Okay, so I only blog when I'm getting all bottled up inside. I'm frustrated. Eight months of unemployment, very few job interviews, pay is going backwards. I look at my life 10 years ago with a responsible job, great pay, benefits including 403b and I wonder if I should have been saving more and enjoying life less. We had wonderful times: Burning Man seven years in a row, a 34' boat that we used for weekend get-aways, being able to eat out, go to movies, have weekend adventures without watching every penny. Both of us bought new cars- not the most expensive, but with no concern about making the payments.
Now, I'm worried about not taking a job that pays less than half the salary I made then and it doesn't even include health benefits. Of course, our house is paid for, we have no debt on credit cards, our ten year old cars are needing more attention but they can last. I worry about health costs if either of us gets anything major. Is this the tomorrow we were warned about in our youth?
I thought that getting older would have some benefits- going out more, enjoying nature, seeing friends; but now I watch the expenses and hold on tight 'just in case'.
Most remind myself that this too shall pass.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Striving for Balance
Okay, when I started this blog six months ago, it was a self-serving excuse of a diary. It did not serve anyone, especially me.
Now I've been laid off of the only full time job that I've had since moving to Florida. My needs have changed as has my attitude about Florida. Before it was fun to bash Florida for not being California; now with all of the unemployment and home foreclosures in both states, we're on level ground. It would be just as difficult to find a quality full time job in either place.
And then there's all the time I spend on Twitter... reading tweets from people all over the world, not just the US, that shows me how much we all have in common. One particular thread runs through the 'social media' and job-hunting posts: finding and marketing your 'brand'.
My brand? The first thing off the top of my head was Campbell's Soup. But that's not what they mean and it didn't really occur to me until I started the job search what they did mean. Who am I? What am I selling to an employer? I'm a damned good accountant. My strength is in being a full charge bookkeeper for a small to medium company; a staff or senior accountant for a large company. I love keeping 'books'. I love searching out the details to a transactions. I strive for balance!
I had to look in the dictionary to make sure that I was using the word 'strive' correctly. Strive: 1. to make a strong effort. 2. to struggle vigorously. Okay, I do strive to make the books balance, to correctly state transactions. Accounting is not for the faint of heart. Not to say that I should be met with a hero's welcome after the month-end close or the yearly audit (although there have been times..).
I just want to work at what I do best: bean-counter, pencil pusher or whatever lowly term you want to give it. Heck, my favorite pastime of crochet has accounting aspects to it. Counting, of course, but rows and columns are the same as a spreadsheet. Weaving in ends is like closing the books. I could go on but that post is for another day.
When all is said and done, my brand is producer of a beautiful set of financial records.
Now I've been laid off of the only full time job that I've had since moving to Florida. My needs have changed as has my attitude about Florida. Before it was fun to bash Florida for not being California; now with all of the unemployment and home foreclosures in both states, we're on level ground. It would be just as difficult to find a quality full time job in either place.
And then there's all the time I spend on Twitter... reading tweets from people all over the world, not just the US, that shows me how much we all have in common. One particular thread runs through the 'social media' and job-hunting posts: finding and marketing your 'brand'.
My brand? The first thing off the top of my head was Campbell's Soup. But that's not what they mean and it didn't really occur to me until I started the job search what they did mean. Who am I? What am I selling to an employer? I'm a damned good accountant. My strength is in being a full charge bookkeeper for a small to medium company; a staff or senior accountant for a large company. I love keeping 'books'. I love searching out the details to a transactions. I strive for balance!
I had to look in the dictionary to make sure that I was using the word 'strive' correctly. Strive: 1. to make a strong effort. 2. to struggle vigorously. Okay, I do strive to make the books balance, to correctly state transactions. Accounting is not for the faint of heart. Not to say that I should be met with a hero's welcome after the month-end close or the yearly audit (although there have been times..).
I just want to work at what I do best: bean-counter, pencil pusher or whatever lowly term you want to give it. Heck, my favorite pastime of crochet has accounting aspects to it. Counting, of course, but rows and columns are the same as a spreadsheet. Weaving in ends is like closing the books. I could go on but that post is for another day.
When all is said and done, my brand is producer of a beautiful set of financial records.
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