bad girls do it well

Hey there. I’ve been reading some posts from folx who are understandably TERRIFIED and CONFUSED because job hunting is exactly The Worst. I have some pointers to make it less sucky, as someone who’s been through it a number of times in the past 20 years, mostly using online tools (while Gen Xers and Baby Boomers yelled at me to just “hit the pavement”), and who has also been responsible for interviewing and hiring people. I’ll add to this as I think of more stuff. Mostly this is stuff career counselors don’t tell people and I’ve had to figure out on my own.

Where To Find Jobs 1: The Internet

Anymore, job hunting largely, but not exclusively, happens online. I’ve had some really good luck applying for jobs directly through a company’s website and through LinkedIn in recent years. Sites that are intended to be huge job boards for all types of jobs tend to be quagmires, and, in my experience, are kind of a waste of time. BUT there are some specific job boards, like Idealist for nonprofit jobs, and Dice for tech jobs, that tend to be useful, or at least do a nice job connecting you with recruiters.

Where to Find Jobs 2: Recruiters

Recruiters are a mixed bag. They get paid to help find people for jobs, and usually they’re looking for folx with more than a few years’ experience. Some recruiters are tasked with trying to fill jobs that are terrible, so a lot of what they do is try to sweet-talk people into jobs with horrible pay and benefits. But then there are some that can be super helpful in finding you a job that’s a really good fit for you. Your mileage may vary. If you happen to meet a recruiter at an event, it’s worth staying in touch with them, but don’t put all your eggs in that basket. If a recruiter finds you a position, it’s a bonus, but put most of your job-hunting energy elsewhere.

Where to Find Jobs 3: Networking

So many career guidance folx will tell you “network! that’s where all the jobs are!” and they’re correct, but they never tell you fucking HOW to do that. So here’s how.

1. NETWORKING EVENTS: Google something like, “career fair” or “networking event” or “happy hour” plus your particular interest/skill set and location. So, like, “Librarian happy hour North Dakota” or something. Keep the location broad - you may have to travel a bit to find one, depending where you’re located. You can also broaden your search terms to things like “nonprofit” or “government” or “healthcare.” Check for these events on Meetup and Facebook. There may also be groups in your area that meet regularly that you could join. 

2. INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS: Is there a particular company you want to work for? Cool. Is there someone there (or at a similar company) doing a job that looks a lot like what you want to do, if not now, but in 5-10 years? Stellar. Find that person’s contact info (may require a bit of research - again, Google-fu, but try not to be stalkery) and send them an email like, “Hi, I just graduated from XYZ and I’m really interested in getting into FIELD. Would you be willing to have coffee/Skype with me sometime in the next month and tell me about your career journey?” People love to tell their stories. Prepare some questions to ask them, like “How did you get started?” “What was the most important thing you learned early in your career?” “What advice would you give somebody who is just starting out in this field?” etc. and then listen. You can tell them a little bit about where you’re at, but generally this meeting should be focused on THEM. After you meet with them, send a followup thank you, and set up calendar reminders every couple of months to tell them hi, maybe share an article related to your field, something to keep you in their brain so that if they have a job opening, hey, they know someone who’s interested. Being a known quantity makes a lot of difference.

Resume Tips

1. Include a section called “Skills” and list every bit of software you are comfortable with. (Pro tip: Microsoft Excel is really, really useful in a lot of jobs. If you don’t know how to use it, find an online course to learn it and put it on your resume. Seriously.) Also good things to include would be if you had to do any accounting/budget management for a job, etc.

2. When writing about your previous jobs, focus on what you accomplished, rather than what you were responsible for. Are there ways that place is/was better off with you there? Did you improve anything? Write about it, with an action word at the start of each bullet point. Something like, “Increased daily sales by 10% over 2 years” or “Ensured tips were correctly distributed among staff” or “Praised for punctuality and dedication.” ANYTHING that shows you, specifically, were good at that thing. You do not have to list every single thing you were responsible for in that job. Unless it’s relevant to the job you’re applying for, don’t bother including it.

3. Ask colleagues/former bosses for letters of recommendation that you can use, then pull quotes from them and put them on your resume in little quote boxes. (This is a good space-filler, but it also shows you’re pleasant to work with.)

4. Put skills and experience at the top; education at the bottom.

5. Bold key words related to the type job you’re seeking. HR reps spend an average of 30 seconds looking at a resume, and they don’t usually understand the job itself but have been given key words to look for. (Hint: Those words are usually in the job description.) Make your resume easy to scan. Think bullets, think bolded phrases, think section headers, think two-column as opposed to one-column.

6. For fuck’s sake, proofread. Have a friend proofread. Read it out loud. Do not misspell shit or use bad/inconsistent grammar.

Cover Letter Tips

1. Your cover letter is your chance to express yourself, especially if you are looking for a job in a creative field. Mix up the formatting. Add colorful headers. Throw in a photo of yourself. 

2. Your goal in the resume is to show you’re qualified; your goal in the cover letter is to reinforce that but also to show why you’d be a good fit for the company and why you want to work for them specifically. Make sure you answer those questions in there, but keep it brief.

Interview Tips

1. Did you know you’re allowed to bring notes to an interview? You totally can.

2. Preparing for a job interview is like preparing to be interviewed for a press conference. You want to make sure you’re clear on your talking points. Think about, and write down, the top 3 or 5 reasons they should hire you for the job, and if you get stuck during the interview, go back to those.

3. If you want extra-special awesomeness points, you can use my secret weapon: the “Why I’m Awesome Sheet.” I created this when I was first job hunting and it has gotten me offers DURING THE INTERVIEW because people were so impressed by it. All you do is you take the job description, break it into bullet points of what they’re looking for, then put 1-2 bullets beneath each one of how YOU fit that thing they’re looking for. This is great for a few reasons:

You’re demonstrating that you’re proactive and willing to go the extra mile to get this job, doing work that wasn’t asked for.

You’ve saved the interviewer the work of matching up the stuff on your resume with the job description, and therefore made their life easier.

It will help you better remember why you’re a good choice for the job during the interview, which will make you appear more confident.

If they ask you the dreaded “Why should I hire you?” question, you just HAND THEM THIS SHEET.

4. Don’t forget to send a thank-you note after the interview to each person who was at the interview. Email is fine.

5. Do not stop looking for work just because you’ve scheduled an interview. Keep several irons in the fire and try to apply for a new job every day if you can.

6. Remember to smile, especially in a phone interview. I know that seems weird, but smiling on the phone makes you sound engaged and positive.

Patience

This may not seem obvious, but people hiring for jobs have a TON of other work they’re responsible for. They are often very slow to follow-up because filling the position is not their #1 or even their #10 priority, most of the time. Expect that it could take several months to hear back on an initial resume & cover letter submission. Expect that it could take a couple of weeks or more to hear back after an interview. Expect it can take several days to get a response to a question via email. This is common. Try not to sweat it. You can follow up to ask where the process is after you’ve interviewed, but don’t do that too often or too quickly. Wait about a week after you’d expect to hear back. 

That said, if they contact you for follow-up, respond as quickly as possible. Don’t let it sit in your inbox for more than 1 day. Seriously. Be professional and careful in how you respond, proofread, etc. but do not let it linger.

It’s been a while since I’ve made a post, and I figured that these tips might be extra helpful with exam season approaching. As someone who struggles a lot with procrastination, I do everything I can to fight the urge to put assignments off until the last minute (even though I’m not always successful). 

The first training of Zuko we see, Iroh shoots a fireball right into Zuko’s face - while Zuko just stands there unflinching. It’s the very first episode, and Zuko & Iroh are the obvious villains, and it just seems like some macho bs they do.  And then comes the duel with Zhao, and Zuko is down, but when he sees that flaming fist to his face, something lets loose inside him that helps him turn the fight around…But it’s not until we learn Zuko’s backstory that all this gets a whole new meaning. 

Why would Zuko still be on basics if not because he suffered a huge setback after his agni kai? Imagine how much hard work, patience it was to build Zuko back up again, so he would not freeze in blind panic (or curl up in a ball) when fire gets close to his face. I think Iroh practiced this with him all the time until he could stand there unflinching (knowing that Iroh is in full control of his bending and trusting that his uncle would never hurt him). And when it came to the duel with Zhao, Zuko could react in a RL situation instead of freezing up, and turn all the negative feelings (rage, anger, pain, whatever) into fuel to win the fight against a bender who is much more skilled than he is. 

I’m going to let you in on a little secret, creampuff.

I, Piggy, Co-Bitch of Bitches Get Riches, was 26 when I started cracking down on my finances.

You read that right. While I wouldn’t say I had terrible financial habits before then, I kind of just let money… happen to me? Like, I knew enough to pay off my credit cards and to buy into my company’s 401k. But that stuff was easy and I was lucky enough to have parents who helped me apply for my first CC at 18 and a boss who basically bullied me into signing the 401k paperwork. But other than that I paid the minimum on my student loans, never asked for raises, and ate out at lunch a lot. I was more wasteful than I care to admit and I didn’t know shit about investing or ROI. I certainly didn’t have an IRA at that time, and my savings (such as they were) were wasting away in a brick and mortar bank’s saving account.

26 is the year that I started learning about money. That’s the year I increased my 401k contribution, started paying more than the minimum on my student loans, started aggressively saving, and started earning a shit-ton more money by asking for raises and starting side gigs including babysitting. That was the year my eyes were opened.

I’m now 32. I’m completely debt free except for my mortgage. And hey! I have a mortgage! I own a house! I’m making three times as much money as I made at 26, I live more frugally than ever, I have multiple big fat retirement accounts and investment accounts, and in every way I have my financial shit together. I’m insured for $300,000. I own my car outright. My friends and internet strangers alike come to me for financial advice because they know I can turn $1 into $10 with the snap of my poorly manicured fingers.

You are not too late. As far as this Bitch is concerned, you’re right on time. Welcome to the sisterhood.

Here are some resources to help you catch up:

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying: Finance Philosophy Explained by The Shawshank Redemption

Ask the Bitches: How Can I Make Myself Financially Secure Before Age 30?

 How to Save for Retirement When You Make Less Than $30,000 a Year

 Dafuq Is Credit and How Do You Bend It to Your Will?

A Dungeonmaster’s Guide to Defeating Debt 

Venom in our eyes:

siblings? drift compatible. married couples?drift compatible. parents and their kids? drift compatible. two folks who just met but trust and respect each other a lot? drift compatible, babey.

It’s really interesting to me that one of the punishment/tortures Pink had to endure was Blue’s emotional manipulation and being made to cry who knows how many times and then crying became one of Rose Quartz’s most powerful and iconic powers.

She essentially took something that was historically a source of pain and strife for her and not only turned it into a strength but also a tool specifically used to heal the pain of others, something to help rather than something to hurt.