If You're in the Job Market..

"All I want in life is an unfair advantage." -- Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former AIG CEO

My whole work situation recently got turned upside down.

The quick Readers' Digest version is that my plan for this year was predicated on two assumptions, both of which haven't exactly worked out: first, that I would be doing two lengthy Army courses; and second, that I would be mobilizing to go overseas this year.

When the floor fell out on assumption number two, I suddenly realized I had to get a full-time job, and the sooner the better. I recently got in touch with a Veterans' Job Placement office in Bedford, and yes, these people are going to bat for me. There are tons of programs out there, there's training money to be spent, and there's the five-point *preference* for all gov't work that comes with the DD-214 (hence the quote at the top of the entry).

So after a whopping 24 hours since beginning my job search, and a few phone calls leading to a few more phone calls, a potentially great opportunity is on the table: The 2010 Census. There are field jobs, there are office jobs, there are supervisory jobs, and the pay is remarkably better than a lot of alternatives. For instance, broken down by the hour, it's about 2.5 times more lucrative than the classic "in-between" job of substitute teaching. In fact, if I actually break it out by the week and the month, the jobs I'd be looking at would be more than enough to get me by without even touching the proverbial piggy bank. That's without even considering that it's a hands-on job, which means more networking, which means more job opportunities for afterwards.

But remember my two cardinal rules of blogging -- No woe is me, and no dear diary -- I want to tell you this to make sure you pass this on to friends of yours who may also be, uhh...
transitional at the moment.

The general phone number is 866.861.2010. If you're in Greater Lowell, the number is 978.905.3200. The website is http://www.2010censusjobs.gov/.

If you know someone who's temporarily out-of-work, in a transitional situation, or maybe just looking for a way to pay some bills before a deployment (hey, you never know!), tell them to at least give this some serious consideration.