Second round of interviews

I have applied for exactly one job recently, and that was nearly a month ago. I'm being fussy because I can. As I mentioned, I only work jobs I love. Now, it isn't hard to fall in love with a job if you work hard! I like jobs with a challenge. Anyway, the first round of interviews took place last week.  It was a new format for me. There was no actual contact with an interviewer. Instead, the interviewee--that's me--followed some simple instructions to make and submit a video for each of four questions. You could re-do the video as many times as you wanted before submission, but the video was limited to one minute in length.

Today I received an email offering a second interview via Zoom. This one will be with a couple of live people. They offered time options, and I chose one. Now I'm waiting for their confirmation, and then next week will do the interview.

Or should I say "Job Hunting Over 60?"

 Yes, it's true. It's been ten years since I started this blog. So let's catch up. For one thing, I finished a BA in educational studies. It took me about a year and a half to finish my four and a half year program, although I did have one year of previous credits that I was able to draw from somewhat. 

After that, I got a job as a service coordinator and worked that full-time job for a couple of years, then changed over to being a family assessment worker just part-time. Both were social work jobs, and involved extensive home visiting. Both required bilingual fluency. Both required complicated documentation.

Covid came along and made things a bit more difficult, unfortunately. In the same agency I worked at, I began a new position that was full time. Okay, I started my job at the agency precisely to have less hours work, and now I was going back full time? Well, they asked me to do it. I agreed to give it a try, but after about six months, I knew it wasn't a good fit. I loved the job, but hated the long hours.

Having just turned full retirement age, I was easily able to leave and still have enough money to eat and pay the rent, although I cannot say I have enough to buy a new computer.

Once again I'm looking around for a job, after about six months of Covid-time non-work. It's a little tougher this time. First of all it is harder, because I want a job that is only part-time, but is also doable mostly from home. In my area, there aren't a lot like that. Most of the professional work-from-home jobs are full-time. And I really only want to work maybe five more years. That means that I need to get a job that doesn't take long to learn, yet pays a decent wage. But the number one thing about the job is that I can be passionate about it. I don't work jobs I don't love. Period. 

On the plus side, I am in good shape physically. I'm totally able to work. I admit that I don't have the energy I had when I was twenty, so I prefer to work part-time rather than full-time, so that I can still have time to enjoy life outside of work. I still have my thinking skills too. Most of my previous skills (I wrote earlier posts about, so I won't repeat them here) are just as good, and some better than before. 

One of my favorite kinds of jobs is in the area of social work. I have lots of experience. The two jobs I mentioned were social work, and before that I was a missionary, which translates to Christian social work from some viewpoints. I do not have a degree in social work, however, so it becomes a bit difficult. That piece of paper is always getting in the way! 

My penultimate position accepted me on the basis of experience plus a "relevant" degree--educational studies. The following job accepted me because they got such good recommendations from others in the field who had worked with me. 

If everything was open, I could probably go around to visit some of the people I worked with from other agencies and companies and look for a job with one of them. But nothing is open, and it isn't as simple as making a few phone calls. There are so many people who know me to see me (and I, them) but wouldn't recognize me on the phone. I've met them at community resource fairs, and other activities. 

For now, I'm at home. 

Me? In college again?

I have ranted about college many times. Most college programs simply waste too much time and money. But now I have found a college that interests me. I want to go to this college for several reasons:

1.  I need the piece of paper! 
2.  It lets me do my own work at my own speed (which means I don't have to waste a lot of time.
3. It is competency based--that is, I don't have to study anything that I can demonstrate I already know. 
4. Being competency based also means that I will have the opportunity to add to my knowledge in my chosen field, without a lot of unnecessary repetition of things I have learned already through 30 years of experience
5.  It is a non-profit program, with much more reasonable tuition and fees.
6. Like a buffet, it is "all you can" for one price, paid each six months. The harder I work, the less my education ends up costing me.
7. It is completely online, (except student teaching), so it can be done anywhere anytime. This fits my crazy night owl schedule, not to mention it allows me to work in those wee hours where I can get a lot done without interruption.
8. It is online! I love working on the computer.
9.  You are assigned a mentor to help guide you through, as needed.
10.  Although their enrollment folks follow up on your interest, they are helpful rather than pushy.
11.  The degree I earn will help open doors to departments of education in various third world countries, where I do training workshops for teachers of the deaf.
12. It is regionally accredited.
13. It is not a diploma mill, and the diplomas issued are respected.

I had no idea such a University existed. In fact, it bypasses practically all the rants that I have given about colleges.  I am quite excited. How is it possible?!

Now, I graduated from HS in 1972. That makes me OLD! So I cannot afford to waste a lot of time. I am actually looking forward to going to this college.

I have the same problem now as I did years ago: I don't have the funds for college, and I have no intention of going into debt.

I am praying for about $30 or $40,000 to drop out of the sky to allow me to finish my education. Can God do it? Yes he can!

Excellence

It has never been my ambition to be a good worker. It has always, rather, been my ambition to be an excellent worker. Now you cannot begin most jobs as an excellent worker, because it takes some time to learn the "culture" of the place you are working. It takes time to know the job well. So it is normal to start out as a good worker, or even just an okay worker. But the worker who doesn't progress from there? Well, that is the worker who works just for the paycheck, but has no passion for the job. My advice to people who hate their job? The first thing is, work harder! Often that will cure you of disliking a job. Of course if it is a job you hate just because you are not suited for it, then it is time to quit. It isn't fair to an employer to do just enough to get by. It doesn't say good things about you either. Be excellent or begone!

By the way, I remember years ago hearing that if I didn't get a college education I would end up in some dead end factory job. I have to tell you, I once had a factory job. I loved it. It was repetitive. All day long, I did the same thing over and over. I stacked up little blocks and put them on a pallet. That was it. How could I enjoy that? I made it a game. I tried to be the best I could at it. Indeed, it seems I was the best they had seen in that job for some time!

Meanwhile, since the work was so repetitive, and in a noisy environment, I spent my days thinking, praying, and singing at the top of my voice. No one could hear me; I wasn't bothering anyone. I loved that my brain was pretty free all those hours. It was my own to think about anything I liked. Once I got the hang of it, it took very little brain processing to do a good job. I kept stacking, and kept enjoying myself.

Now that job was less than ideal. It was hard work being on my feet all day. I was pretty tired and grubby when I got home. My clothes were filled with sawdust, and my hands with splinters. Sometimes we had unannounced overtime. It was cold in the factory in the winter, and hot in the summer. But I was still able to enjoy the job, even in the somewhat poor work conditions. Would I take that job again? You know, if I could make a living on it, I guess I might! But being a lot older now, I might not last a ten hour shift on my feet. Part time? Sure!

Bradenton Florida--my city of choice

Thinking on paper

I've spent a lot of years living outside of the country in big, dangerous cities. Now that I am back in the USA, I'm very happy to be here in Bradenton, FL. The only problem about living in a smaller town, is there are fewer opportunities for jobs. Add to that that I don't know many people in the work force here. Most of the people I know are retired missionaries. Tricky.

If nothing turns up here, I have two other options: move to a larger city, or start my own business. I don't really want to leave Bradenton. I love it here. And likewise, I don't especially want to start a business, because frankly, I'm winding down, not winding up my career!  As a missionary, practically speaking, I've had my own "business" for many years. I've been making decisions and employing others, and establishing a school for the deaf. I've taught workshops for teachers and others. I've been at the head, making lots of decisions. I loved it. But now I think I would rather let someone else take the lead, and just be a supporter of them.

Starting a business in the USA is tough. It means a lot of requirements; frankly, the USA has rules and licenses for everything you can imagine, not to mention the tax aspects of a small business. I'm just not sure I am up for that, even though I would obviously make more money than as someone else's employee.

Money has never been my focus. I make it a practice not to work for money--that is, money isn't my main goal in a job. I have to love the job too. I have to have passion for it. Nevertheless, I do want to make enough to live here comfortably. I say comfortably, not meaning in a style of extreme wealth. Middle class is all I'm looking for. I've spent a lot of years living in poverty, by choice, in order to do the mission work. It was a very stressful life. Now I'm 57 years old. I am tired of that kind of stress. I would just like to get a job that I can enjoy, that will enable me to stay in Bradenton.

Yesterday vs today; graduating in the early 70's

My generation was the generation in between. In the generation previous to mine, only very wealthy people went to college--which is to say, most people didn't, nor were they expected to go. In the succeeding generation pretty much everyone went, except the very poor or the very ignorant. My generation being between those two, was sort of half and half. Some of my generation went off to fight the war in Viet Nam, mostly via the draft. Others who were wealthy enough went to college, some to avoid the draft, and some actually wanting to get an education in their desired field. At this time, college made a lot more sense. The world was only just beginning to rocket through quick changes, and a degree was not obsolete before it was finished at that time.

The myriad of scholarships and financial aid available today was not available at that time. This is not to say that nothing was available, but let's just say it was way less than today. Because you could potentially avoid the draft by being in college, college began to look very attractive to people who would not otherwise have even considered going. If they were not wealthy enough, or the few shining stars that could get the limited scholarships available at the time, they would have to borrow money to go.

Those who didn't go to war, or go to college, got married, got a job and began their families. This was the norm and the expectation. College was completely optional.

As for me, most of my adult life, I have refused to get into debt. If I don't have the money, I don't spend it. If I put something on a charge card, it means I have money in the bank to cover it. At the end of the month, I pay it off. Once I lived for three years using a bicycle because I refused to get a car loan, even though it would have been within my reach to repay it. I have always worked. I have never gone on any kind of public assistance. (I do not blame those who must; sometimes there is little choice--but sometimes it is simply a question of poor choices, or refusal to work.)

For me, the idea of going to college was out of the question, at the end of my high school years. I came from a family of nine children. We were not wealthy. My father was a master sergeant in the Air Force. The expectation was that as soon as we finished HS, we would head out on our own. We were only too happy to do this, having been abused as children; we wanted out, and we wanted out fast. No one stayed in our house a minute longer than they had to.

The day after HS ended, I was moving into my apt., and completely supporting myself.  About five years passed, and I began to think about college. I moved to another city, and signed up at the Jr. College. The first semester I got straight A's, as I had planned. I marched into the counseling office with my report card, and left with a scholarship that would pay for all my books the second semester. I went the second semester, and that was it.

The whole time I was attending college, I worked a minimum wage job and just barely got by. Even though I was sharing an apt. with three other women (two sisters and a friend), we all found it difficult financially. I decided that I liked to eat more than I liked college, and dropped out after that semester. I also felt frankly, that although the degree would be nice, the classes were pretty much a waste of time. They were requiring me to memorize facts and spit them back out on tests--facts about things I was not passionate about, and things that had no practicality that I could see for my future life. (Okay, there was one exception: I took the typing class twice! It was the one practical class that has helped to this day, as I often spend hours on the computer.)

I did drop out of college, but I never dropped out of education. I like one of the sayings now written into various schools' creeds, that their purpose is to train their students to be "lifelong learners."  I am a lifelong learner.

After leaving college, on my own, I became fluent in two additional languages, Spanish, and Sign Language. When I say "on my own", I mean that I did not learn them from a course. I continued my usual voracious reading. When personal computers came along, I got one and learned how to use it effectively, becoming a minor "geek." I am constantly learning something new. I study. I research. I have a passion to learn. It has always been this way with me. The difference in college and self-directed learning is that one can afford to focus on the subjects about which one is passionate.

My job involved moving to a developing country. There I began a school for the deaf. There was no curriculum, so I had to create one. By that time, the internet was becoming an excellent resource. I researched constantly on methods of deaf education, on studies that had been done, on language acquisition, autism and a myriad of other issues that came up daily at the school.

The point is, I didn't stop learning, simply because I dropped out of college. I will match my knowledge against any college educated person. The only difference? I cannot get many jobs I am in every other way qualified for without a little piece of paper!

If I had gone to college after HS and gotten a degree, I would have graduated in 1976. That college degree would be totally obsolete right now!  Still, it would be both acceptable and required for many jobs!  Tell me, employer, would you really rather I had the 1976 degree, even without the life-long learning? Yet you would hire me if I did!

Requiring college for many jobs is simply out of date. Without a doubt, there are jobs where pre-training, aka college, is essential. But for so many more, just put it down as a requisite without reason, without thought. It's a given. Why? Well, it's "always" done that way. Funny that all those college educated people who set the requirements for hiring think so in-the-box!

If I ever begin a company. I will not fall into that trap. Knowledge, not college, will be the requisite, or at the least, the ability to learn the job well.

PS.  Just one additional ironic fact. I once took one of those tests that tells you what kind of job you are best suited for, and the result was? A college professor! Isn't life funny?!

Mentoring may be better

Mentoring is sometimes better than just hiring someone. It's like the difference between buying something off the shelf, and having something specially designed for you.

Let me give you an example. In a developing country, there is inevitable a shortage of teachers trained to work with the deaf. Usually it is a struggle just to cover the bare minimum of adequacy for teachers of the hearing children, much less something so complicated as teaching deaf children.

Nevertheless, a friend and I had determined that a school for the deaf was simply an essential. Where were we to get the teachers?

The fact is, we had few resources. It was our great blessing to not have the finances to hire certified teachers. At the time, we did not realize this, but in hindsight, I can only be glad it was that way.

First, the two of us began teaching. We had seven children to begin with. My co-worker did have some experience. She was fluent in Sign Language, but her teaching methods were quite limited. So from the beginning, I was mentoring her. Then, the group of students began to grow. We needed another teacher. Again, we had such limited funds, we had to hire someone who had not graduated from college. (This is common in many private schools in the country.) We trained her on the job. We had her watch us teach. Then we would put her to teaching and observe her, helping her along where she needed it. We schooled her in Sign Language, and her exposure to the signing of the children helped her develop her language skills quickly.

Each year additional teachers needed to be hired. Each year there was the need to train them both in Sign Language and in methods of teaching deaf children. All this was done on the job, because there was no other way to do it, financially.

Finally the year came that we were able to be officially recognized. The government was even going to help with some of the salaries--but only for "qualified" teachers. The well trained teachers, fluent in Sign Language, and skilled in teaching the deaf were not qualified. They would not pay them. Rather college graduates who had been certified to teach by passing a test had to be hired.

Every teacher we hired this way, was much more difficult to train. They had already ingrained in them that there was one way, and only one way to teach. It consisted of writing endless paragraphs on the board, explaining briefly, in a form the children could not possibly understand, and then having the children copy it down.

Day after day, the children were expected to copy, without the faintest understanding of what they were copying.

Mentoring teachers before they went to college was much more effective. These teachers went on to get their degrees, and will soon be taking the test for their certification, at which point they will be pronounced adequate to teach. In point of fact, they are probably the best teachers of the deaf in the entire country.

So what do you prefer?  Off the shelf, works for some things. But if you have something special, that needs to be done in special ways, you may want to consider mentoring. You can always add the college later, if it is needed.