The Job Hunt

Well, it's that time of life now. I'll be graduating college in May of this year, and I need a job when I get out into the "real world." I have been sending my resume out to a wide variety of places, and have received three callbacks so far.

One from a job placement service in Washington, DC, which places college graduates and others who want political-based jobs into positions in DC and other places along the East coast. Another from the campaign for Representative Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA) for a three-to-four month job as a campaign staffer until after the primary in June, which I couldn't really follow up on because I won't be graduating until May, so the whole one-month thing didn't work so well. And the third I had a job "interview" - more like a meet-and-greet, really - with Coleman, Dahm & Associates in Phoenix on Friday. I was meeting with Matt, who is the brother of Greg, Congressman Rick Renzi's campaign manager in 2006, and who has been helping put me in touch with a couple places which might be interested in me.

Overall, I liked Coleman Dahm for its relaxed atmosphere and for the variety of things they're doing right now. A big portion of the office was dedicated to McCain stuff - buttons, direct mail, etc - when I was there, but they've also been working with legislative stuff, corporate clients, and the campaign of Jim Ogsbury for CD-5. That's Matt's big project. While there, I got to talk with Matt and Bert for a bit about myself and about their offices, and I really liked what I saw. It would be a great place for me to learn more about different communications-based stuff that I didn't learn already through the College Republicans, like direct mail, and somewhere I can develop the stuff I have already had practice with to make myself better.

It's also close-to-home so I could have someplace to get on my feet before going outside Arizona like I would like to do. I'm going to keep in touch over there while I keep my other options open and keep scheduling interviews, and who knows, come May I might be working in Phoenix again.

Also on Friday, I saw that Coleman Dahm is in the same office complex as my friend Michelle's place of work, Gordon C. James Public Relations, so I decided to walk over there and say hello. Fortunately she was in, and it sounds like she's been doing very well. It was nice to see her again, if only briefly (she was busy).

Otherwise, today's been all about being on call. As an RA, I'm required to work part of my Spring Break being available in the building for at least two days. I elected to swap a day with someone else so she could leave for her vacation and so I could have one less on-call shift later in the semester. So I've been in the building from 7pm Sunday night and I'll get off at 7pm tonight. 72 full hours. With no one else here because they're all gone for break. But nonetheless, the free time let me catch up on some work, watch a bunch of episodes of "24", and do a puzzle (I love puzzles - they're relaxing).

I also bought a laptop computer off my friend so I could have something to do work on outside the building. It should greatly come in handy once I reload the ethernet hardware onto it, and put Microsoft Office back onto it. My friend wiped the hard drive clean (of all his old files), and it took some of the programs with it. I think I have some of the install discs at home, but we'll see. The computer is a Gateway Solo 5300, so not a bad piece of equipment, with Windows XP installed. It came with all the cords, and ethernet port card, a wireless card, a USB external port, a DVD-ROM drive and interchangeable floppy drive, and a nice laptop bag. I paid $80 for it, so not a bad deal for an older laptop I can use for word processing and basic internet - not to mention DVDs from time-to-time. The only downside is that I need to reinstall the ethernet and wireless drivers, and the battery doesn't carry a charge very well. But not bad, really.

For tomorrow, the plan is to drive to Mesa to see a Spring Training game between the Rockies and Cubs with some friends, and then chill out for the remainder of Spring Break. Good times, indeed!