Lisa and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Stressful Job Hunt

Part 1

So, what is it like to job hunt in 2018?  It is energizing and exciting, but also, time consuming and frustrating.   How did I get here? Let me explain.

My journey began in February of this year when I decided that I no longer wanted to teach middle school ELA, Social Studies, and Health.  Honestly, I had been thinking about leaving the profession ever since I went back into it in 2014.  I took the job because my husband had lost his full-time job as a pharmaceutical sales rep, and we have five children, so we needed the money and benefits.  Also, I already worked in another position at the school, so it was easy to accept the job.  These are important factors, but not enough to sustain the effort and motivation required to stay in the job.  I could write several posts on my teaching experience, so I’ll save that for another time.

Over the summer, I consulted for my friend’s place of employment, IUPAT, as a curriculum writer.  I revised and edited PowerPoint Presentations on various courses that they offered to their union members.  I thoroughly enjoyed the work.  I had flexibility regarding when I wanted to work, where I wanted to work, home or the job location, and I was paid handsomely for it.  If I had been offered a permanent job, I would have taken it.  When the summer ended, I went back to my teaching position, but now I was determined to have this be my last year. 

I managed to get through the holidays and search job sites here and there, but there was never enough time to do this with a full-time teaching job.  I called my friend in January and asked her if she would have enough consulting work for me to last through May/June of this year while I actively searched for a job.  She said she did, so after soul-searching, planning, and speaking with several friends and family members, I took the plunge and quit my job.

To be continued…