Check-In #9

Long overdue, this one.

So, "Any luck on the job front?" has become the new "So, what sort of music does your band play?" question. The one I hate to answer, because I feel like a simple sentence, or two, doesn't dive into the complexity of the issue and the (at the risk of getting floofy) "personal journey" I've been on over the past two and a half months.

Short answer: "no." In that, I'm not employed.

Longer answer: I'm currently going through a process where I'm letting go of some assumptions and cynicism to which I've held fast over the 16 years of my post-college adulthood. Assumptions and cynicism which, I now realize, have really gotten me nowhere. In and around the expected ups and downs of day in-day out living without employment, I've have been a networking fool. On a path of self discovery and career exploration, I have been talking to people I know associated with organizations (mostly local government and nonprofit) in which I am interested. I am starting to get this weird sort of focus on non-profits and agencies involved with revitalization/planning/housing issues.

On the surface, "planning" is kind of a sister field to GIS. But in the real nitty gritty, there is an entire other discipline of study required (usually, an advanced degree) in order to become a"planner," proper (as in, "City Planner"). But, I've found that there's all sorts of individuals, community organizers to policy wonk researchers and everything in between, that make the guts of this public sector world go. And I've found three other things:

1. In the public sector, everybody knows everybody. Unlike in the Fortune 500 world I was in previously, the folks in this new arena I am exploring partner with each other, share data, and do collaborative research and projects.

2. The nonprofit world totally energizes me! Something I might have suspected; but without a social work (or related) degree, I always figured employment in that sort of field was beyond my wildest dreams, so I didn't entertain the thought all that much. But damn, if my networking isn't leading me in that direction and confirming for me -yes - this is where my future lies, by whatever path.

3. I'm more "connected" than I initially realized. Serving on my neighborhood board for a few years? Being a current board member of a 501c3 neighborhood theatre company? Being a regular at the coffeeshop, doing the annual Earth Day cleanup at the creek? I had a "network" and I didn't even know it. A lot of these folks have connections with community development corporations, The City, etc., etc., and I am meeting people and having discussions, and just generally getting out there.

So where are things at? Realizing there's still a need to simply put food on the table, I've got a handful of resumes out there for jobs at private firms doing general data jockey sort of things. But whether or not I end up having to take that less desirable option in the short term, this "network" is continuing, and - and I truly believe this (and both of my career counselors have me totally believing this) - it is truly just a matter of time before something comes through in this realm. I've actually got a couple of things in the works where I'll be doing some pro-bono research/GIS work for a couple of local nonprofits; with the idea that I'll get to know the people there better, and their connections, etc. etc. - plus be building up a portfolio and base of experience working in an industry that excites me.

There's also a couple of more strictly GIS/mapping things that are out there - not sure if anything will come of either. The first is another GIS specialist job with a metro county, but this one I appear to be much more qualified for than that one where my hopes were dashed. The pay would totally be on the low side of what it would take for us to make ends meet; but taking the job would be a no brainer for many reasons. And I've long since resigned myself to the notion that I'm not in this (and by "this," I mean "life") for the money. The other thing - and this one is kind of crazy - is a job in a St. Paul suburb working for the US Forest Service. Without a natural resources degree, I'd have never thought it possible; but for whatever reason, that didn't come up (in so many words) in the extensive application process. And lo! and behold, I just got an email from the government essentially telling me that I've made it past the first round of the selection process: they've deemed me qualified. What is really unknown, however; is whether one other person or 150 other people have been deemed similarly qualified. Time will tell. Anyway - that job is a mere 13-month assignment, but the local office reserves the right to extend it to four years; and by that time, I'm assuming new doors would have/will have opened. And in the meantime, I would have worked for Barack Obama!

Not sure what else I need to say at the moment - I'm probably missing a lot but it seems a good time to stop.