A Matter of Relevancy

Okay. I really need to get a job. I mean Really. Need. A job.

I am going to be frank. It is blowing my mind that I don't have a job yet. A job that I want. That offers benefits not only for me but for my family as well. Not because I deserve to be working after relentlessly searching for a job, but because I have not been employed for monthsand that has never happened to me before.

So, in all this free time, what have I become? A superlative housekeeper? A gourmet cook? An avid reader of the New York Times best seller list? No, no, no. Have I become thin and fit? Hell no! I have enjoyed having a break and it has been nice to be busy doing nothing for a while but in the end, I do not know how to do unemployment and it is stressing me out.

As I fret over the length of my absence from the work force, I wonder why so much of our self-worth is wrapped up in our jobs. It is interesting that I continue to read advice to the unemployed and see that, in fact, the longer you go without work, the likelier it is that a prospective employer will think there is something wrong with you. Evidently, you have to get snapped up in a jiffy to retain any of your shiny value. Even in this economy. If you don't, you just look like some old rusty can on a shelf in the garage.

But yesterday, I met with a woman who is just getting started in my old career and I offered to help her "learn the business". She is getting no salary or benefits, only commission (a new and unholy phenomenon) and so I was happy to lend my expertise for free. Besides, how can you charge a consultation fee for something that takes all of 30 minutes to fully explain? A cup of coffee at Peet's seemed a more than adequate compensation and I was happy to have somewhere to go after dropping Grace at school.

It wound up being a very good experience for me because what I thought was something any monkey could do (print ad sales) isn't so easy to grasp after all. There is a learning curve and definite strategy involved. In the two hours we had together, I realized we'd only scratched the surface. I had taken my success and knowledge for granted. I had assumed luck was the driving force behind me. But in fact, my knowledge of the industry, and my years of experience in it, is of value. And while I have been told this for a long time, this was actually the first time I really believed it.

Not that it matters. The magazine industry is a dead man walking. There are virtually no jobs in it. Anyone still in print ad sales is holding on to their job for dear life while trying to get trained in some other, preferably "emerging", media. Gone are the days when you can switch from one magazine to the next. Even the head hunters who specialize in media sales have zero jobs for magazines. And if one does crop up, there are 100 qualified candidates of excellent repute with an advantage over me: A college degree (and that is a whole other topic to write about soon).

Still, it is encouraging to know that I didn't just float through a career.

So, as I write this, I am bringing myself back from the proverbial garage and into the house. I may be gathering rust but while I wait for opportunity to knock again, perhaps I can learn to cook after all. And the house could use some real cleaning. And we know about the thin and fit issue. The point is, I have been validated. If the professional industry at large cannot see that - you know what? - eff 'em. (Well not really, because you know, I would love for you to hire me and I would be a great and loyal employee, and I would...).

But really, I refuse to be irrelevant.