Friday, February 18, 2011

not a peep

I've applied to two temp agencies, Manpower and Kelly, which have local offices. I had originally wanted to drive over to their offices to apply, but when I called the Manpower number to schedule an appointment, the lady said that everything is done online these days: you fill out the application and attach your resume, then when a company comes looking for someone with approximately your skill set, you'll receive a call or an email, according to your preferred contact method.

A kind reader (thanks, John) also sent me a job announcement for a proofreading position with Yonsei University; I applied last week. It would be a pretty sweet gig if I could get it: roughly $3000/month salary, and the work would involve polishing research papers written in English by Korean professors looking to submit their work. At this point, I'm getting desperate for some sort of steady, salaried work. My fear, though, is that because the ad was sent to me on February 11, and the job ad itself has a January 25 date, it may already be filled. Another problem is that the ad says that Yonsei is looking for a full-time proofreader who would be on site for them, which is obviously problematic since I'm an ocean and a continent away. In my application, I did what I could to sweeten the deal in hopes of finagling a contract.

At this point, I've written Yonsei three times, and plan to write them once more, possibly today. Will they interpret this as desperation or gung-ho eagerness? (And are these states of mind mutually exclusive?) If there's no response, I'll stop hoping that this job might come through. Right now, I'm scoping the vile swamp that is Craigslist, doing laundry, and getting ready for a much-needed shopping excursion to pick up some human food. My pantry contains little more than carbs, spices, and seasonings.

So! How's your month been?


_

4 comments:

Charles said...

Hell.

Fingers crossed.

(Ah, couldn't pass up this word verification...

algalick: like a salt lick, but with algae instead!)

John from Daejeon said...

Something to brighten your day: "USA Network's two-hour prequel film, Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe will debut April 17 at 9p. Produced by Fox Television Studios, the film is set in 2005 and stars Bruce Campbell as Lt. Commander Sam Axe."

Kevin Kim said...

John,

I look forward to it. Thanks for the heads-up.

Charles,

I'd lick that algae. And thanks for the well-wishes. The answer may be for me to go door to door and beg for some kind of work. With my luck, the person who says "yes" will be a 90-year-old woman with a hungry look in her eye and a disconcerting array of sex toys on her fireplace mantel.

Maven said...

Good luck on the job front!

FWIW, "how's my month been?" In a word? "Impacted."