Road Trippin' USA: Five Days on the Campaign Trail for Hillary Clinton

You learn a lot about yourself when you're out of work.

A lot of it is mental.  How you respond to the uncertainty of a brand new situation.  How you respond when a good job opportunity never gets back to you.  How you respond when you receive notice that you didn't get a job you applied for.  How you mentally prepare yourself to be on a reduced food budget.  How you think positive thoughts to keep yourself from getting sick during times when you don't have health insurance.

But in addition to the things associated with this new lifestyle, you also begin to learn about what you're passionate about.  What makes you tick as a person.  My no means is it an extended vacation.  Your top priority is finding employment.  But there's only no many hours in a day where you can check job sites, update your resume, alter a cover letter, and organize all your reference materials.  You'll inevitably have free time and how you use that free time goes a long way in determining what makes you feel fulfilled in an otherwise uncertain time.

For myself over the past few months, I have become passionate about politics.  I find the topic fascinating.  The art of politics, the alliances, the policies, the support, the criticism, you name it.  There's just something unique about the entire field of study.  I check the news first thing every morning, I follow hundreds of politicians on Twitter, I've been recently watching The West Wing and House of Cards on Netflix, and I make sure to always catch the highlights from Last Week Tonight, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and The Daily Show.  I've also caught most of the debates and, as I mentioned in my last post, I saw both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton speak while I was home for the holidays.

In addition, I've become a fairly serious blogger in the online world.  I blog for four sites, three of which I contribute weekly political articles to help nurture discussion.  I enjoy the ability to share my thoughts and also to hear feedback from other members of the community.  I enjoy reading the comments and learning about others' experiences as many of the commenters are older and thus can provide me with a window into history that I wouldn't have access to otherwise.  I've been doing the political blogging for a couple years now and have amassed a hearty portfolio of work on various topics.  My work has occasionally been picked up by other progressive sites and every once in a while I'll write something that will be fairly popular for one reason or another.  Unfortunately there is no formula to hitting a homerun every time so as of now I'm not quite famous enough to have my own weekly New York Times article quite yet.

And so as this passion became real, I started looking into ways to potentially parlay it into a career.  As I said, I haven't had my big break yet but I'm also keenly aware that big breaks are often the result of making connections.  For someone like myself that is considering a career in politics, what better way to break into the field than to go straight to the top and work for the president himself?  Unfortunately, President Obama has had his team in place for the past seven years but there is an election this year so why not start off by hopping in with a future president?  With that idea in mind, I signed up to volunteer for the Hillary Clinton campaign as I believe her to be not only my own personal choice but also the most likely to win the White House come November.

I ended up being on a listserv for Sacramento residents and ended up attending an organizing meeting on January 10th.  At the meeting, they announced they were looking for volunteers to help canvass ahead of the Nevada caucus on February 20th.  I filled out a form with my information and indicated that I was waiting to hear back from a couple jobs but that I was interested in potentially helping out.  I got a call the next week from an organizer and I told her that I was still waiting to hear on jobs and that I couldn't make that next weekend.  She told me to call her if I was able to go.  Toward the end of January, I received an email again asking me about my Nevada availability and this time I put down the days leading up to the Nevada caucus to be safe.  They also asked if I could stay with anyone in Nevada and I indicated that I had family in the Las Vegas area.  They said it would be great if I could stay with them as they needed people at the campaign office in Henderson, just south of Vegas.  They gave me the address of the canvass office there and told me to check in as soon as I got into town.

I woke up at 6:00 A.M. on Wednesday and made the 550 mile trek to Henderson, Nevada.  I stopped for gas about 2 hours into the drive, and had lunch just east of Bakersfield at around noon.  I kept driving and got to the campaign office at 4:30.  Once there, I introduced myself to the office staff and was given a clipboard with a list of names to go canvass.  My goal was simple:  To touch base with these people and confirm their support for Hillary Clinton.  I was told that these were people that had been identified as being likely to support her and so the conversations I was to have would be fairly simple and straightforward.  If I encountered Bernie Sanders supporter, I was simply to thank them for their time and move on.  I was not try to dissuade them as time was of the essence.

This was my first time canvassing for a political candidate but I had experience thanks to my four-days with the solar company.  The big thing you want to do is be efficient with your time.  Each time I went out, I was given a list of roughly 50 names and the expectation was to complete the list within about 3 hours.  That meant that you wanted to plan out your walking route so that you didn't backtrack and you hit all needed houses/apartments.  If someone wasn't home, you simply left a door hanger which included information on how and when to caucus on Saturday.  If someone was home and they were a Hillary supporter you gave them the caucus information and confirmed the time and location and made sure they had transportation. And, of course, you thanked them for their support.

I did a total of six canvassing runs over the course of four days.  The "turf" varied as some times I was in a neighborhood while other times I was at an apartment complex.  I did most of my canvassing in Henderson but had one run where I went to South Las Vegas and scouted 4 separate gated communities to see if we could gain access to them.  I was able to get into one and left literature at the front desk of another so I consider that a moral victory.  In addition, I was also stopped once by a neighborhood security patrol making sure I wasn't harassing neighbors and once by apartment security who informed me it was private property.  I smiled and played nice both times, assuring both officers that I was simply dropping off literature and that I was being respectful to any folks who were not interested.  That seemed to be good enough for them and they left me on my way.
The highlight of the canvassing actually occurred at the office.  Friday morning we were visited by a large contingency from California of The Human Rights Campaign, an organization that works on behalf of equality for all citizens.  We also had Illinois congressman Luis Gutierrez come and stump for Hillary Clinton.  Gutierrez is one of my favorite congressmen and he was a strong advocate for Planned Parenthood in the fall when Republicans were insistent on shutting down federal funding to the organization after the doctored videos were released.  Gutierrez then shook some hands and went out into the field to help canvass himself.  Despite being political, this was the first candidate I got to meet in person and I snapped off some pictures to help commemorate the moment.

On Saturday morning, it was go time.  Many of us got to the office at 7:30 A.M., ahead of the caucuses which were scheduled to start at 11.  We went on one last canvassing run where we left door hangers to remind folks of the time and location to vote and then reconvened at the office at 10:00 A.M.  I asked about observing the caucus and was actually told they needed someone to be a caucus chair at a local high school.  I volunteered my services with the caveat that I did not have any experience in the roll and that I also was an out-of-state volunteer meaning that my participation would be limited.  Fortunately, neither of these were deal breakers and I was then told about the role.
The Clinton team had caucus chairs for the precincts at a local high school.  For those unaware, precincts vary in size.  Nevada has 1,835 precincts with some being fairly large geographic areas and others being extremely tiny.  The largest precincts were filled by veteran staff who had previously served in leadership roles but there were several small precincts where our presence could still be valuable.  The role of the caucus chair is simply to organize people into sides and then to potentially engage any undecideds to join our cause.  We were also able to download an app which allowed us to relay the results immediately back to Clinton HQ.  Since I was an out of state volunteer, I could mingle from the hours of 11 to 12 but at 12 when the voting started I could not speak on behalf of my chosen candidate.  That responsibility would have to be delegated to a Nevada resident.  After the voting, was complete and the delegate(s) were awarded it was my job to get the contact information for this delegate (Ex.  if Hillary won 4 delegates we would need to pick 4 Hillary supporters that would represent her at the county level later on)

At 10:30, I got to my caucus site and met with the site coordinator.  She gave me a box with all the needed information.  We then headed to the front of the school where they let in the caucus chairs right at 11 while people were still lining up.  At my caucus site there were probably 600 people or so in a line where three people were doing the check-ins.  It was definitely a clusterf*ck.  People brought their children with them and there were constant questions as to where their caucus location or bathroom was.  For the larger caucus sites (50+ people) the site ended up being one of the bigger classrooms or auditoriums, for the smaller caucus sites the site ended up being a classroom.  I did not witness it, but I was told that some people were actually turned away who weren't in line by 12.  Since the line was moving ever so slowly, the actual caucusing did not start until after 1.  I was stationed in a small caucus and ended up not having any people in my precinct.  I checked the precinct on my phone and learned it was a small area of about 3 separate side streets.  If just one person had shown up then that person would have been able to choose the delegate from their precinct.  I intend on telling this story to anyone who insists their voice doesn't count.

As disappointing as it was that I didn't get to participate in my own precinct, I still wanted to get something out of the experience so I headed to a precinct that had 85 people so I got a chance to witness what a caucus looked like.  Here's the procedure:  People come in, mingle, and eventually organize themselves into sections based on their candidate, including a section for those who are uncommitted.  They then fill out a ballot with that candidate's name and those ballots are connected and counted.  After that, there is a chance to woo those that are uncommitted.  One representative from each side has 2 minutes to state his or her case.  Then, there is a 15 minute window where each candidate can be wooed by people from either side.  Essentially, it's like when a new, good-looking kid starts his first day of middle school and everybody wants to be their friend.  After 15 minutes, the uncommitteds chose their new home and everybody enjoys their Snack Pack.

In the precinct I observed, the 2 uncommitteds ended up siding with Bernie Sanders.  However, in the end this was not enough.  There is a mathematical formula to determine who gets the allotted delegates.  In our precinct, the math ended up breaking down so that Hillary Clinton ended up earning 6 delegates (47 votes) to Bernie Sanders earning 4 delegates (38 votes).  At the end, one gentleman was particularly angry and expressed how he believed Hillary Clinton was a "sell out" and "beholden to Wall Street."  This is what we in the biz call a BernieBro, someone who is needlessly angry and has no respect for his opponent.  Eventually this gentleman calmed down but he made quite an impression on the rest of the room.  The only other incident occurred as a Bernie supporter insisted on filming the results because he didn't believe that the precinct officials would properly count the delegates.  This statement drew some sharp criticism from the Hillary Clinton supporters.  After the tally was official people were free to go home.  We thanked folks for participating and headed back to the campaign office, which happened to be locked.  I decided to use the time to go and grab lunch instead and returned to drop off my materials and bid adieu to the office that had been my home for 4 days.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how amazing my first cousin once removed Becky and her husband Mike were for hosting me for four nights.  I affectionately call them Aunt Becky and Uncle Mike and they went above and beyond in bedding, feeding, and hydrating me over the course of my time in Boulder City where I stayed with them and their two dogs, Callie and Boomer.  Not only did they cook dinner for me and let me steal their cereal but they also took me out to breakfast twice as well.  They also invited over Becky's cousin Dana and his wife, Shagupta, for a delicious family meal of what we call "cheesy noodles" on Friday.  We got a chance to catch up on the latest family news and it was great experiencing everything Boulder City had to offer.  On Saturday after the caucus I had a couple of hours to kill so I drove down to nearby Hoover Dam to take some pictures and then ended the day by grabbing a quick walk from Mike and Becky's house to a nearby hill when I took some pictures of Lake Mead at sunset.  Becky told me that February was one of the nicest months of the year and I could totally see why.

So that was my first campaign experience in a nutshell.  I got up at 6:30 on Sunday and after a delicious breakfast was on the road for an eight-hour trek back to Sacramento.  I managed to make one contact at the campaign office, a local director named Amanda who I exchanged emails with and with whom I shared some of my writings.  I don't know if anything will come of it but it was good to at least try.  I figure at the very least, I can update my resume and add "caucus chair" to my volunteer experience working for Hillary for America with the hope that nobody actually presses me for details and I am forced to concede that nobody actually showed up to my caucus.  All joking aside, it was a great experience and I'm fortunate to have great family who were able to take me in with open arms.  The whole experience was a whirlwind and gave me a sense for how hard people work on a national campaign.  As I continue to search for jobs, I will also continue to do the political writing as I believe that my future lies in that field.

Bay Bridge Blues: The End of a Brief San Francisco Flirtation

Oh, San Francisco we hardly knew ye!

But alas it was not meant to be.  After a nearly month-long flirtation with the Bay Area, I've recently received word that I was not offered a position at either nonprofit I applied to in the area.  Combine that with having heard from another nonprofit in the city in December that I would not be offered a position and it's safe to say that The City By The Bay and I will not be forming an everlasting bond any time soon.

Although this is a setback, I choose to see it as a positive experience.  Not only did I get to have a total of 4 in-person interviews where I got to fine-tune my interviewing skills but I also had a chance to make it into the city and surrounding area, something I had only had a chance to do once so far since I moved to Northern California.  I not only had a chance to drive around the city's famous hills with a manual transmission but I also had a chance to reconnect with an old friend and his wife in the city and go for a hike at the nearby Muir Woods National Park.  Although I will not miss the early morning commute (roughly two-and-a-half hours from Sacramento), I will miss the anticipation of it all and wondering each time I made that commute if this would be the opportunity to get me back on my feet.

Each position I applied for in the region was in a similar vein:  It was an education nonprofit working with low-income students to provide them with support and resources to help them both attend and gradate from college.  At this point, I can safely say that my education resume and cover letter are solid as each organization contacted me after I submitted those materials and then scheduled me for an initial phone interview.  Although I cannot remember the exact specifics of each particular phone interview the questions were roughly the same:  Describe your teaching experience.  Have you worked with this population before?  Have you taken on an adviser or mentor role?  What experience do you have working with a team?  What experience do you have working with parents?  What is your classroom management philosophy?  And the list goes on.

With my teaching background, I was able to comfortably answer those questions.  In fact, it was being able to work with that population that made me want to apply to all three positions in the first place.  It helps that not only do I want to work with students of a low socio-economic background but that I also have worked with that population as well.  I personally believe that you need to have that actual experience to work in that environment as it is a lot more difficult than working with students from more affluent backgrounds.  Students of low socio-economic backgrounds come with a whole lot of baggage and if you haven't experienced it, it might be shocking as to just how many issues they're dealing with outside of the classroom.

So, fortunately each organization found me worthy of at least meeting in person.  I knew that I wanted to limit the amount of times I drove into the city (for both time and monetary reasons) so the first day I actually scheduled two second round interviews on the same day:  One at 10:00 A.M. and the second at 1:30 P.M.  I figured I would be able to end the first interview, then move my car toward the second interview which was in the financial district, (hopefully) find parking, get lunch and then make it to my second interview.  That was the plan at least and surprisingly it worked.  Parking was a pain to find but I got there around noon and used my Smart Phone to find a restaurant within a block of where my second interview was.  I then was able to leave the city around 3 thereby beating the impending rush hour which was sure to cause havoc on those leaving around 5 P.M.

In terms of the interviews themselves, I felt that the second one went better than the first.  At the end of the first interview, a manager briefly came in to introduce herself and just ask me if I had any questions.  We chatted briefly and she left me her business card.  It was then I knew I wouldn't be asked back as I had previously gotten a business card at the end of my in-person interview for a job here in Sacramento as well.  It's essentially a way for employers to make you think they care about you when they really don't.  I know it sounds cynical, but it's the truth.  Why would you ever want to contact an organization that didn't want you?  However, the organization does it to give you a false sense of optimism when you leave the interview.  Psychology 101.  My assessment proved correct when they emailed me a week later telling me I was not offered the position.

The second interview went better and I didn't get a business card at the end of it!  That interview went well and I was actually complemented on several of my answers, something the other interviewers didn't really seem to do.  At the end of the interview, I was told that they would be interviewing candidates and would let people know if they had advanced in a couple weeks.  Since this was right around the holidays, they said that there would be a slight delay between second and third round interviews.  I took this in stride and was actually surprised when they got back to me right after the New Year to ask me back for a third and final round interview.  It would be on a Wednesday and would require me to read over a hypothetical "case study" of a student and then submit how I would address certain concerns with that student.  I took a full afternoon to do this and scheduled a third round interview at 2:30.

Shortly after I received this invitation, I received a different invitation from a third San Francisco nonprofit that wanted to schedule a second interview.  Again, I felt it would be best to make one trek into the city instead of two so I opted for the Wednesday 9:00 A.M. slot.  This meant I would have to get up at the righteous hour of 5:00 A.M. to get there but I figured it was better to bite the bullet than make two separate trips.  I was also told that there would be parking, so I brought sneakers with me and decided that I would walk to my second interview and back rather than have to worry about parking.  It ended up being about a 3 mile walk but it was a nice day and I enjoyed the exercise.

The first interview again ended without a business card so this seemed to be another positive development.  I definitely wanted to keep my options open but if I could actually have not one but two job offers then that would be a huge opportunity.  I felt that either place I was interviewing at would be a good job and would be something that I would enjoy doing.  I then trekked to my second interview, grabbed some lunch at The Cheesecake Factory overlooking Saks Fifth Avenue, did some reading in the lobby to kill time, and then got to my third round interview.  In addition to reviewing the case study, I also had a chance to talk to a pair of employees and ask them general questions about the organization, and I had a chance to interact with two students in the program.  I felt the interview went well and I was told that the organization would make its final decisions by the end of the next week.  With that in mind, I had some time to kick back and relax for the time being and I actually looked up an old fraternity brother and his wife in the city and stopped by their place for dinner.  This was someone I hadn't seen since college so it was great catching up with him and also sharing his food and fine whiskey before I left and headed back to Sacramento.

Six days later I received an email from the second organization stating they wanted to have me back for a third round interview.  Since I hadn't heard anything from the other organization I decided to continue the interview process so once again I got up at 5 AM, drove for over 2 1/2 hours and got to San Francisco for a 9 A.M. interview.  This time, I brought with me hiking gear as I was intent on visiting Mount Tamalpais State Park after my interview as a way to explore the area and kill the rest of the day in the city.  This interview went well and once again I didn't receive a business card so this seemed promising.  I was told that there actually was a FOURTH round interview for candidates that advanced that far in which they would meet with the CEO.  I was told that I would be contacted if I had made it to that point.  After I left, I made the hour-long drive to Mount Tam and eventually found a trail that led to Muir Woods, where Return of the Jedi was filmed.  When you think of California redwoods you probably think of Muir Woods and even though it was a sloppy, wet hike it was definitely worth doing.  I even went down the Pacific Coast Highway for a bit on the way back before heading back to Sacramento.

That was Wednesday.  On Friday I was out to lunch with a friend and saw I had a missed call and voicemail.  This was at 2:30.  Rut-roh.  As I pointed out in a previous blog, Friday afternoons are notorious for letting employees know they weren't offered a position.  I had that sinking feeling when I checked my voicemail and sure enough, I did not get the position.  I sent an email to follow-up at to the reasons and was told that the organization was looking for someone with more "individual" mentoring experience.  This struck me as odd because the organization knew my background as a classroom teacher who also taught an advisory class.  In addition, one of the people I talked to in my final interview joined the organization because she, like myself, wanted more one-on-one interaction with students.  If the organization had concerns that I had never done one-on-one mentoring then they should have let me go after the second interview and not strung me along.  At least, that's how I saw the situation upon further reflection.

So that was the end of organization one but I still had hope for organization two.  At least, I had hope until Tuesday.  Tuesday afternoon I had a missed call (I swear this is my last iPhone) and voice message to call the person who had previously interviewed me.  I did so and was told that they had offered the position to another candidate.  Again, in an effort to better myself I asked what I could have done differently.  This person told me that they had concerns over my classroom management.  This was an odd response to me because they had asked me a single question about it and I had answered with my go-to response about how the best classroom management is a good lesson plan.  If they had wanted specifics, I would have provided them but I was not pressed so I figured my answer was satisfactory.  I don't know how you can rule somebody out who says that as long as he is teaching an engaging lesson from bell-to-bell then students will be unlikely to misbehave if he has done his job and has created a meaningful lesson for the day.  But alas, it was not to be.

So again, I'm a little disappointed but not downtrodden by any means.  It it all three of those organization's loss and I won't shed any tears or break any plates over their decision.  It's simply another bump in the road for a career that I will ultimately find fulfilling.  Had I not gotten the interviews I would have never experienced an early morning commute to the city, driven its hills, caught up with my friend, been to Muir Woods from Mount Tam State Park, and driven down from the park to the PCH.  I can officially add San Francisco to my list of conquered cities to go along with Boston, New York City, Charlotte, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, and Sacramento.

At the very least I won't have to worry about that San Francisco commute for a long time.

Home and Back Again: Reflections on a Three-Week Trip to the Great White North

What a difference three weeks can make.

For the past twenty-one days I was either in route to, in, or departing from my childhood hometown of Londonderry, New Hampshire.  I came home with two half-full suitcases and left with two full suitcases as well as a clearer perception of where I was both personally and professionally.  The three weeks were eventful and served as a healthy break from my Sacramento life that had been centered on my ongoing job search.  By the end of my time in New Hampshire, much had changed from the moment I landed at Logan Airport in Boston to the moment I took off in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The first thing that was clarified during my trip was my job situation.  Unbeknownst to anyone except my immediate family, I had applied for a position at a homeowner's insurance company in Andover, Massachusetts.  It was the same company that my father had worked for for thirty-five years and as he was schedule to retire, he mentioned that the company would be looking to fill a position fairly quickly.  I had never envisioned myself doing this type of work but my father sold me on the idea of finding a profession where you could help people but also one that could provide financial stability for yourself and your family.  He said the company was one where hardly anybody left and was one that had afforded him the ability to be the sole wager earner in the family while my mother stayed home and raised me.  At thirty years of age (soon to be thirty-one), I couldn't deny that finding professional stability was extremely appealing, especially after struggling to find work for the past five months.  I told my father I was interested and he got the ball rolling.

I ended up having a brief interview with the company's vice president to gauge my interest in the position.  I told him of my desire to establish a career after several years of unsuccessfully being able to do so and that I believed that I could do so with the company.  That answer seemed to be satisfactory and the vice president then informed me that the next step in the process was to fill out a personal summary which was to be sent to me in Sacramento.  The personal summary is something that the company had used for decades and it was essentially a longer, more exhaustive way to determine a person's work history, motivations, and desires.  It is hand-written and once it is completed, it is reviewed by hiring personnel, management, and a psychiatrist whom everyone at the company refers to as "the Doc."  If there are any "red flags" or concerns, then the candidate is not advanced to the next level of the hiring process.

In completing my personal summary, I was wary of exactly what I was doing.  It was hard to find a balance between being completely honest and also not making myself seem unemployable.  How do you justify leaving a job?  Does it sound conceited to say you weren't given opportunities to reach your potential?  Do you sound disgruntled if you left over a lack of faith in the leadership of an organization?  Do you sound flaky if you left a situation that you knew would present problems for you down the line?  All of these were things I had to consider in detailing my work history and also providing answers on such questions that dealt with previous supervisors and bosses.  For someone who has had five jobs in eight years, how do I make it sound like lucky job number six will end with a different result than the previous five?

I did my best to reconcile these questions and I completed the summary in a timely and efficient manner.  I mailed it a few days before I left and I received word that it arrived to the company the day I was scheduled to be home.  I didn't hear anything on the matter for a few days, which was good because my second day home I contacted a gnarly head cold that lasted nearly a week.  During that time, I waited out the response from the company and aired out my suit and dress shirt, which I had packed in my suitcase should the need arise to be called for an in-person interview.  My dad gave me the advice that if for whatever reason my personal summary was rejected that I should request an in-personal interview to address any concerns.

This would be advice that would come in handy three days before Christmas.

On the 22nd of December, I received an email from the vice president of the company stating that the company had rejected my candidacy after reviewing my personal summary.  I was not particularly surprised by this and I had been mentally preparing a response ever since my dad brought up the possibility a few days prior.  With his words in my head, I composed a three-paragraph email where I put forth the case that I represented a unique situation in that I was coming from a background of previous employment that many candidates out of college did not have.  I stated that all of my work experiences had been learning experiences and that I now had a wealth of experience and knowledge thanks to each and every one of them.  I concluded the email by saying that I was sure that I could address any potential concerns over my employment in person and could clarify any issues that the personal summary might have raised.  The best way to do this, in my opinion, was to provide me an opportunity to do so via an in-person interview.

The vice-president's response?  Thanks, but no thanks.

And with that, the book was officially closed on me being a second generation LaFauci at this company.  I was disappointed but not heartbroken.  When I told my dad about it, I feel that he took it pretty hard.  I told him that I was disappointed with the decision but that I had accepted it and I asked that he do the same as well.  I didn't want my one experience with the company to sully his thirty-five year tenure at a company that had provided him with professional and financial stability.  Despite my plea, my dad ended up shooting off an email to one of his now-ex co-workers where he asked that the company reconsider its decision.  As much as I appreciated my dad's compassion, I knew that the issue should be put to rest so I actually emailed the same co-worker and told him that I was okay with the decision.  The truth is that it had reached the point that if I was hired, it now would have been a somewhat "controversial" decision.  There would have been at least one high-ranking manager who didn't think I should be there.  There would be rumors and whispers that I only got the job because of who my father was.  There would be people who would see me as having violated the time-honored hiring process by somehow circumventing it.  Overall, it would have been a huge can of worms that I didn't want to open.  I had moved on and once my dad got that email off his chest, I think that he was able to move on, too.

In addition to this job opportunity, I also spent time with my family.  I hadn't seen my parents in a year and I hadn't seen my mom since her second major back surgery in May.  My mom looked well, much better than she had in the previous two years.  She wasn't in as much pain and even managed to join my dad and I on Christmas eve when we went to our family dinner in North Andover, Massachusetts.  We were there for three hours and even though my mom was sore by the end, she was able to sit up and walk around the entire time there.  While she was less mobile, my dad had reached the other end of the spectrum and was overly-mobile.  Now that he was retired, he was focusing all his energy on an upcoming trip to Nepal in nine months where he and two of his friends would be hiking to Mount Everest base camp.  My dad and I went on a handful of walks and hikes in our town's local nature preserve and I helped him pick out a home printer he could use to help print out important trip-related documents.  I also convinced him to join me on a couple of excursions as we saw Star Wars on opening night and we saw Bill Clinton speak at a community college.  I thought about inviting him out to see Donald Trump with me as well but I realized that there was a chance I would protest the speech and get kicked out and I didn't want him to be there for that (don't worry, I held my tongue and didn't get assaulted at the rally).

I also got to see all of my Londonderry friends for the first time during one single trip.  I was able to see them at their houses, at the local pub for a Patriots game, at a local breakfast place, and New Year's Eve at my friend's home in Manchester.  I also got to skirt down to Boston for dinner with one of my fraternity brothers and our mutual friend who told me she was moving to San Diego and asked me to make a list of all the go-to places in the city.  I happily obliged.  My last night in town, I visited my best friend, his wife, and their fourteen-month old son.  The previous year when I was introduced to the little 'un, he slept on my shoulder for an hour and I was convinced that parenting was the easiest thing ever.  However, this year I learned that children don't always sleep and that they do run around the house and play with toys, boxes, books, lamps, the dog, and your hair.  Lesson learned for my future children that are due to start appearing in the fall of 2021.

Lastly, I also had a chance to do some reflecting and I was able to end two previous chapters in my life, both unplanned but definitely needed.  The first chapter I officially closed was my previous job.  It just so happened that I ran into my boss's boss at the Denver airport on the way home.  This is someone whom our last interaction had been a series of emails where I expressed deep concern over the organization and, in particular, the way my office was being run.  I believed that my boss's boss did his best to hear my concerns, but he essentially sided with my boss.  When I saw him in the airport, he clearly was not thrilled to see me.  In fact, he did the whole glance up at you and then immediately look away pretending not to have seen you thing.  However, I've always been one to try and put personal grudges behind me and so I got up and went over to him to shake his hand, make small talk, and wish him a happy holiday.  I don't think I'll ever see him again, so this accidental meeting was a nice way to give me closure on my time with the organization and to also know that when all was said I done, I was the bigger man in the whole situation.

The other chapter that was closed had to do with a previous girlfriend.  Despite breaking up, this person and I had remained friends over the years.  However, I got a random text from her on her birthday and everything bad about our relationship all came flooding back to me.  Her text reiterated that after all this time she hadn't changed and it finally dawned on me that I simply didn't want someone like that in my life anymore.  It was hard doing that after having known this person for five years, but it was something that had to be done.  The saying goes that some people will never change and this person is the epitome of that.  It's one thing to have flaws and to try and address them, it's another one to have flaws that people close to you recognize but you continue to ignore.  This person was simply selfish, she was when we were dating, and her text showed me that she was still selfish today.  Someone like that simply has no place in my life at this point so I pulled the plug on her my deleting both her number as well as her social media contacts.

And so, after three weeks I flew back to Sacramento to continue my job search.  My bags may have been heavier with Christmas goodies (mainly books and DVDs) but my heart was lighter by being able to clear up the job opportunity, seeing my family, seeing my friends, and closing two painful chapters in my life.  All and all, I'd say that constitutes a successful trip.

Traveling Toward Terror: Thoughts and Reflections on Today's Paris Attacks

I'd be remiss today if I didn't take a few minutes to formulate my thoughts on today's terrorist attacks in Paris.

When something like this happens, we all go through a variety of stages.  First, there is the shock which occurs when we can't believe something like this would happen.  Then, there is the grief.  The realization that nearly 200 people lost a mother/father/son/daughter/aunt/uncle/friend/fiance.  After that, there is the anger.  Anger at the evil terrorists who would cause such a massive loss of life for some twisted, depraved reason.  And lastly, there is acceptance.  An acceptance of the fact that in the year 2015, we live in a world where terrorists can go into a crowded concert venue and kill over 120 people for reasons we'll never understand.

Being a news junkie, I often will drift to Twitter when big news like this hits.  However, tonight I found myself shying away from the site, in truth because of the inevitable reactions I would see from people throughout the world.  For every "We Are All Paris" sentiment out there, there exists an equal and ugly sentiment of "Kill All The Muslims" or "No More Immigrants."  Unfortunately, as has become tradition, there are those less than desirable politicians who will use this incident to further their own political agenda.  I won't get into those this evening, but let's just say they took hate speech to a whole 'nother level tonight.

In addition to ignoring Twitter, I've also ignored many news sites I typically rely on.  I've done so for the simple reason that the mainstream media is terrible at covering news.  Ironic, seeing as it is their only job.  However, in today's 24/7 news cycle, the mainstream media knows it's in competition for ratings, especially on a day like today.  Because of that, they will either jump to conclusions or report unfounded conclusions in order to be the first media outlet to "break" the story.  Unfortunately, this can have unintended and dire consequences as we saw with the Boston Marathon bombing in April of 2013.  After that happened, a Brown student named Sunil Tripathi was "identified" by Reddit users as a potential suspect in the bombing.  Eight days later, Tripathi's body was found and the cause of death was determined to be a suicide.

The truth of the matter is people are mad, and rightfully so.  However, a madness like the one produced tonight won't benefit anyone in the long run.  We've all, myself included, said things in the heat of the moment we instantly regret.  If we had just waited a few minutes, or even an hour, we would have had time to reflect and realize that we shouldn't have said what we said or we should have found another, more apt way to say it.  That's how I feel about tonight.  People are upset, but aren't thinking clearly.  Unfortunately, what that means is that people in Paris, and throughout the globe, will inevitably target a person or persons who had nothing to do with the events of this evening but they will harass them for the sole reason that they either look like or practice the same religion as the terrorists who committed the atrocities this evening.  They will be deemed guilty by association.  In that way, hate will beget hate.  

Personally, I've never been afraid to travel due to the threat of violence.  I have a little bit of family history to thank for this.  During my sophomore year of high school, my school was closed for three days straight due to bomb threats.  While discussing this incident with my father, he told me how his father (my grandfather) had received bomb threats while he was a dean of the College of General Studies at Boston University and rather than caving to the threats, my grandfather simply kept the school open as an act of defiance.  My own father inherited this mentality.  In the spring of 2003, I was scheduled to go to Spain for a week with a group from my high school.  The trip had been cancelled the previous year and there was some talk of doing it again this year.  However, my father was vocal about the trip proceeding and fought to ensure that we were able to go on what ended up being my first solo trip abroad.

Those early experiences have shaped my views on terrorism.  I firmly believe that the world is safer now than at any point in world history.  However, we hear about incidents like the one today and we begin to question our safety.  Yet the only reason we hear about terrorist attacks with such frequency is that we live in a 24/7 news cycle where violence, death, and destruction are the mainstays of any nightly news program for the sole reason that it draws people's attention.  We don't hear about the tens of thousands of successful takeoffs and landings each day, but we hear about the one plane that goes down.  We don't hear about the tens of thousands of successful automobile trips each day, but we here about the fatal accident on dark and unkempt roads.  And, my favorite example:  Cows kill five times more people than sharks, but I don't see anyone avoiding cow pastures for fear of an attack.

What that means is, the world is safe to see and to explore.  Granted, I don't think I'll be taking a direct flight to Damascus anytime soon, but you get the idea.  When I spent my semester abroad, I never once feared for my life.  Sure, it helps to be a White male, but I also was smart and avoided any situations that may have put me in danger.  I was never robbed or threatened or put in a position where I feared for my safety.  I stayed in well-lit areas and I was proud to walk my female drinking buddy home each night we were out because that's what friends do.  If you do all that, and look confident, even if you have no idea where you are and where you are going, then people generally leave you to your own devices.

The whole point of terrorism is to disrupt a person's way of life.  That's what they do, they intentionally target high-volume areas:  Malls, restaurants, train stations, office buildings, and now concert halls.  The aim is psychological in that the immediate loss of life is always terrible, but the greater aim is to get people to think twice about doing something they would otherwise be doing without having a second thought.  By not living your life as you would normally, you are letting the terrorists win, plain and simple.  If you avoid a crowded place, or traveling to a city, or studying abroad because you're afraid then you've let the terrorists win.  The best way to fight terrorism is not with bombs, or drones, or weapons but by engaging in psychological warfare.  If you can show them that you are not intimidated by their actions, then you've already won by showing them you will not cave to their wants and desires.  That is how the world needs to respond to this incident:  By having every Parisian out and about tomorrow living their lives as they would any other day.

That would be the ultimate revenge against tonight's terrorist attack.

Perspective And Rejection: Analyzing the Struggles of Job Hunting

I've learned to despise Friday afternoons.

For eight years in the workforce I loved them.  They were the best.  They were a time when everyone, teachers, students, co-workers, everyone was all set to kick back and relax for the next 60 or so hours.  No matter what happened during the week or even the day, saying the phrase "Have a good weekend!" seemed to pep everyone up, especially those who you said it to right before they left the workplace.

Now is a different story.

It's a different story because employers traditionally use Friday afternoons to let their employees go and to let candidates know they are no longer being considered for a position.  I've learned this the hard way the past couple months.  The first time I got a rejection email I don't think I even paid attention to the date.  However, that next Friday I got another rejection email.  The Friday after that were three rejections.  It's gotten to the point now where if I get an email notice on my phone on a Friday between the hours of 2 and 4 then I assume it's bad news.  Often times, it is.

Dealing with rejection is part of life.  All of us have at one point asked someone out, or asked them for a second date and we told "Thanks, but no thanks."  When it happens, it stings but you eventually get over it.  You realize that this person just didn't appreciate what you had to offer.  That this person simply didn't realize what a catch you were.  You pump yourself up and list all your positive traits.  Why, if this person had chosen you then he/she would be with someone who can X, Y, and Z!  You use the experience as motivation going forward.  It was his or her loss, but you know you'll find someone out there who appreciates you for just the way you are.

Now imagine getting rejected 70 times in a row.

Your perspective would change a bit, wouldn't it?  You'd begin to wonder if there was something seriously wrong with you.  Is it your looks?  Is it something you say in conversation?  Is it an awkward introduction?  Is it the venues you choose or let your date choose?  Is it a nervous habit or twitch?  Is it because you wait too long after the date to say you had a good time?  Are you saying you had a good time and want to see this person again too soon?  Is there something in your teeth?  Are your teeth crooked?  The concerns would go on and on.

That's me right now.  Since I began my unemployment, I've kept a Word file of all the organizations I have applied to.  That list has recently reached 70 names.  Each of them told me "Thanks, but no thanks."  Some at least gave me a shot.  I've had a half-dozen or so phone interviews and a couple second interviews including one in person.  But those so far have not yielded any successes.  I also briefly tried a career in solar but that wasn't a good fit and so I went back to the drawing board after that experience.

So I'm now at a point where I've been into a lot of introspection.  Why am I being rejected so often?  Is it my resume?  Is it my cover letter?  Is it the initial email I send stating my interest in the position?  Is it the quality of the writing sample for those that request that information?  Is it the format of my reference list?  Is it my answers I give over phone interviews?  Is it a lack of research of the company or organization?  Is it my questions that I have for the organization?  The list goes on and on.

To be honest, there have been several positions I knew I wouldn't get.  Applying to some of the more reputable organizations, you realize that due to name recognition alone you are going to be competing against the creme of the crop.  Against those who have years of experience in a similar position for another outstanding organization.  You realize that several of the positions require experience that you simply don't have but you want to apply to anyway because the application process itself is good experience.  Those are the ones that don't sting as bad.  Those are the ones that are like when you ask out the head cheerleader at the 8th grade dance.  You've got nothing to lose so why not go for it?  (Speaking from experience *cough* Alycia Torre *cough*)

However, for the jobs I generally sought out, I'm at a point now where I'm reevaluating my portfolio.  I've been fortunate that my father has taken a look at my resume and passed it on to the vice-president of his company to help me edit.  I'm now in the process of organizing my cover letters into similar groups so I can more easily modify them based on the position I'm applying for whether its environmental policy, educational policy, literacy-based nonprofits, political communications, or any other role I might apply to.  I'm also taking a look at professional cover letters and modifying mine to better emulate them.  It's hard to make yourself stand out with a simple piece of paper but any advantage I might potentially have I intend to fully pursue.

This also includes pursing any leads that my friends or family might have.  I've recently reached out to my Facebook friends in various geographic locations as well as friends who are involved in fields that I may want to pursue.  As much as I would like to earn a position all by myself, I am realistic.  I know that a large number of people today who change careers are able to successfully do so because they have a contact in their new chosen field.  As I update my cover letter and other resources, I know that it definitely wouldn't hurt to see if any friends have an "in" in a field that I would want to pursue.  Everything I've done up to this point has been on my own and it has been a struggle.

Anything I can do to ease that struggle would be a great relief.

Green vs. Green: A Short Adventure Into the World of Solar Energy

Can you find a career that pays you well and helps you save the world?

This was the question that piqued my interest this past week as I got my first pair of in-person job interviews since I got back from Lake Tahoe at the end of July.  After three weeks of unsuccessful emails being sent out, I came across a free app called Jobr which I decided to try.  The app was simple:  Create a profile and then "tinder" potential job matches.  By tinder, I mean you swipe right if you're interested and swipe left if you're not.  If the company is interested back, then you have a "match" and company will send a pre-generated email stating their desire to try and get you in for an interview.

It just so happened that in my first round of swiping right, I found four potential matches.  The first match was with an insurance company and after further researching the position, I decided it was not for me.  The second match was a media company that was involved in publishing.  I actually scheduled an interview with them, but learned that you were only paid on the advertising you generate so many people didn't get a paycheck for their first four months.  That was a little much for me so I thanked the interviewer for his time and told him that I would not be interested in the position.  Originally I was hoping there would be more of a writing component as well, but I learned that was done by content managers and not the publishers.

The third match was a marketing firm in Sacramento and I scheduled an in-person interview this past Wednesday morning.  I got to a sparsely populated office that was essentially empty except for the room they were doing the hiring in.  Big red flag in my book.  In addition, there were multiple candidates there for the position, which led me to believe they essentially just booked everyone for an interview as a way to meet some kind of quota.  When it came time for my interview, I was at least the 5th one, and it was only 9:00 A.M.  I introduced myself to the hiring manager, who had received my resume prior to my being called.  He told me about the position and the next steps if I was being considered and got up to shake my hand.  The whole thing lasted two-minutes tops.  Having done hiring myself, I know what "weed" language is and that is definitely what I got.  I don't know if they were looking for someone with more experience but whatever it was, it wasn't me.  Their loss.

The fourth match was with a solar company as an energy representative.  This was intriguing to me because I am not only a big proponent of solar but I'm aware that there is an emerging market for the product, especially here in California.  I interviewed with a man who we'll call Jay.  Jay looked over my resume and commented on my intelligence.  I was grateful that someone actually read my resume and saw that!  In addition, he asked me about my motivations and a little bit about my background as well.  At the end, he told me I was just the kind of guy they were looking for and that if interested, there was a training on Thursday to learn more about the position.  I thanked him for the opportunity and decided to go to the training to see what the job was all about.

As it turned down, the training was spread over two days, on both Thursday and Friday for a group of about twelve of us.  Each day had a four-hour class taught by Manny, the office manager.  On day one, we learned about solar basics:  The panels, the systems, kinds of roofs, and how to analyze a customer's electricity bill.  On the second day, we learned about what a contract looked like and also discussed what motivates people to want to purchase a solar unit.  At the end of the presentation was The Big Finish as I'll call it.  All it was was showing future leadership opportunities and the amount of money that could be made at each level.  Manny was not shy in sharing his experience and how he was about three months away from being a millionaire.  You could see my fellow classmates' eyes get big when these numbers were put on the board.  Manny stressed that if you legged it out, this kind of money was possible for every single person in the room.

But there has to be a catch.

There always is.  Sure, this kind of money is possible, but what do you have to give up to attain it?  What are some unwritten rules you have to follow?  What kind of connections have to be made?  Besides time, what else has to be sacrificed to attain this level of success?  What is needed to retain this kind of success?  Do you have to sell your soul to become successful?

These questions led me to a third training day which was essentially an observation day.  Those that wanted to continue were invited back to join the employees on their Saturday rounds to various neighborhoods.  On Saturday, all employees come in at 10:00 A.M. and breakfast is provided.  They then get pumped up for the day through a variety of cheers and chants and then recognize people for their successes.  There are different chants for each sex and let's just say that should a woman be successful there is an added part of the chant that doesn't exist for the men.  As people are recognized, they state what went well for them and their goal for the day.  Anybody that sold a system gets to hit the gong in the corner of the office.  At the end, there are more chants before everyone breaks and hits the road.

To say I was on the set of The Wolf of Wall Street is not an understatement.

Now, since Jay called me initially and also interviewed me, he recruited me to be part of his team along with two other guys he had personally recruited.  We dropped off my car and Jay stated that he was working on some territory in Fairfield, about an hour west of Sacramento.  He asked me about my driving record and then proceeded to give me the keys to his $40,000 Mercedes company car.  He worked on his computer in the front seat to help set up our walking route while I drove to Fairfield.

Once there, our first stop was to the church where Jay had recently sold solar panels to.  His vision was to use this transaction as an "in" to the Fairfield community:  He would go in and talk to the congregation members about solar power and right there we would have a built-in market to buy and purchase our solar panels.  After seeing the church, we went to a local neighborhood and started canvassing.  The purpose of the observation day is to see what your trainer does and what works for him.  However, Jay was very hands on.  He had us rotate through walking to the door with him so we all had a chance to see his interactions.  After that, he then had us walk up to the door and greet the customer while he hung back.  If the conversation was going well, he would jump in and get into more of the specifics.  

For Jay, the purpose of the training day was twofold:  He not only wanted us to see how easy it was to make money but he wanted us to experience it for ourselves.  As luck would have it, I just happened to be at the door when Jay convinced a gentleman to do a free energy assessment with us.  To do that, all we need was the customer's name, their energy meter number, and their account number from their local utility company on an intent form.  Once we have that, you send a request to the solar company and they run an analysis of how much money a customer could save by converting to solar power.  We talked to this customer around 1 o'clock and then we said we would return about 7 P.M. when his wife was home to discuss our proposal.

After we got the initial proposal, Jay gave me a high-five.  Besides saying hello, I had contributed nothing to the conversation, but he wanted to give me credit for it.  He took a picture of the signed form and sent it to a group message of all the employees showcasing "my" success.  When Jay got another initial proposal with another guy in our group, he did the same thing.  By the time it was 3:00 P.M. we had already done a loop in the neighborhood and decided to break for lunch.  Jay took us to El Pollo Loco and bought us all food.  He then retreated to his car to make some personal phone calls and we returned to canvassing the same neighborhood.

At 7:00 P.M., Jay took me with him to try and sell the customer and his wife a system.  You could tell Jay had been doing this for a long time as he knew both his presentation but also how to read the customers.  He had his graphs handy and also had the proposal up on his laptop, which had been sent to him after the initial request was put in.  He was able to answer questions in a clear and easy-to-understand way.  After an hour, he sold the couple on the benefits of a solar system and had them complete the contract on his computer.  We shook heads and once we got outside Jay told me, "We just made $900 that you and I are gonna split.  Not bad for a day, huh?"  And he nudged me before getting back in the car and driving back to Sacramento.

After recovering on Sunday, I decided to return to work on Monday as I wanted to see what a normal day would look like.  I got there at 9:00 A.M. and from 9-9:30 there is a class for all the people who have yet to become managers.  This involved going over a skill or a concept; the theme for Monday was the purpose of doing multiple laps in a neighborhood.  From 9:30-10:00 you meet with your team and rehearse.  Jay had us go over our pitches to customers but also wrote some talking points on the board for us to reference.  At 10:00 they again did recognition and since I "got a sale" I was recognized.  I did my best to BS the speech by saying what worked for me was trying to emulate Jay and being confident.  After going through and getting a series of high-fives I got to bang the gong for my sale.

Most teams headed out by 11 but Jay had scheduled an interview that was running late, so we didn't leave until 11:45.  What I was beginning to see was that Jay was essentially bringing in his own people to become part of his team.  On the way down to Fairfield, Jay told us that he was actually starting his own solar company and that he was using his current job to help recruit his people to help him out down the road.  He told us that if we stuck with him, we could transition over to the new job and be making lots of money with him.  But the key was to make sure we listened to him and took in everything he had to say.  We got to Fairfield around 12:45 and Jay again bought us lunch before we went out and canvassed.

After leaving lunch, Jay saw a new neighborhood we hadn't tried so we went there.  Since it was our second day, Jay had us go up to the door ourselves and do our own pitch and he would wait out front if we needed him.  About a half-hour into canvassing, I was able to have a gentleman sign his intent form to see if his home qualified for solar.  Unfortunately, the customer didn't qualify for a system due to low energy bills but Jay again took a picture of me getting the intent form and sent it to the group.  At this point, Jay saw a home with lots of land and headed that way and told the rest of us to continue canvassing the neighborhood.  We did so and ended up leaving at about 3 PM to head back to our territory from the previous day.

Once we got back there, Jay and I actually had to return to our customer's home from the previous day.  In terms of order, you are supposed to do a credit check with the customer before even submitting a proposal.  However, Jay jumped the gun because he wanted me to be able to experience success so we were banking on the fact that this customer had good credit.  Fortunately, he did and we finished the credit check and set him up with automatic withdrawals.  Once we did that, the purchase was official and Jay and I officially had our $900 between us.  Once we left there, we canvassed for an hour and a half before Jay told us we had to go to a meeting he had set up in Suisun City.  On the way there, Jay was talking to one of his friends on the phone and got upset that someone seemed to be trying to steal "his territory."  Jay told us that he was a driven individual but he worked hard for his money and simply wouldn't tolerate anyone trying to cross him.  He then asked me for directions to the harbor in Suisun City.

I wasn't sure what was going on so Jay explained he was working with a program in the area to help lessen the impact of recidivism of convicted felons.  He was scheduled to talk to a group of them that night about potential jobs in green energy.  Jay told me that there was a chance they might be joining his team and he wanted to show them what was possible.  Jay had me get up and introduce myself and he then told the group what kind of money I made on Saturday and how easy it was to do.  Just like with my training class, you could see the group's eyes light up when they heard about money.  After we left, Jay said that hopefully some of them would come out and help us out and we could split commission with them if they weren't comfortable closing deals.  After the class, we did a short loop around the area to canvass homes and then we left Suisun City around 6:30.

On the way back, Jay was driving but also on the phone trying to close the deal for the church in Fairfield.  He was told that the church's credit did not qualify them and the person at the solar company said that they were going to take the deal to other companies.  Jay insisted that they not do that and made them promise to keep the deal in house.  After he hung up, Jay dropped a few f-bombs and was irate that he could potentially lose his deal.  He stressed that this was how you make money, being persistent and not letting anyone get the best of you.  In fact, he told us that he actually had a meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday and that we might need to adjust our schedule accordingly.  Jay dropped me off at my car at I ended up home around 7:30.

Once home, I couldn't help but laugh.  The day, nay the whole experience, was just so absurd.  Jay didn't care about the environment, all he cared about was making money.  I ended up checking his LinkedIn profile and found that he would bounce around from job to job simply to make money.  It eventually became clear:  Jay was using his experience with the solar company to make enough money for his new business venture.  That's why he was recruiting so heavily:  The more of us he had working under him, the more money he earned based on the way the solar company pays its employees.  If Jay recruited three of us, and three of us became trainers, and each had three recruits and so on, Jay would be making enough money to get his business venture off the ground.  He didn't want us to become successful for ourselves, he wanted us to become successful for himself.

And that, in a nutshell, is how this company works.  People don't care about the cause, all they care about is making money.  Manny himself in the training admitted that he had lost nearly a million dollars in the tequila business and yet now he was making so much money in solar that his wife no longer had to work.  There's a reason that solar companies don't offer sick days, or paid leave, or paid vacations, or even an hourly salary:  They're designed for those that already have careers.  If you're a young kid out of college, the money sounds great.  The possibility for promotion sounds great.  The possibility of running an office sounds great.  You don't care about things like health insurance, dental insurance, or paid maternity and paternity leave.  All you care about is the green:  The green of money.

For me, that is not what I'm looking for.  I don't care about fancy cars, or big houses, or even owning a yacht.  For me, I want to find a fulfilling career that positively impacts the world.  For eight years, I've stayed true to this vision and I'm not about to abandon it now.  Money comes and goes, just look at this week's stock market.  But what a person does in his or her life stays with them.  Sure it'd be nice to not have to worry about money but let's be honest:  Everyone does.  Even the guy with the yacht.  Whereas you or I are concerned about paying rent the guy with the yacht is concerned that he might not have enough money to buy that speed boat.  Different worlds, sure, but in the end no matter who you are you are going to be concerned about your money.

That concern is a whole lot less stressful if you're doing something that you love.

Square One: The 2015 Job Hunt Begins

For the past month while I was in a state of transition from one job to the next, I took a job as a summer counselor on the campus of Colorado at Boulder.  In late May when I was beginning to realize my nonprofit job did not hold a future for me, I began doing some rudimentary job searching to see what was out there.  However, in the interim I decided it would be best to take a short-term employment opportunity and while I was doing that, I could begin to more thoroughly analyze the job market that was available to me.  So I called up my employer from the last three summers and asked if they had any opportunities available.  They responded that there was a number of programs that still needed staff and one of my former co-workers suggested that I join her in the inaugural program in Boulder.

Four weeks in Colorado and not having to pay for food and lodging?  Done and done.

And so for the past month, I was in beautiful Boulder helping to ensure that we kept 95 students from all over the world safe and secure during their three week stay on the campus.  We also tried to give them a little bit of what Colorado had to offer so the students also took day trips to Rocky Mountain National Park, Denver, Colorado Springs, Six Flags, and the local Boulder community including shopping, movies, and hiking all while attempting to avoid (sometimes unsuccessfully) the patented mountain weather that would produce afternoon showers on a moment's notice.  When all was said and done, I had a chance to work with 10 amazing students from around the world and 10 staff who did their best to ensure that I didn't feel too old despite the fact that I was the oldest counselor.

Once that experience was done, I had one last opportunity that would prevent me from entering the job hunt.  The day I returned to Sacramento, I immediately dropped off my dirty clothes, checked my mail, and hopped in my car to head to Lake Tahoe for a week.  I stayed with my grandparents and my uncle in what has become a yearly tradition and it again came at a great time for me as I was spoiled by my grandparents' cooking and had another week of free lodging.  I got to see my extended family who I see once a year and got to once again tan in the Tahoe sun, leaving me with my best tan of the year that will have faded in a month's time.  At the end of my time there, I said my goodbyes and trekked back to Sacramento where my job hunt is now in full swing.

So, how does a job hunt work in 2015?  Well to be honest, the big thing is to decide what I want to do next.  So that was the number one thing.  In addition, I've used this time to update each and every thing that a potential employer might need:  My resume, my writing samples, my reference list, my LinkedIn profile, and my Facebook profile (because, yes, employers will look at that too) were all given a shiny, new upgrade.  I also created a profile for Idealist.org, a site which lists many nonprofit opportunities and through which I found my previous job.  Once the nitty gritty was complete, I then had a chance to think about what I want to be when I grow up and whether or not these things were realistic.  I ended up breaking down this line of thought into 5 possible tracks:

1.  Blogger  

This would be ideal as I am at a point where I would like to do something with my writing.  This is a career that appeals to a lot of people because of how flexible it is.  Most blogger opportunities are remote, which is extremely attractive, especially for someone my age with no living restrictions or commitments.  Unfortunately, these positions are rare and so for each one there is intense competition.  I recently applied for a blogger position for a GMO nonprofit based out of Oakland and received word that there were 180 candidates for the single position.  Even Katniss Everdeen had better odds in her favor than me for that particular position.

2.  Education Nonprofit

Despite my first failed attempt at working for a nonprofit, I'm not willing to shut the door on the field entirely.  However, if I were to pursue another nonprofit work situation it would have to be in the education field.  Fortunately, there are positions available if you can find the right opportunity.  I feel like this would be a career I could really get behind.  One of my holdups about teaching was the fact that your influence is small; you only impact the students you teach rather than the system as a whole.  The education nonprofits out there often work with struggling students across a variety of schools and communities.  There have been some postings about becoming a program coordinator for one of these nonprofits.  That is something that would interest me as I could use both my education background and my staff management background from my previous job.

3.  Campaign Worker

In 16 months, the United States will elect its 45th president.  As someone who is passionate about politics and who loves the behind-the-scenes action, I've always been intrigued with the possibility of working on a presidential campaign.  Unfortunately, I don't have any ins at this point, but I do have a couple of friends who worked on campaigns who are asking around for me.  Even if it were for a short time with non-so-great pay, I think it would be a fascinating experience to work on a presidential campaign.  My current Netflix obsession is The West Wing and I'm currently watching season 7 where they hit the campaign trail.  That, for me, would be an amazing experience where I could use my knowledge of politics and hopefully my writing as well to become a valuable member of a campaign staff.  And hey, who knows?  If you back the right horse there may be a nice job at the end of the line for you in Washington, DC.

4.  Teacher

The reason I left teaching is because I became frustrated with the inherent inequality that the education system today propagates.  However, despite my ideological disagreements with the system, I still enjoyed teaching and the day-to-day interaction with the students.  I was good at what I did and the salary and time off during the year was definitely a plus.  As of now, I'm not actively looking to teach again, but if push came to shove I wouldn't mind teaching again if I found the right situation.  I don't believe that door is permanently closed for me at this point in my life, but I also realize that it is frustrating to be part of a system that ultimately hurts children, especially by having an administration that either refuses to recognize or doesn't realize how much harm they are doing.  I wouldn't go back to teaching kick and screaming per say, but I also would feel like a hypocrite being part of a system I know doesn't work and that does damage to our children's future.

5.  World Traveler

I put this option on the list for the sole reason that if all else fails, it wouldn't actually be the worst thing in the world.  I have been meaning to travel and see the world and what better time to do it then at age 30 when I have no home to own, no spouse, no children, and no pets?  Sure it would eat into my savings a bit, but what better way to broaden my horizons than to take a two-three month trek around the world flying solo?  Yes, it would be financially irresponsible and may be slightly dangerous depending on where I go, but what better way for me to get in an amazing life experience before I settle down and start my own family?  Plus, I could write about it and that writing could turn into a best-selling memoir which allows me to both 1)  Pay the bills and 2)  Attain a career as a writer.  That's how it works, right?  You travel the world, write a best-selling book about it and everything works out?  At least, that's what Hollywood has led me to believe.

So that is where I stand.  Each day I search job boards and hope to find the job that combines all my passions into one.  The job where I am challenged every day, but rise to the challenge because I believe in the work.  The job where my boss is equally passionate and delves into the work each and every day because he wants to make the world a better place and firmly believes in the company's mission.  The job where we work behind the scenes to achieve monumental social justice victories but never celebrate because we know the work is never done.  That is the job I'm looking for and that is the job I feel is right for me.  I know that job is out there somewhere.

Now all I have to do is find it.