Status of my Application: A SAHM’s Journey to a Job

It’s been almost two weeks since I submitted my application online. Read my previous post of the job fair and how I met these people from the hospital. She told me to apply and to email her if I didn’t hear back from anyone. I was unsure of how long I should wait. My husband didn’t even have a clue either. He’s been in the military for so long, we both didn’t know how this works. I figure a week and a half is more than enough. Enough time to show them that I’m not nagging and enough time to show them that I’m still super interested.

So I emailed one of the ladies that I had met at the job fair and thankfully she responded.

So now I wait. My heart is thumping hard, my tummy has butterflies, and my emotions are all over the place. I’m excited to finally do something for myself and help contribute to our family. On the other hand, I’m worried to put my youngest in day care. She has a late birthday so she didn’t make the cut to attend preschool here. I’m just leaving all of this in God’s hand and pray for the best.

How the Job Fair Went: SAHM Seeking a Job

Yesterday, I attended the employment fair that was held at our base community center. I had already seen the list of employers that would be there, so I had an idea of who I wanted to talk to.

The day of, I went to the mall to buy a nice work top. I had more than work tops from when I used to volunteer at the clinic. However, I now have a half-sleeve tattoo. I didn’t want to give a bad first impression, so I got a long sleeve top. Thank goodness my old dress pants still fit

My printer broke so I was scrambling around trying to print out copies of my resume. For some reason, things was not going my way: the library’s printing services were down, husband couldn’t access his email at work because the network was down, and the librarian on base left for the day. I was beginning to just give up and not go.

Husband suggested I still go without my resumes. At the last minute, I asked a friend if she could print it out for me. Thank goodness I caught her before she left her house and she printed out more than enough copies.

My husband, thankfully, got off early and watched my little one. When I walked in, I walked straight to the first hospital. We chatted, and one of them even gave me tips for when I apply for a position there.

I visited another employer that involved caring for disabled patients. I was not interested much for this job, but the man was nice and easy to talk to. He also gave me the link to find other healthcare administration jobs in Abilene. I appreciated his extra help.

The next employer I went to was another hospital that is actually very close to my house. This is where I received the most helpful information and is the reason why I left extremely happy. They asked for my resume. I was so happy that I had copies. They said my volunteer work, plus the fact that I’m currently pursuing my masters degree makes me qualified for a number of positions. They gave me their email, told me which position to apply for and to email them if I don’t hear anything. I’m eternally grateful to have met these two women.

***Here is the point that I been trying to make this whole time: A lot of employers will not look past your resume and just see you. You see, I applied for a position at that second hospital before online and never heard from anyone. I was discouraged. My goal for the job fair was to have recruiters MEET ME before even looking at my resume.

I left there with a huge smile on my face. I was so glad I chose to go instead of giving up because of my obstacles in the way.

I will continue to document my struggles and journey to finding a job. This job fair was a step in the right direction.

Anxious for Job Fair

I follow this manager on Linked In and she posted the below entry on her feed. If only all hiring managers were like her. Empathy should be required when being a manager.

The job fair I been posting about is this week, and I’m pretty excited about. If what they say is true about Abilene, “It’a who you know,” then it’s time to meet some people and show them who I am.

I’m currently taking two classes during this fall semester, and majority of my classmates are already working in the healthcare admin field. Some of which have already been in this field for 15+ years. It can be intimidating, but every time I complete a week, I know I have what it takes.

Can’t wait to post about how the job fair went.

Growing Old

So I’m a 34 year old stay at home mom. When I was in high school, I never once thought I would be staying home watching my kids in my 30s.

Don’t get me wrong. I love being able to raise my children myself. I made this choice. With all these crazy people in the world, it’s hard to trust anyone to watch your kids.

The thing is, I’m 34 years old, trying to finish up my masters program, but yet I haven’t been in the workforce since 2008! I feel like a loser with barely any work experience.

My current dilemma: we can’t afford for me to finish up my masters degree, but yet I don’t wanna put my youngest in day care.

Then there’s my self-love. I been losing a lot of love myself lately. I don’t like looking at myself in the mirror. When I do, I feel like I don’t recognize myself. I literally feel disgust. I remember when I was 18, I hated wearing makeup and I loved my natural look. Now, I can’t stand my face without makeup.

Then there’s the metabolism. Like why can’t I just eat a damn pizza and still fit into my jeans?

I hate this feeling of being lost. I’m 34 and I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life. With a new house and new bills, I want to help out. I wish we had family to watch my baby.

Off Day

My happy days are on and off, and today it was off. I can’t talk about it with my husband because I don’t want him to feel like it’s his fault that we moved because I know it’s not. But bottling up my feelings doesn’t help either. I hate writing about it on Facebook because everyone tries to tell me how to feel and how not to feel. Just let me feel!!!

Still no car. I didn’t transfer my license to Texas yet because I have no way and they’re closed on the weekends. My cat possibly has a skin infection and I don’t know how she got the wound. I’m worried about all these new bills and my husband is looking for another car in a higher price range than I wanted to. I want to work but I hate imagining my youngest in day care. My life is just a big blah right now. Let’s see how I feel tomorrow. I can only pray.

Potty Training

I been M.I.A since December 2015. A lot has happened since then. My last posts before that was about weaning my youngest from breastfeeding. That was such a hard, draining, and emotional process for the both of us. I never thought I’d be here looking back at those hard times. We’ve come a long way, and I’m glad it’s over.

The newest thing with us now is potty training. With my oldest, I didn’t start potty training until she was well over 2 years old. My youngest isn’t 2 yet; she turns 2 in November, but I decided to start early, because she was showing signs that she was ready. She was always telling me when she peed or did a number 2. She didn’t like the feeling of being in her poo so she would say “Ew mommy!” and point to her butt. So I thought to myself, “why not!?”

In the beginning, it was on and off, depending on my mood. I was already stressed out with my husband being gone for a class. I felt like I was a single mother dealing with two brats all day by myself. So if I felt like I didn’t want to deal with cleaning up after accidents and rushing to the potty, I just didn’t do it. Last week, I ended up buying some 2T panties. I did this with my oldest. She didn’t like the feeling of peeing herself. Again, I shouldn’t assume it would be the same with my youngest. She pees herself and just stands in the puddle of her pee saying, “ew mommy.” Yesterday, she had 4 accidents in like 40 minutes! I was running out of towels and panties, so I slipped on some pull-ups and called it a day for the both of us. Today, I wasn’t about to give up, and put on her panties again. We started off good; she actually told me BEFORE she peed that she had to pee. We ran to the potty and she peed in her potty. Right when I thought we were gonna have a good day, she peed on the couch 15 minutes later. While I’m throwing everything in the wash I’m thinking, “didn’t you pee everything out just 15 minutes ago?”

Here’s to potty training, and all the fun and stress that comes with it.

What is My Purpose?

I’m getting close to the end of the Spring classes. Next week is finals, and I’m looking forward to a very much needed break before summer classes start. I know what I’ll be doing during my break. Taking my daughter out to parks on nice days, and watching Netflix on the other days. I need to catch up on my shows like Glee, and Pretty Little Liars. I’m so far behind, because school was taking up most of my time.

I already registered for summer classes, and I’m actually excited for one of them, my Japanese language class. I took two years of Japanese language in high school 12 years ago, but I don’t really remember much. I figure I’m here in Okinawa, and it would be cool to learn the language. I’m hoping this class will refresh my memory.

I still have no idea what I want to do after graduation. I know I want to do internships and all that, but I do also want to try for another baby. I wouldn’t mind staying home with the second baby as I did with Kai, but yet I don’t want the time from graduation to getting a job be so long. I’m hoping that when the time comes I’ll just know what to do.

I can’t believe that I’m 29 and I’m still trying to figure out my career path. I know the saying “better late than never” is always said in cases like this, but I just wish I could have figured things out already. I’m going to be 30 next year, and when my mom was this age, she already had two kids, and was working her way up. It’s been a long time since I worked. If only “Stay-at-home-mom” or “homemaker” was a legit job and everyone didn’t look down on it, because I rock at those jobs.

I just need to narrow down my ideas and come up with a plan. Why do I feel like I’m on a schedule and I need to rush?