ON Friday we learned that the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent last month and that the economy lost 263,000 jobs.

I have been unemployed since February. I have also been incredibly busy.

My last job lasted one afternoon. I showed up at a large parking lot in a semi-remote area with a group of other job seekers. In a large area cordoned off with orange traffic cones, we walked around wearing fake suicide bombs and emitting low-level radiation. Our job was to test bomb-detection equipment. I earned $44.

After that, even temporary work petered out. I am not unemployable. I have a master’s of fine arts and spent two years in the Peace Corps. All that looks fine on my résumé. But there are also gaps in my work history: long empty months punctuated with only temporary periods of employment. I have had lots of opportunities to practice glossing that over for potential employers.

The truth is, I don’t have a lot of real-world career experience. I worked my way through college as a baby sitter, sandwich-maker, camp craft director and nursing-home aide. After graduation, I held to my chest a spotty collection of skills sprinkled liberally with artistic theory and personal vision.

In my master’s program, we talked a lot about theory and personal vision. We could experiment with whatever we wanted and it was wonderful. We tried not to dwell on earthy, unpleasant topics like money, or how to make it.

In the Peace Corps, I taught art as a vocational skill. Artists, the headmistress at my school in Ghana told me in words that were less than prophetic, “can always make a living.”

If I were to make an artwork expressing this period of unemployment, I would make stacks and stacks of little box-shaped rooms wallpapered with résumés. Each room would have one little person inside and one window. That is what I felt like. Boundless possibilities, buthemmed in by the walls of an apartment where I spent every day looking for a way to afford all the things I wanted to do.

The worst thing was the feeling of uselessness — the fear that I was simply unskilled and unable to compete. Where had I miscalculated when I was planning out my life?

An unlikely solution finally pulled me out of my metaphorical shoebox wallpapered with résumés.

“I’d love to work for a literary agent, reading the slush pile,” a friend told me one day. She was unhappy in her job and had been considering a career change. “I’m just going to call around,” she continued. “And see if I can.”

“It’s not as easy as that,” I said. (I had just been turned down for a part-time job supervising naptime at a day-care center. Apparently other applicants were more qualified.) But my friend found a local literary agent. She e-mailed him, called him and pursued him until he agreed to let her work for him free. Now she reads, edits, writes — and avoids the dreaded résumé gap.

This was a revelation for me. People will hire you to work for free. Whether you are overqualified or underqualified matters a lot less if you aren’t being paid.

Inspired, I set out to find my own free job. I got in touch with a nonprofit arts program. Someone contacted me about creating a logo for the program. Then an illustration project came up. Suddenly, I was really busy.

建筑工程行业考试有一级建造师、二级建造师、造价工程师（造价师）、监理工程师、结构工程师、房地产估价师、土地登记代理人、岩土师/质量工程师、城市规划师、安全工程师、房产经纪人、投资项目管理、室内设计师、环境影响评价师、建筑师/咨询工程师、公路监理师、设备监理师、安全评价师、物业管理师、土地估价师。医学类的考试护士护士考试执业护士考试医师医师考试执业医师考试临床医师临床执业医师临床助理医师中医医师中医执业医师中医助理医师口腔医师口腔执业医师口腔助理医师公卫医师公卫助理医师药师药师考试执业药师考试执业中药师执业西药师。会计考试比较有分量有会计从业资格证(会计从业/会计证)、会计职称考试（初级会计职称中级会计职称高级会计职称）、注册会计师、精算师、资产评估师考试、注册税务师、ACCA/CAT考试、经济师、国际内审师、银行从业资格(银行从业)、审计师、统计师。英语考试包括公共英语职称英语商务英语金融英语托福雅思英语三级英语四级英语六级专业英语四级专业英语八级。外贸考试包括报关员(报关员考试)、报检员、外销员、国际商务师、物流师、国际商务单证员(单证员)、国际货运代。学历类考试有中考成考高考自考考研同等学历法律硕士 MBA MPA EMBA 工程硕士在职研究生会计硕士教育硕士。职业类的考试公务员考试国家公务员考试公共基础知识公务员申论申论范文行政能力测试行政能力测试题及答案公务员面试公务员面试试题公务员笔试公务员笔试试题；证券从业资格(证券从业) 导游导游考试保险从业人力资源考试司法考试教师资格项目管理师秘书资格考试电子商务师企业法律顾问计算机等级考试软件水平考试计算机二级考试计算机三级考试二级C语言考试计算机二级C语言计算机二级考试答案三级网络技术计算机三级网络技术。

I had never created a logo before. But I downloaded a free, open-source graphics program, went through a couple of tutorials and then got to work. Now I have another skill to add to my résumé.

In my free time, between applying for jobs and working for free, I work on my portfolio. I join art societies, clubs and organizations, and follow other artists, writers and agents through online forums and Twitter. This takes up a lot of time. I’m beginning to understand that this is the period in my life when I have to teach myself.

I registered at the unemployment office and began searching its online database. The woman who interviewed me asked, “Are you willing to work anywhere, like in a warehouse?” I nodded, but not without hesitation. In high school, I worked in a clothing factory folding and bagging long underwear, using a tagging gun to shoot the plastic connectors through the tags (the things that are so annoying to tear off later). My hands were covered in scars from the long needle on the tagging gun. The insides of my nostrils were coated with blue lint from the fabric. I used to think about how much I wanted to go to college, so I would never have to work at a place like that again.

key local king knowledge information ikn life better best kong kitchen data music more health hook land more music Kootenay

Kurt dog doctor donkey dozen lesson Boston book business Hannah henna Linda babe board Kootenay kentucky loop list length

lens anyone veer et kernel kooky km million may kid Keith

It is true that I don’t face some of the challenges confronting many of the newly unemployed — I’m healthy, for instance, and I don’t have a family to support. But it’s also true that I need a job, any job.

That said, in the last few months I’ve learned something new, something that might even be useful to others: my time is valuable, really valuable, even if it’s not measured in paychecks.

Hard Work, Pay

Partager cet article