Feeling Discouraged HELP!I am looking for a full time job. I really want something stable with a set schedule. I finished grad school in 2004 with a Master of Fine Arts in theater, and I have a bachelor' s in Art History. I have always been most successful in some kind of creative field, as other paths I have tried were not very personally satisfying for me. The problem? I am in my 4th YEAR of looking for a full time position unsuccessfully. At this point, I have applied for more jobs than I can count with theaters, museums, schools, etc. I always include a very nice cover letter with my resume, and I have gotten a handful of interviews. I was just today turned down for the my 12th job in 2 months, and I am in the pit of despair right now. I was supposed to go to the gym and work out this afternoon, but right now I just want to go back to bed. I have managed to get part-time work (usually a freelance design job or adjunct teaching), but it is on a very limited basis, and it is difficult for me to make ends meet with such an erratic income. I have not worked AT ALL since May. I began my job search in March of 2001, and I am no further now than I was when I began. My friends have told me that I am unbelievably qualified since I have experience in a number of academic fields (history, philosophy, art, religion, fine arts, humanities. . . .) , and that people would be "crazy not to hire me". They keep reassuring me that I' ll find something. But when? And what? What am I doing wrong????? Any advice anyone can offer would be much appreciated. I understand your frustration. What about substitute teaching? If the principal/director likes you, he/she may want to hire you on. Also try work with the city or county. Governments are always looking for workers with the education and experience such as yourself. There are several things coming into play here. 1. You' re in a creative industry where there aren' t a lot of solid, well paying positions. Those that do exist are hard to get. 2. You probably come off a bit unfocused in your resume and maybe in your interview as well. 3. What do you really want to be doing for employment? There are basically three choices in this kind of field- -You can work for yourself and create art (theater, fine art, pop art, write poetry, whatever) Satisfying but not stable income for most people. -You can continue to try and find a job in a related area. Stable once you find one but it may take a very long time. -You can get a "day job" in some unrelated field and soothe your artistic side after hours and on weekends through your own work or volunteering. Stable but you have to make adjustments and balance both sides of your life. So, for the related fields option- some things to look at are: Art galleries, corporate art collections (do some surfing on this you can find a lot about this online), museums, stores that sell fine art supplies, theaters, librarian, art library, art preservation, antiques, textiles... The one that is most obvious, especially since you have a Masters however is teaching. Nearly every district in the country is desperate for teachers. You may not be teaching art full time, but you should be able to easily get something and then eventually work into a position where you' re mostly or totally teaching art and theater. Look up your local school district right now. They' re hiring for September and you may still be able to find something. Then look up all the private schools in your area, high schools and community colleges too. Hope this helps a bit!
Working for myself is what I have been doing (sort of) with some freelance jobs. I had not considered substitute teaching. That maybe could work. I submitted my resume to the local school district 3 years ago, and they have called me every summer to interview for the one or two open positions they have in my field. I am not a certified teacher and would be on an alternative license if I did get hired, but I am not about to spend money on teh classes to get a teaching license unless I knwo for sure I have a job to pay for it. Teaching at the K-12 level is not exactly my dream--in what experience I have had with teaching, the thing that I like is sharing my passion for a subject and having a discussion about concepts and ideas. Dealing with behavior issues is not something that I am too keen on doing, which is why college teaching is really more what I am interested in. Or maybe a private school. I check with all of the area private schools every year, and so far no one is looking for an art/theatre teacher. I did get a part time job with an inner city public school last year, but driving almost an hour each way to a job I was only at for 2 hours and that I had my purse stolen (wallet, cellphone, the works) and my car vandalized by the students made me tell them thanks but no thanks when they wanted me to come back part time for another year. I have been lucky to have been offereed plenty of adjunct teaching at a local college, but that only keeps me busy 6 or 7 hours a week. Full time is the key here, and it is really so that I can feel like I am doing something meaningful with my time, something I am good at, something that I spend years and dollars honing my skills at. It is not so much about the money, although that would of course be useful in getting my student loan paid off faster. It gets lonely sitting in the house all day! I know that I could probably find a job within a month or 2 if I was willing to pick up and move anywhere in the country. But I have a husband who has a stable job here and a very large local client base. I also live near my parents and in-laws which would be more important once we start a family. the trouble is finding something local full time. Substitute teaching could work. I can at least give it a shot. Thanks for the suggestion. And I have one last question: what do you mean by "unfocused"? i have been called back for second interivews on several jobs, so I don't think its my interview style-- but what would make a resume look "unfocused"? I spend hours tailoring my resume for each job to which I apply, what am I doing wrong?
I know that all of this time and effort will pay off someday. I wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions and advice. It is much appreciated. My father went through the same thing I am-- spent about 6 years looking for work teaching college in his field. Today (22 years later) he is one of the most well-respected scholars in his area, and he is invited to international conferences and speaking engagements all over the world. I know that the fact that this is taking a long time doesnt mean that it won't happen or that I am bad at what I do. It is just hard not to take it personally-- when I spend so much of the day alone, I start to feel like no one wants me around. Definitely pursue private schools then. Also, along those lines- summer camps and after school programs. City park & rec. Summer is almost done but after school programs are about to start. I can' t say for sure without seeing your resume but "unfocused" would scream out to me if I was reading a resume where you did a little of this, then a little of that. Then you combine that with an interview question along the lines of "what do you want to be when you grow up?" (otherwise known as "why do you want to work here" or "what do you bring to this job") and you don' t have a specific answer. That can come off "unfocused". To an interviewer it says "she doesn' t really want to be here, she' s just grabbing whatever she can get. As soon as the next thing catches her eye she' s out of here". | |
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