How to Deal With Being Lost

I know I haven't posted in awhile. to be honest, I haven't really had time. It takes a lot of work to blow your savings, move across state, and look for a job. 

Yes, I moved to Cincinnati in June for a "fresh start." Got myself a temp job with a huge nonprofit foundation. I thought it'd get my foot in the door to my career. Instead I'm stuck with a month to go, no job prospects, living paycheck to paycheck, and in a small apartment with a nonexistent kitchen and a power hungry landlord, who is probably going to try to evict me (because I didn't go inside after curfew) as soon as I pay rent tomorrow.

The real question to this post is how long can you go before you're a failure? 

It's been almost 10 months since I've graduated university. I've been to interview after interview and haven't gotten any jobs. Not a bite, not even a nibble. I've been to two interviews in which someone has looked at my application and asked me what on earth my alma mater is, I had one even laugh. 

So where do we go from here?

The Christian-type would tell me to pray and it will all work out. He or she might even give me a bible verse or an inspirational quote. The scientist-type would tell me that the logical thing to do would be to get a small job that I want nothing to do with, then work my way up. The power-hungry would tell me to get any high paying job and tell me to stick with it. I'm none of those. 

I know the title of this is how to deal with being lost, but in all honesty, I don't even know how. I'm learning as I go. How do you know where to go when you're lost? There's not a map for life. We try to get by. We walk through life faking smiles and trying to support ourselves the best we can. When does it become too much?

Surviving Job Interviews

It's been four months since graduation. FOUR MONTHS. Where does the time go when you're sitting on your rear end sulking in a bucket of ice cream while you're checking your dream job's website every five minutes to see if there are any new job opening that you can apply to?

But no, seriously. Time has flown past and in 2 short weeks, not only am I going to be competing with all the Winter graduates for jobs, but I'm going to be competing with Spring graduates. Yaaayyy.. not. When I first graduated, I had job interview after job interview after job interview. Let's get one thing straight: my dream job is to be an event planner and fundraiser for a certain nonprofit organization that is very close to my heart.

Now listen to some of the job interviews I've had since graduation through. Receptionist at a lawyers office, bra fitter for a certain retail store (my current job), telemarketer, door to door salesperson, marketing specialist for an event rentals company, entry level social media updater, two jobs that I'm not even sure what they were for, and a nanny position. Sounds so much like my dream job, right?

Well, I got a call the other day for yet another job interview, so of course here I am going through everything trying to figure out what I'm going to wear and what all I need to pack, etc. The worst part about the interviewing process is when you have to travel for the interview. i.e., I have to drive 3 hours to my interview tomorrow morning. So here's some handy survival tips for those lost souls out there in the same boat as me, just looking for a bone in their world of job interviews and possibilities.

1.) When you're offered a job interview, make sure you have he gas money to get there BEFORE you agree. Trust me. This is my problem 95% of the time. Then I stress the entire way to the interview about if I'm going to run out of gas and I can't relax and focus on how I'm going to "wow" them.

2.) Handshake! One of my main problems when I'm going into an interview is I am thinking about everything I need to do: good posture, stand when someone enters the room, don't bite my nails, don't play with my hair, don't tap my foot, smile, nod my head, etc. I overthink so much, that I forget to have a sturdy handshake and then my wrist just feels like a wet noodle as their enthusiastically shaking my hand.

3.) ALWAYS stand when someone's coming in the room. I know it feels so awkward when your standing and sitting and standing and sitting repeatedly, but just do it. It's a sign of respect and for some reason these people love it.

4.) Most of the time, you hear people say "don't sell yourself short." That's true. But on the same note, don't oversell yourself. I know. You want this job. No, you NEED this job. But telling your interviewer how perfect you are and how great you are at everything will only give them unrealistic expectations, and give you so much more stress when you have a thousand things on your shoulders and they just expect perfection.

Those are the four things that I'm horrible at when it comes to interviewing. What I tell myself before I go in is this: you're 20 years old with two college degrees, you have a part-time job in retail, you have a part-time (that I work full-time) internship, you live with your mom, you share a room with your 17 year old sister, and you have tens of thousands of dollars in debt from school... what do you have to lose?

Weirdo Magnet

I've lived in the same small Ohio town my entire life other than the two years I was at college. Population: 800 at most.

Living in such a small town my entire life, I didn't have many experiences until I was old enough to go out of town on my own. When I was 16, like any average teenager, I got my license and my first car. In other words, I earned my freedom. I'd go to Columbus multiple times a year just to hang out or catch a concert in a pub. When I gained my freedom, I also gained weird experiences. 

My first experience with a weirdo, I had no idea it would happen, but alas, I became a magnet for weirdos and awkward situations. 

I was 16 years old and it was one of my first times in Columbus without any parents or adults.  I was at Newport Music Hall on High Street for a concert with friends and Ohio State (GO BUCKS!) was playing a home game against Indiana, so of course Columbus was packed with Buckeye fans. One necessary thing for readers to know is this: an Ohio State game day, especially a home game, is like a full moon- all the crazies come out. 

Anyway, I was at the music hall waiting for the doors to open and my older sister called to ask me if I could give her and her husband a ride to where their car was towed to while they were tailgating. Being a fanTAStic sister, I told them I'd meet them about halfway down High Street.

As I'm waiting down the street, an older man walks up to me. He looked to be in his 60s with a salt and pepper beard. He was wearing a raggedy old tshirt and khakis that were stained so badly that they were more of a deep brown. His hat has a marijuana leaf on it with the words "dont worry, be happy" and he reeked of marijuana and whiskey.

As he stumbled up to me, he slurred "hey there sweetie, what's your name?" In a bit of a panic I told him the first name that came to my mind.
"My name is Susan."
"Well, Susan, has anybody ever told you that you're bubbalicious?"
"Excuse me?"
"You're bubbalicious, baby! They're just jealous. They're all jealous."

Then he started to walk away but made sure to turn around, stare me in the the eye, and yell at the top of his lungs and snap his fingers "YOU'RE BUBBALICIOUS, BABY! THEY JUST DON' KNOW!"

This started my unfortunate attraction to awkward situations.

Surviving Boredom

My life is anything but boring. Crazy might be a more appropriate word. Or hectic. Pretty much anything BUT boring.

I'm going to let you in on my story a little bit. I've lived in a small Southern Ohio town my entire life. I just graduated from college and I'm at that point in my life where I'm trying to start my career, figure out what that career is, where I want to go, how I'm going to survive living with my family again until I can move, and how on earth I attract so many weirdos.

I'm pretty laid back. It doesnt take much to make me laugh and I'm not turned off by much, which is probably the reason that so many weird things happen to me. I'm not talking about the occassional bad date or something. Oh no. More along the lines of homeless men telling me I'm bubbalicious (true story).

But alas, this is my life. I'm learning how to survive after graduation living back home, job searching, working retail, and I'm having some crazy experiences to top it off.

Follow my journey and enjoy the ride. I promise you'll laugh, you'll probably feel like I'm pathetic sometimes, and other times you'll want to smack me or the other person in my stoty.

This is how I'm Surviving After Graduation.