Just A Click Away

For those of your over 12, I have two critical questions:

• how did we live without the internet and how did we ever live without a cell phone?

And now, the cell phones get the internet.

WOW!

Back in the olden days, say 1997, when we needed to reach someone in the middle of the day, how did we do it?

When we needed to get a schedule for the local movie theatre, we had to sit through the nine-minute recorded message (and you BETTER be paying attention when your movie came up or it was another nine minute wait).

I miss those days.

I also miss the days of working, but thanks to the internet, my dream job could be just a click away.

Just type in “Job Search” on google and you’ve got more options than a chinese buffet.

Monster.com. Careerbuilder.com. Hotjobs.com.

That’s three of three million.

Of course, I’m convinced that nobody has ever actually gained employment from one of those sites, but it’s fun to try.

Recently an employed friend of mine introduced me to indeed.com. My friend is employed, but is now looking for a new job since this one sucks.

The grass is always greener, right?

After 25 years in one industry, I’ve always thought that I would remain in that field, but after 14 unemployed months and very few leads, I’m not so sure anymore.

I’m definitely open to trying something new and thankfully with my wife employed in the mega-buck industry of elementary school teaching, we can afford for me to take a couple of steps back with the long term goal of moving up in the future.

As much as I know my field, and have enjoyed my field, I wouldn’t mind trying something new.

As strange as this may sound, it has always been somewhat of a fantasy of mine to be a graveyard stock-clerk at the supermarket.

I am a goal-oriented person and for some reason taking on a job with a daily defined agenda has always appealed to me.

But for now, that fantasy AND the one about Jessica Biel have been put on the back-burner.

That’s where indeed.com came in.

Just type in your hometown and within seconds enjoy thousands of options.

Administrative Assistant for an Airline, Clerk at a Department Store, Motor Vehicle Operator. There were Executive Assistants, Customer Service Representatives and Valet Attendants.

All of these jobs could certainly help pay the bills and as Judge Smails once proclaimed, the world does need ditch diggers.

But after surfing through several pages, I finally noticed that the jobs were broken down by the salary estimate and this just in, I started low.

Of course, as soon as I noticed it, I jumped right to the top, to pursue one of 2,790 jobs paying $100,000 or more.

We can dream, right?

Job #1 --- Director of Medical Staff Resources at a Local Hospital. (I barely made it through undergrad. Next.)

Job #2 --- RN Nurse of Oncology. (See Job #1.)

Job #3 --- Senior Java Developer. (Perfect. My dream job. I love coffee. Oh, that java. Next.)

It became pretty clear, that if I was going to get a six-figure job in my town, I would have to have to memorize seasons 1-8 of E.R first.

I went from page to page. Anesthesiology to Dermatology, Pediatrics to Psychiatry. Paging Dr. Carter, Dr. John Carter.

Finally on Page 10, job #96, I found my match:

CAREER BLOGGER

Say what? All my prayers have been answered. A six-figure job doing what I love.

First, let’s check the requirements:

• Must have good writing skills. Done.
• Must be able to give practical tips that readers can apply at work or in their job search. Done.
• Must have prior experience blogging and promoting a blog.

Wow, I’m in!!!

Blogging for $100k/year.

Where do I sign?

Well, not so fast.

Listed at the bottom was the compensation:

• $50/month for 2 posts per week.

Now, math was never my specialty, but even I realized the only way you could make $100k/year by taking home $50/month was if there was 2,000 months in a year.

Everybody knows that only leap years have 2,000 months and that’s only once every four or five years.

Talk about false advertising.

I guess it’s time to get back to that fantasy.

Canned green beans, anyone?