Day 50

I parted ways with my most recent employer 50 days ago and have been a free agent in the job market ever since.  It is currently 2:20pm on an overcast day in the Vienna suburbs located about 20 miles outside of D.C.

I am am anxiously waiting to hear back on three great opportunities for which I have interviewed over the past two weeks after six weeks of continuous rejections on solid and not-so-solid leads.

I have sent out more than 100 resumes since I began my search on May 15, the day after my last position ended.  About one out of 10 of them resulted in interviews, but I have been deemed overqualified for some, not the greatest candidate for others and otherwise rejected during reorganizations of some firms in which the positions have been eliminated altogether.

I still get out of bed between 7 and 8am every morning and follow an informal schedule.  I first make breakfast -- usually oatmeal or yogurt with half a pot of coffee -- and then sit down in front of the laptop.  My first stop is The Brad Traverse Group, which I have found to be the most comprehensive job search site.  My next stop is DC Public Affairs and Communications Jobs, then Media Bistro and finally conservativejobs.org, which is run by the conservative Leadership Institute.

I then scour my inbox for updates from positions in the House of Representatives -- where I worked for my first 10 years in Washington -- then the Heritage Foundation job bank, the Michigan Talent Bank for positions in my home state, and then finally monster.com and Linkedin.com.  The last two are almost completely worthless aside from some interesting tips on interviewing, writing effective resumes and cover letters, as well as interviewing techniques and thank-you notes following in-person interviews.

I try to apply for at least five before noon.

This week resulted in an in-person interview for a promising lead downtown near K Street, but if nothing else is on my calendar I usually head out for a six-mile run to clear my mind.

After lunch I then run back through the usual websites until about 2pm when the first hour of Maury begins on the CW.  For nothing other than morbid curiosity I enjoy the drama unfolding as to whether seemingly deadbeats are, or are in fact not, the father following a DNA test.  The lie detector tests undergone by partners are not as interesting or believable.

Today Goodfellas was on Spike, a channel that probably airs the best movies during daylight hours.  I have seen about 50 or more movies since I became unemployed, including Limitless starring Bradley Cooper, The Roomate, Ronin, Idiocracy, Transformers, He's Just not that Into You, Grown-ups, Juno, Georgia Rule, The Green Hornet, One Flew over the Cuckus Nest and a Sex and the City Marathon, Take Me Home Tonight, 40-year-old Virgin, Knocked Up -- generally anything on TBS, FX, Spike, Bravo, AMC, CMT or Comedy Central.

Sometimes I treat myself to a Verizon On-Demand movie like Silver Linings Playbook, Django Unchained and Parker, but they generally turn out to be horrible movies.

The days aren't always as boring however.  Last week the DC unemployment office finally deposited the first benefit check into my bank account.  Collecting them was a six-week arduous process that finally resulted a positive outcome.

For those in the same position, call Miss Lamicha Tyler at (202) 698-7216 to try and expedite the process.  Her voicemail says that she'll respond within 24 hours, but in my case I had to call every day for a week before I finally had a call returned.  Her email is lamicha.tyler@dc.gov but it didn't work when I tried it.

Right now is a lull in the day, but I'm hoping to get a pleasant surprise in the mail that doesn't include a bill when it arrives around 3pm.

At this point I'm hoping for something good on "unemployment TV" to keep myself occupied from chain-smoking cigarettes and drinking too much coffee.