Self esteem boosting times - I feel like a unicorn

Well okay, I don't literally feel like a unicorn, I'm just noticing the power of LinkedIn and other job sites.

Header sunrise

I've been without my job for about two weeks now. It was not a good fit for me and I could not recover from my burnout with them. I still don't feel great, so I've held off on getting another job for a bit. I am, however, getting my resume out there and putting myself on the market. In all likelyhood, my boyfriend and I will be moving in the next 6 months. I'm a little reluctant to accept any job here, because I won't be living here anymore soon. I'd rather get a job close to my new place in a couple of months.

So there's a job listing site that allows you to post your resume. I've had some reactions from there when I posted my resume the last time, so I figured I'd update it and see if anything would happen. It did. I got a few recruiters who wanted to talk to me, one who put my information in a database and shared it with her co-workers close to where we'll move to. Another one who had a job that seemed perfect for me, had it been posted a couple of months later.

See, this job was a SharePoint job in the city where we'll be moving close to. The downside is that it was for 40 hours a week, which I didn't want. I felt like there was some room there, but at this particular moment, I don't live close to that city yet. I know I'm not 100% yet, so as much as I wanted this job, it wouldn't seem fair to them or me. I don't think I would have been able to keep up yet, with long travelling distance and more hours than I am currently able do. So I told them honestly that I loved the job, I wished it would have been posted a couple of months later, but right now, I felt I wasn't up for it just yet. I asked them to please keep me in mind if they hadn't found someone else by june, because if the job's still open by then, I definitely want to talk to them again.

I feel they appreciated my honesty in this, so it was the right decision. This will keep the option of working there open for me, even if this particular job would get filled. Starting there now and falling back into a burnout would only close more doors for me.

Next, I edited my LinkedIn profile. I updated my current position (as in, I have none) and I indicated I was looking for a job. Well, that got me some attention aswell! I now have an interview lined up for monday. I'm not sure what to expect from them, but I'd like to know what they'd have me do and if they have work in the area we're moving to. I'll tell them I'll be available for work there in a couple of months and we'll see how they react. I also received a reaction from another recruiter. This is all within two days of editing my profile!

LinkedIn also holds recruiters who don't really seem to know the IT world much. I've clearly stated everywhere that I know the functional side of things. Put me somewhere inbetween the business and IT, and I'll be in a position to mean something. Nowhere have I stated that I need technical jobs, other than my earliest IT education being on the technical side. I moved away from that right away. When I hadn't even officially finished the education yet.

At my internship, they noticed me finishing my assignments faster than they could give them to me, so they handed me over to the other side of the IT department. The functional side. I learned to write and improve business processes and I learned all the ins and outs of SharePoint and InfoPath, which was new to the company. They kept me there after the internship, because, by then, I was the one with the most knowledge of the platform (having learned everything from their supplier during my internship). That's what I stuck with since then. SharePoint and InfoPath and translating business needs to proper IT solutions.

I'm telling you this, because next, I got a recruiter telling me she's looking for someone for a technical function and my profile fits perfectly. Now I'm wondering if she even looked at my profile or she just doesn't know anything at all about IT. Maybe both. It's not anything for me to consider, because the job doesn't fit me at all.

I also got a phonecall yesterday. From London! This man had seen my resume somewhere and was wondering if I was currently looking for a job, because he had something that might fit me! I first asked him if this job was in the Netherlands, which it was. Sadly, though, it's at the other side of the country and it would involve traveling to customers a lot. So I told him it wouldn't work for me. He wrote down the area that's interesting for me and told me he'd get in touch if he found something else.

Isn't that something? That was the first time a recruiter from another country got in touch with me!

Well, it's a good thing for my ego, getting this many replies to my resume and profile. I knew I wouldn't have a very hard time finding something else, but I did not expect this! I have yet to reply to a job listing, myself. I know it's probably because I'm a woman in IT and there aren't a lot of us around.

Anyway, I'm trying to take it easy and get the rest my head needs, so I will hopefully be able to start a new job soon. I think it won't be until summer, because it's just not practical to start a job now and move away in a couple of months. For now, though, getting this much attention is pretty good for my self esteem and it makes me happy!

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My Deviantart image used as a header for my blog posts.