My Form Went Above and Beyond

Help-wanted posts for local jobs are popping up all over on Facebook. Prospective employers instruct interested job seekers to direct message the hiring agencies or businesses. I wish that opportunity had been available to me the last time I had to look for a  job. It might have simplified my employment search. Well, maybe just a bit.

During the early 2000s, I was unemployed for several months when the company I refer to as The Zoo packed up and left town. The Zoo had been going downhill for about a year, so the company’s departure was not unexpected.

My friends and I knew we were working there on borrowed time, but we were determined to stick it out until the bitter end. No, it wasn’t the prospect of collecting future unemployment benefit checks that kept us there. The way things were going, if you took time off to go on job interviews, the powers-that-be most likely would terminate your employment, using the excuse that you weren’t reliable. And we all had bills to pay.

Around the first of June, I, along with about forty other former Zoo employees, started collecting unemployment checks. Of course, the Department of Economic Security (DES) expected recipients to look for work. After collecting checks for about six weeks, clients were required to have an interview with a DES counselor in order to verify that they were actively seeking employment.

To help in verifying job searches, the DES gave clients a form to track their prospective employment contacts. The form had thirty-five lines. Job seekers were supposed to write one entry on each line. Kind of cramped, I thought. I divided the form into seven sections of five lines, took it to Kinkos, and made a small stack of copies.

The employment ads came out in the newspaper on Sunday and Wednesday. I clipped ads for jobs I thought I was qualified for. I also clipped ads for a few jobs I knew I was over qualified or under qualified for, because why not? I taped the clips to a sheet of colored paper—using a different color for each month. Next to the ads, I scribbled what I had done regarding the advertised positions.

And I noted all those prospective employment opportunities on the DES form, indicating the position advertised; the name, address, and phone number of the company; the person spoken to; the outcome of the conversation; and any additional comments. If I had e-mailed or faxed a resume and cover letter, instead of making a phone call, I noted the name of the person I had sent them to, if applicable.

I also researched local jobs on the Internet (yes, including Craigslist) and e-mailed or faxed a resume and cover letter to any company that seemed promising. I dutifully noted that information on the DES form.

Before I found a new job, I had filled about fifteen forms with at least one-hundred entries. However, at the time I was called into the DES office to discuss my job search, I had only sixty-four entries. The counselor seemed impressed by my detailed job search record. According to him, I had gone above and beyond. Most recipients listed a maximum of two or three job searches each week.

Because my records were so detailed, I asked the counselor if he wanted to make copies for his records. He said it wasn’t necessary. I was disappointed.