Time

I've been so busy the last two weeks, I've forgotten completely that I need to look for a job. I checked in with the dog this morning and she concurred that at least once a week, I should take time to participate in the job hunt. What is the job hunt anyway? How much time should this all take? It's certainly not the coldjobs.com, or blobster.com, or even the social sites we all love, like nospace.com and disjointed.com. Everyone says you need to network, so I do. I have my coffee moments, occasional lunches and even jaunts to faraway lands (like Hopkinton) to meet with old colleagues or people in my rolodex. Just passing time I suppose.

The rolodex is a fascinating beast. The sheer construction of the circular movement amazes me. Ok, so through the years I have now collected three rolodexes filled with at least 500+ cards. I decided to ramble through them today and what a story it told. (This also provided me ample opportunity to procrastinate re-writing my resume for the umpteenth time, and talk myself into believing that this was part of my job hunt, business cards and contacts that stretch back to the paleatoic time period.

I had the good fortune of knowing many radio sales executives throughout my career. Fascinating industry radio, terribly incestuous. My favorite keepsakes are those cards of people who left one radio station, with two or sometimes three stapled business cards over the original. There are a few business cards of people who have moved on (out of the business, not under the ground!) and then there are those that are still around today. Spending their days peddling :60 seconds worth of time.

Do I call them? It would be networking after all. Maybe they aren't at that company anymore. Would they return my call? Ok, let's try one. I call, and leave a message saying I'm no longer with my former company, however, I'd love to get together to talk and catch up. I give my schpiel on how I'll only take an hour of their time to pick their brain, I'm not looking for a job, just a cup of joe. I'll buy.

A couple minutes go by, I check my cell phone, my home phone, and my cell phone again, then my email, then my other email address, then my other email address, my spacebook page, disjointed page, even my bitter account. Nothing. What is wrong with people? Two more minutes go by, and I get distracted while on disjointed.com. Hmmm, it's like my rolodex on speed. I never really took much time perusing this site. Sure I reached out to a couple of people, who sometimes, reached back. Not many of these folks are in my lifeboat. I'm afraid to say many of them are floating on a buoy in cyberspace.

I come across the person I had just left a message for. Which now, roughly 20 minutes has gone by and I still haven't heard back. Why was it so easy to get called back or an email back from people when you were in the office? (At this point I realize the office day is the land of no time, the day is made up of meetings which govern time and time is told in terms of "oh yes, it's time for the blah blah meeting, and after that it's the rah rah meeting. Then, in between the hah hah meeting and lunch we have to squeeze in the cah cah meeting.) Reaching back to my contact via disjointed.com and what do you know? They contact me right back. They're no longer with the company for which I had the phone number. They ask me if we're hiring. Aggressive little bugger. I respond with my traditional reply and delete the correspondance afterwards. If you choose not to spend time with the me I am today, I'll delete you.

Back to the rolodex? The beast that it is, it's more of a history book now, it defines my past. My High School had a saying in Latin, which I have forgotten the Latin but the English translation has stayed with me always.

What I am to be, I am now becoming.

What's the next chapter in my life? Listening to my children's voices, really listening. Listening to those who reply to me, not who I was as defined by my job. If I'm in your rolodex, just throw it away, and call me back. Likely, I've left you a message. Job hunting is fun, I'm having the time of my life!