Wednesday, June 27, 2012

On the Job Frontier

Hey, folks. I thought I catch you all up on the state of (un)employment in Lindsayville.

Yeah, that's right. I'm still unemployed. And you know, I enjoy sleeping in, and crafting, and cooking what I want for dinner, and spending hours (okay, not hours) gazing at his royal highness, Sir Meeko Kittybeard.

But. It's getting old.

When JJ and I moved here, I knew it was going to be tough to find a job, because despite what everyone thinks about nursing, I know from a first-hand basis that this profession is in no way recession proof, and that the nursing "shortage" is a big fat joke. I knew it would be difficult to find work. I knew this, and yet I never imagined that after 9 months of hard work, I'd still be unemployed. Don't get me wrong, I've had a few promising interviews, but I can never just seem to land it...and truthfully, I am getting very discouraged. Especially now that many of my nursing school friends have had jobs for over a year, and are moving on to bigger and better things, and I still feel sort of...stuck. Like I'm still trying to get that first big job. Heavy sigh.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, the tables turned a little bit. I get a temp job at the Mollen flu clinics starting in August. It's not going to be fantastically challenging, but hey, it's something to do during the day besides laundry. I hope that working there will help me get a "real" job...

And JJ and I started talking. Everyone keeps telling me that I need to find a hobby, etc. to occupy my time, and truthfully, I have a few. But you know, I'm not at that point in my life yet where staying at home and having a hobby are going to be enough for me. I worked stinking hard for my nursing license. I'm not done with it yet. Although having two incomes is definitely a good reason for me to want a career, the real reason for me is because I want to wake up every day and have some sort of goal besides what I'm going to make for dinner. I miss working, and thinking, and DOING. So came the subject of possibly going back to school.

Originally, we though that I wouldn't go back to school until I had worked for a little while...but now that time is getting away from me and I still can't find work, things have changed a little. I'm going to pursue getting my DNP starting in the Fall of 2013. Although the employment scene is really crappy in Boston, one good thing about this area is that it is literally bursting at the seams with universities (seriously....there are three in Lowell alone, and probably 5 or so clustered around the Harvard campus). And by then, I'll have Massachusetts residency, so I could potentially get my degree form one of the best colleges in the country.

That's right people. I'm applying to Harvard (mostly for shits and giggles). I'm also going to apply to Boston University and the University of Massachusetts. Wish me luck =D