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Dance with Life

Life's got its own agenda.  And sometimes it feels in direct opposition to my agenda.  And I'm learning to dance with life.  I'm finding a way to be symbiotic with what life throws me, and sometimes even with what I impulsively and regrettably throw into the mix beyond what I'd intended.

Yesterday's meeting with the temp agency is a great example.  I was prepared, eager and ready to do a command performance interview.  And in many ways I feel like I botched it.  I felt over-eager, over-enthusiastic.  She wanted to know what I wanted: I think I was too specific?  All the jobhunt literature says being specific is good.  Yet I always fear that being specific: entertainment industry, HR training and career coaching, manager level, and salary, just makes it near impossible for me to get a full-time job offer.

I did say I'd be flexible in this economy.  I would be a terrific executive assistant in marketing, advertising or publishing too.  I'm willing to start at a lower salary and work my way up again.  Did her eyes glaze over?

I tried to connect authentically as a human being.  I think that went well.  I was super-prepared, congratulating her on the agency's recent award from their site press releases.  I'd even reviewed her LinkedIn profile and we chatted about alma maters.  I shared my unique value, my experience in various industries, my adaptability in various situations and my previous temp experiences.

Who knows?  I forgot to ask, "do you have any reservations regarding placing me?"  That's a great closing question.  I gotta let it go and move on.  I did my best and now it's really her turn.  I sent a nice thank you note just connecting human to human, skipping the urge to write all my qualifications in the note.

And I did ask her the best way to follow up (email) and I'll do that in a week or so.  Meanwhile, I'll keep dancing by taking next right action today in checking on my target companies and reaching out to my network.  I'm attending more networking events given by schools I graduated from, and setting up follow up chats with mentors and ex-colleagues.

Happy hunting.

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