish country. Drat. I wanted to go. We were out of high-gluten bread flour, and during Lent we eat a loaf of my homemade bread a day. Shady Maple also has the best produce prices in Lancaster or Chester County.
I just hope the poop doesn't hit the fan when Bob finds out the cats were spayed. He still begrudges the girls the price of the cat food, and they buy it out of their barn work money at wholesale warehouses.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Computer School
For any of my old acquaintances reading my last post and wondering, "Accident??", I should clarify things. I totaled my Caravan on the back of a slow-moving 3-axle dump truck west of Winslow, AZ, in 2006. I now own a permanent handicapped parking placard, a cane, and enough hardware south of my left knee to sell to the Chinese for scrap, as my son Tom put it.
Because of same, I qualify for vocational retraining from the state of PA, since I can no longer tolerate standing in one place for more than a couple of minutes, or walk more than the length of a WalMart to get to the restrooms. Goodbye skating, cross-country skiing, sledding, or even a good hike. Goodbye lab tech, substitute teacher, or even librarian (I did interview, and was passed over). Never mind I did volunteer library work for my kids' schools 14 years.
And it still hasn't dawned on my husband that MOM is not 'official' work experience, even though We Girls Know Better. Roseanne was right, if the kids are still alive at the end of the day, mom's DONE her job.
So after so many dud resumes and applications, and my husband hiring on as a local bus driver - and being fired, I'm being set up to go to a local business school to become a Certified Medical Administrative Assistant. Doctor's secretary, that is.
Once upon a time, i.e. when I was in high school, wasn't all one needed to work in an office were courses in typing, bookkeeping, and filing? Now one needs Microsoft Certification, Intermediate, in Word and Excel, QuickBooks, an O-fish-al CMAA course, course in HIPAA (those annoying privacy practices), insurance coding, and an online course in medical terminology. And to think I never wanted to get good at typing because I was going to be a Scientist, not a Sexatery. Who knew Bill Gates was going to overturn the business world so that the best businessman entered his data himself? (sexism intended here)
Prayers appreciated as I start this in February. At least medical technology doesn't scare me; chemistry and geology have $1.98 words. Try igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary; or our grad school favorite, biopelmicrite, which means petrified doo-doo from ocean bottom bugs. Coprolite is the same, from dinosaurs. Or try pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, which is a lung inflammation caused by inhaling microscopic silica particles blown from a volcano; e.g. breathing Mt. St. Helens ash. (If you are reading this, Bill R., smile, since you inflicted this word on Anne in 6th grade. Yes, Anne got the extra credit. I can hear Tom laugh.)
If I can figure out a Schatzger 6 fracture (how my leg got wasted) I should spout gobbledygook as well as any doctor.
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