Job Fairs Suck

Days Unemployed: 240
Weeks of Unemployment Insurance Remaining: 0 and then on to the extension
Jobs Applied To Date: 85
Phone Interviews To Date: 1
In-Person Interviews To Date: 3
Pounds Gained To Date: 8
Entertainment of the Day: Not needed during the day (See Below), The President's Press Conference (instead of American Idol)
Lunch of the Day: Lee Ann Chin Oyster Wings and Lemon Chicken w/KK

Went to a Monster.com job fair today. I will admit that despite my post's title it didn't totally suck but it wasn't great either. It was at a nice hotel, with fairly reasonable parking but KK really needs to get a nicer car. One with automatic transmission. I hate, hate, hate riding in constant jerky motions and a noisy soft-top. I'm glad I went, mainly so that I can feel like (and say) that I'm taking action beyond searching the eternal internet abyss.

I brought 5 resumes with me, which I knew was going to be too few. Luckily there was not a long line at the registration as we had arrived about an hour after it started (KK being 30 minutes late picking me up, again! Aaargh! But still glad to have companionship in a potentially volatile situation.). Didn't really matter in the end though because most places didn't have actual positions that I would be right for. Unless I wanted to work at a call center in Eden Prairie for ten bucks an hour (easily a 40 minute commute). There were a fair amount of people there. Lots of older gentlemen in suits and ties. Poor guys must be freaking out about being out of work and looking for job in competition with all the young college grads who'll work for half and do twice the work because the don't know when they're being taken advantage of. There were quite a few lines of people waiting to talk to the reps only to be told "well, I'll take your resume but you really should go on line and apply there." Which, having been in recruiting, I know they'll have to do eventually anyway, even if they do get an interview. I can't believe now, that with all the top talent floating around desperate for work, that a career fair attendance would get you the job over someone who is more perfect for it. But, you never know, I suppose.

The one good thing is meeting the reps for the placement companies. For them, meeting you face to face is a major first step as they've got to know they're not sending their client some schlump who would show up in a tank top and dirty hair. Something could come of that. Perhaps I'm fooling myself but I'll take that for a while. It's like buying a lottery ticket. The dollar is worth the few hours of hope that you'll actually win $70 Million between buying the ticket and seeing the Powerball neon at the gas station driving to work the day after the drawing.

Did do some shopping today. I know: naughty, naughty. But it had to be done. Bought some books at Borders (buy 4 and the 5th was free!) and a pair of sweat pants with a tattoo design on the thigh. Hey, it's my work uniform these days! Also bought LL's birthday present today. (I'm actually related to a seven year old girl who wants a chess set for her birthday. I have no idea how that happened.) All this in addition to the Coach purse two weeks ago (full post about said purse coming soon). I feel slightly guilty, and not enough to take any of it back. So shut up.