Maybe it's obvious, but I got the job. I am officially Director of Admissions at the Circus and have been deeply entrenched in SEM and conversion stats and little details that one would assume would have already been covered. But haven't been.
Maybe it's obvious, but I got the job. I am officially Director of Admissions at the Circus and have been deeply entrenched in SEM and conversion stats and little details that one would assume would have already been covered. But haven't been.
The devil will find work for idle hands to do. (Too much Morrissey lately?) So I started a new li'l project. I've been asked about it relentlessly over the years and have always had reasons NOT to try it out. Little babies and, well, mostly that. So here I go.
I've gotten loads of positive feedback so far and am booking a lot of appointments so we'll see how it takes off. Once I've shot every family in my neighborhood, what next? Will they pay me to do it again next year?
Lucky for me, I have some friends who are serious about SEO so I guess that's next.
If you visit, sign the GUESTBOOK and shower me with superlatives (the positive kind). My ego, after all, is very delicate.
So, in case you were wondering where I've been, I hope that explains everything.
So far, so good. I could totally get used to this new gig.
The children went back to school this week and Drew went back to work. So this has been my first real week of SAHMdom since Fall 2006. It's like riding a bike, really. I have managed to find my way back to yoga pants and the daily pony tail with great ease. Only this time, it's like having a much better bike.
My work sitch has gotten a bit more complicated. None of that has been as black and white as I was anticipating. Basically, I wasn't laid off although it sort of seemed that way. Instead, I was converted to a contract employee. So work didn't exactly just disappear. instead, I am still checking in regularly, checking voice mail, checking email. It all comes through on my iphone all day long and, mostly feels like kind of an interruption to my day.
I certainly have the option of calling them up and saying "thanks, but no thanks" and just be done with it. But I don't want to do that either. Just because I'm not earning a salary, I have the opportunity to continue working and earn more commission on the placements I make. I'd like to keep that option open. No sense in burning bridges. Plus, with the current state of the economy, I think they are sort of counting on me to do that. What I can't commit to is 50 hours a work each week for no money.
They see this as a temporary arrangement. As soon as the economy picks back up and agencies are hiring again, they intend to get everyone back to salaried jobs and everything proceeds as it did before. The thing is, I'm not really interested in that. This thing with work has allowed me to step back and take a look at what our life has been like for the past two years. It has been barely managed chaos. I knew it all along, but it has become abundantly clear with a bit more perspective.
My husband has been a champ about stepping up to fill in the gaps, but I am not married to a multi-tasker. He'd readily admit to that. His mind works in a completely linear fashion. He starts one thing and continues with that until it's done. Then he starts something else. That means that a lot has fallen through the cracks. We've been walking in the door with the kids trying to cram hours of stuff into the space on an hour and a half. And important things get lost-dinner and catching up and reading and baths and snuggle time and all of it just can't be done if they are to actually get enough sleep so their little bodies aren't dragging all day.
Just this week, I've been able to get BoyChild from the bustop each day and do activities with him. I can set him up with an apple and watch him do his homework. He has clean clothes in his drawer each morning. We can go to the playground and run and swing and I have time to hear about his day. GirlChild can have her hair braided in the morning and there's time for her to sit on my lap and let me hold her silently for thirty minutes which is what she loves (me too). These little things sound so obvious and mundane, but unless it was the weekend, they weren't happening much. Most of my time was spent telling them to "hurry up" or "spit spot." I am working on eliminating those phrases from my vocabulary unless completely necessary.
So even if my boss called me tomorrow and said, "Ok, never mind. Come back and we'll pay you and it will all be like before," I would not be interested. This is where I need to be.
But after some back and forth with her, some conversations with Drew and much thought, I have decided to go into the office one day a week. This will allow me to keep my foot in the door, to not feel guilty about what I'm not doing at home, to check in with my colleagues occasionally , and still use my brain a bit. I'll wait until traffic dies down so it takes me a half an hour to get there instead of an hour and a half. And since I'm contract, I can leave whenever I want to. Drew can work from home those days so there's no difference in gas money or childcare.
I'm hoping this will be the balance I've been craving. Maybe.
And the other days of the week, I am managing this house and this family, which I really think I'm good at. I have been working out every day and eating clean. I swear, this is gonna be the year I get hot. The phone guy is coming out tomorrow to hook up our wireless Internet connection. I have been on the phone with the insurance companies and our investment guy and have been calling moms to arrange play dates with BoyChild's friends. I have sewn on his cub scout badges and am caught up on laundry. I know, I know. Yawn. But it's this kind of stuff that totally gets me off.
Hi there. Miss me? Ok, ok, pull yourself together. I'm back. And, since Six Apart (the company that owns Typepad) has chosen to debit my checking account for another year of service, it looks like we have a standing date here at www.jubyred.typepad.com for at least the next calendar year. I could call and wait on hold for 20 minutes and bitch and moan and ask for my money back. But I simply don't have the energy to undertake that task right now. Plus, for the life of me, I can't figure out how to migrate my whole blog from typepad to Blogger so, we're stuck here until I get more technically savvy.
So much to tell you, I'm not even sure where to begin.
First of all, this blog is a total disaster. I had the overwhelming task of going through it in depth over the past few months as I was compiling the relevant posts together for a book I created as a Christmas gift for the grandparents. And here's what I discovered...in a year of posts, very few were actually relevant or even remotely interesting. So sorry about that. My plan is to get it in some working order over the next month or so. Get rid of the filler posts and all the sloppy errors and finally make it a bit cohesive. Granted, this is more for me than for you as I'm guessing very few readers are going back into the backlogs of posts and looking to revisit my dark SAHM days, but I just wanted to keep you in the loop. For example, this post right here? The one you are currently reading? This would not make the cut with my new standards. So read up, Johnny. This will soon be deleted.
Second of all, I'm catching up on photos and posts from the holidays. Hope to have something of interest soon. If I don't write it as soon as it happens, it tends to get lost in my brain so I'm determined to get it down soon.
And third of all, it looks as though I will have plenty of time to do so as I no longer have a job. Yep. It's true. I am back to SAHMdom effective immediately.
The short version is that it's a bad time to be a recruiter. The Monday before Christmas, we were informed that while no one was getting "laid off", we were all being switched to 1099 contract status. Which is, uh, kind of the same thing as being laid off. I have the option of working from home and making a much bigger commission on the placements I do make, but I will no longer earn a salary. I still have access to all my work stuff, my email, my work phone is forwarded to my cell, etc., but the day to day work stuff isn't really happening.
Of all the employees remaining, this is probably the least impactful for me. I was not on their health insurance. I have someone else in our house earning way more than what I made there. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a huge adjustment. It's money we had gotten used to and it means adjusting to new schedules and extras like the cleaning woman (already said "bye bye" to her.) But all in all, I think it's a good thing.
My plan now is to stay at home, possibly do some recruiting as needed, and to focus on all the things here at home that have fallen through the cracks in the two years I've been working. Our life had become a delicate balance of timing and near misses. The extra money has been nice, but it has come at a price (like it always does). So, my day now will be taking kids to school and walking BoyChild home. I'm back to making dinners and planning activities and being a Mommy.
Ok, yes, I know what you're thinking...the last time I focused on being Mommy, I went a little cuckoo. But this time, both kids are in school for most of the day. I'm hoping it's a nice balance of Me time, writing and working out and doing the things I enjoy, along with having some peace of mind that I'm not watching this time with my kids slip away or neglecting my marriage or all those types of things that kept me up at night as recently as two weeks ago. Time will tell, I guess.
So here we are a new year. A new (old) job. New resolutions. Just think, in like 6 months I could be skinny and well adjusted and my kids might stop saying things like, "whatever" and I won't have to say things like, "WHAT did you say to me?" as I chase them through the house. It's going to be awesome. I can tell already.
10 Worst Cities For Commuters
Read the full story Matt Woolsey
Here, in the fastest-growing city in America, more people flood the roadways than the infrastructure can handle. Commuters spend 60 hours a year stuck in traffic, second only to those in Los Angeles. If that weren't bad enough, Atlanta is so spread out that only 29% of drivers get to and from work in less than 20 minutes, the third worst rate in the country, and 13% spend more than an hour getting to work, the fourth worst rate in the country. The local train system doesn't service the entire city, and thus fails to relieve the pressure.

Part of my job as a recruiter is to get professional references on candidates in preparation for the Big Offer. I always like doing references after working with a candidate for a few weeks because, in most cases, the only things I know of them are what they've told me about themselves. It's interesting to ask three people the same questions about that candidate and see very similar answers. The whole person sort of starts to come together.
We have a list of standard questions that we ask and the responses we get are usually pretty ordinary. But check out this recent one. We had trouble getting her reference on the phone so we asked her to email her answers. Wow...
How long have you known Michelle?
I have known Michelle eight years.
What was your working relationship?
I am more a personal reference, although the extent of our acquaintance certainly allows for me to attest to both personal attributes and her professional journey.
How would you describe Michelle's personality?
Michelle is bright, warm, congenial and thoughtful. She is a thinker. A dreamer!
She is often pensive and quietly thoughtful as she ruminates and entertains her thoughts. She is a person who listens, assesses, and says just the right thing to express and punctuate her point. This trait also complements her humor; you will find she’s the person in the crowd with the well-timed witty quip.
In general terms, what do you consider Michelle's two greatest strengths?
Pride in her work¾the mark of a perfectionist is one of her greatest areas of interest.
She has a passion for words. Picture her as a prism. Give her a concept to deliver and voila’! You’ll find care and creativity refracted thru her multifaceted vision predictably every time.
Attention to detail. This is perhaps another form of her personal drive to stand behind whichever requires mark of her efforts. She is an editor at heart. She will toy with just the slightest substitution of a word or punctuation to bring just the right edge.
How would you rate Michelle's creative skills?
To rate this aspect for her is difficult because she has creativity at her core. It is a part of her person. Predictably she’s the “go-to” idea-o-matic. I ensure high return consistently in this skill area.
How does Michelle cope with stress?
Michelle has an easy-going nature that fosters stillness and balance. She is the type to harness stressful client nightmares and deadlines by internalizing it and converting it to drive. You will find whichever breed of demand hounds her, that Michelle has the focus to be rid of it!
Can Michelle take criticism well?
Yes. She absorbs it constructively. Resistance and difficulties with confrontation in any dramatic fashion is comical for me to ponder with her. Again, likely part of her easy-going nature.
Is Michelle a good problem solver? Give example.
Apologies if my responses echo of a broken record, but her eye on that grand end result makes problem solving essential to her web of thoughtfulness manifesting between the start and completion of something.
Example: Her last career change required a move. This is always a built-in hassle. Hers was layered with selling a home in a terrible market and finding housing to suit her in an area with a higher cost of living, and within a very VERY limited time. *No home buying assistance from the company¾intimidating! She did it and she did it by herself. She had to adjust her path in an unexpected way and did this to reach a goal. I feel this one story of several other examples magnifies her navigation of problems perfectly.
Is Michelle well organized? Give example.
michelle has a personal interest in crochet. It baffles me sometimes how she can mentally note price and quality of her tools and materials. She’s got a mental running tally of which nephew has a birthday coming up, or co-worker who’s having a baby. She can eye a discount or an inspirational color and stock it away or snag it up as a crafty substitution to a current piece. I think this is illustrative of the same approach applied to her work life.
Is Michelle reliable? Give example.
Michelle was raised in a small town with a large intimate circle of family, friends, and neighbors¾all classically “in your business.” Rather it be against her will or not¾she’s been accountable and reliable from the time she was a tot. Thank her busybody upbringing.
How would you describe Michelle's management skills? Give example.
As she works best with respect and confidence to her talent and diligence, she manages much the same. In sectioning a project and delegating it to others, she offers space, inspiration and reliance. After the freedom¾expect accountability.
Example: I had planned a party with her and another friend. Part of the scheme involved a giant poster requiring much toil over Photoshop and trips to Kinko’s. I was in full support and excitement over the poster until it started to look like that part was still up for grabs. I was artfully sidestepping accepting it like the plague. Michelle quips in about how talented I am and how much more on-point our vision would be with me spearheading this pivotal piece. Trepidation and avoidance for me had crept to zest by the end of it.
She had wrangled a positive approach from me in addition to the need to meet results expected with her heartfelt encouragement. All this against my will! She is certainly an asset in this way.
What do you consider areas of improvement?
Michelle could improve the scope of her work. She has predominately a history of food writing. Just as in undergrad college curriculum, well-rounded exposure enhances prospective for a skill set. Her appetite to tackle this factor has been limited by those opportunities offered in her employment. However she addresses this by flexing her creativity further in her personal pursuits. I am certain she is aware of this and keeps the opportunity to satiate this area as her dangled carrot on a stick! It is an area of improvement but certainly not a fault. She’ll dazzle you with her personal examples to shine with equivalent luster of great work in her foodservice portfolio. Simply put, she needs the opportunity. Likely why I am writing this testament today¾I’m an unknowing cog in her turning wheels rolling, no, PUSHED to the next step. Her goal in this job acquisition reflects active movements toward conquering exactly this improvement niche.
Why should someone hire Michelle?
Michelle is a selection warranting no buyer’s remorse. She embodies the simplicity of the advice to “do what you love.”
If you are in agreement that happiness is when what you think, say, and do are in harmony, then much happiness is expected from her impending future employer. She works and lives in a fashion without conflict, where action in one arena somehow seems to enhance the other.
I can ensure that hiring Michelle is a win-win exchange. She is always humble in her achievements as she constantly accepts avenues to grow. It seems endless employer articles voice aches to find exactly this ethic and attitude. With Michelle, you’ve got it.
I wish her the best in her pursuits for this position and offer my reference to the greatest extent in sound opinion and genuine reflection.
There have been some recent changes at work. Well, in truth, there are constant changes at work. Part of being a recruiter, I'm told. Lucky for all, I'm pretty flexible so I have just sort of rolled with it.
Sometime in December, it was made official that our VP would be spending more time on the "big picture," CEO stuff as she moves into that role which means I would be taking over more of her role. It was sort of already happening, but we made it official and created some new job descriptions and a new compensation plan and all of that. basically, what it came down to is that I'd be doing largely the same stuff but now people knew to stop bugging her and to come to me with their issues.
This change also meant some shake ups in staffing. We have restructured the company and eliminated some positions, advanced some worthy folks and said "bye bye" to a few others. Because of that, we have been interviewing for a few senior level positions.
Yesterday, I overheard our HR Director and our VP discussing this woman who was coming back in for her interview with me and my senior cohort, Lance.
-Doesn't she totally remind you of Shannon?
-Oh yeah. I could see that.
-You know, the way she talks and uses her hands and she's so funny.
-Yeah, for sure.
Okay, so obviously, I was a little intrigued considering we have had a slew of 22 year olds in this place who show up in hoodies and reek of the night before.
So 3:00 rolls around and I walk out to the reception area, shake her hand, introduce myself and walk her into the conference room.
-You are SUCH a Shannon.
-Really?
-Oh yeah. You know, very few people actually fit their names, but you are such a Shannon.
-Wow. Okay. Well, Lance should be here in a minute. Why don't you have a seat and I'll see if I can track him down?
We spend the next hour in there with her and, I swear, she never stops talking. Not ever. She's very California. Tells us she's very 'fluid' about life. Uses her hands a lot. Used to live in Rome. Did I mention she's uber chatty? Uses a lot of $5 words. I mean, I like her but she's pretty exhausting. I'm hoping it's the fact that she has long dark hair that reminds people of me.
Plus, here's the thing. Before she arrived, Lance came over to my desk..
-You know what I would like?
-Asian twin strippers?
-Yes, besides that.
-No, what would you like? I'm dying to know.
-I would like it if you didn't do all the talking in this interview. I want to do some of the talking.
-You know what? My throat is sore and I'm about to lose my voice so this one is all yours. I will merely observe. You do your magic.
So, as agreed, I am mostly just sitting there, kind of listening, kind of thinking about having crab cakes for dinner. My legs are crossed and I'm sort of looking down at my foot when I notice this little lever coming out from under Lance's rolly chair. Hmmm...I wonder what that does?
So, I proceed to sort of lift it up with the top of my foot and "jhhhhh" down he goes about 4 inches, mid-sentence.
Needless to say, I lose it.
The woman we're interviewing, well, at least she laughs a bit. The last one did not.
A few months ago, we were in that room interviewing this very tall woman and on the wall behind Lance's head was this huge bug. I knew she saw it because we were both facing it. I mean, to not say anything would be stupid. So, I just casually sort of said, 'hey, wow, look at that big bug over there.'
The two of them barely even looked up. Really. They just kept right on talking about the culture of our office and what's expected of new people. but then the bug flew off the wall and ended up under the conference table somewhere. I jumped up and did a little bug dance. 'Oh My God. Oh My God. Where is it? Did you see where it went?"
Lance is sitting there shaking his head at me telling me to sit down.
-The bug is gone. Everything is fine.
-Actually, I'll stand. I might need to rapidly move to another area.
So, this very tall woman never smiled, never leapt up, never made one mention of any of it. I think she might have been a robot.
We didn't hire the tall woman. But we are in the process of checking references for the California chick.
Lance is very much looking forward to interviewing with me again soon.
I am trying to make a real effort here to post regularly. I hope my twelve readers appreciate the strides I've made this week because it has been a hellacious week work-wise. This recruiting thing is hard.
I've neglected to write much about my new job, mostly just because it takes up so much of my brain anyway, and shop talk is kind of boring unless you're one of my coworkers and we're bitching about our jobs together. Then, of course, it's infinity interesting.
But since you don't work there and I do, I'll spare you the long version.
Basically, I am a recruiter for advertising agencies. We now also recruit for marketing and all-around communications jobs as well on the client side. So, say your company needs a new Director of Marketing to decide on how your biz is perceived out there in the world, you could come to me and I would scour the ends of the earth to find a few qualified candidates to send your way. Then you would hire one of those candidates and pay me. Sounds easy enough, right?
Well, there are two essential elements here that were unfamiliar to me. Advertising. and Recruiting. What do I do for a living? I'm an advertising recruiter? Oh, right. Yeah. Ok, see the problem?
Originally, I was hired to recruit creative talent-the graphic designers and art directors and interactive leads. I was looking at a lot of portfolios and talking to people about their books. I guess they started me there because of my background at an art college.
It wasn't long before they moved me over to the A&M side-Accounts and Media so now I'm hunting down someone to manage the Volkswagen account or General Mills or Corona or whatever the brand is. Low level Account Executives all the way up to Directors.
Tons of people out there are looking for jobs, so it should be a piece of cake. But sometimes it feels like finding a needle in a haystack. First you have to find someone who is doing, can do, or has done the same job. They have to have done it at the right place (that's the kicker in advertising that doesn't exist so much in the outside world. Some agencies are really snobby.) They have to be asking for the right amount of money. They have to want to live in that town. They have to want a new job. They have to want THAT job at THAT agency. Oh, and the agency where they work now can't be owned by the same agency that owns the target agency. They have to have worked on a similar account. If it's the McDonald's account, they want another fast food person. They have to have just the right amount of experience. You've done this for only a year and a half? Not good. 20 years? That's even worse. Too much is a real problem. Oh, and then you actually have to reach this person. they have to respond to you, reply to your email or call you back. And then maybe, just maybe you can submit that person until someone at work says, "Actually she won't work. That Burger King work was shit. They won't even look at her." That's just the first part. Then there's the interviewing and the hiring.
Plus, here's the thing with advertising. It is such an incestuous and dirty business in some ways. And, it has its own language that takes some time to learn. Our VP there knows everything about who has what account and who has lost what account. What agencies suck (most) and who is worth a shit. Who we can fish talent from and who we can't. Who we will work with and who we won't touch. Now, almost 2 months later, I'm lucky to know that this Internet thing is really catching on as a way to advertise. Or so I'm told.
Each day, I go to work feeling like the biggest dumb ass. And then each day, I leave feeling like my brain is full from learning so much that it hurts and I'm praying all the way home that my new found knowledge doesn't seep out of it at night because I drank too much beer in my twenties. I despise the first feeling, but then it always kind of works out and I like the second feeling, so I'm not sure what to make of it. My boss recently told me that it won't be long before I could do it with my eyes closed, like be making myself a sandwich while I'm on the phone. Right now, it's taking quite a bit of concentration. But, its easier than it was last week and the week before that. So, I got that going for me. And yes, that is the short version.