job search observations

Yup, back in the job market again. Not that I've been looking hard or even at all for the past few years, but just a few months ago I was convinced I'd be sticking around here for the near future. I wasn't so much content with that as resigned to it though. But upon further consideration, how many years do I want to flush down the drain by staying in hyper-expensive southern Maryland and working at a measly-paying job that I've never really warmed up to and can't see warming up to in the near future, and that isn't ever going to offer me real prospects of jumping out of the job track I'm in now and doing something much different or more exciting?

I suppose I might have a slight Bobby Petrino streak in me--aside from his habit of trying and sometimes succeeding in stabbing his employers in the back on the way out, of course--when it comes to settling in to jobs, locales, etc., but then again one of my longstanding goals has been being overseas and traveling a lot, on the job or otherwise. Let's just say this current situation isn't quite meeting those desires either personally or professionally. And while increasing the prospects of eventual overseas work and opening some experience/clearance/connection doors down the road, joining the ANG is by no means a certainty with regard to eventual overseas employment (or deployment, as the case would be) and would have that rather inconvenient consequence of chaining me to this region for several more years.

One thing I've noticed about the job search this time around though...it's a lot easier to find stuff. More choices doesn't necessarily make for an easier decision and often just makes for a harder one (think "information overload" in the sense of having too many options to properly evaluate), but it's at least nice to see stuff readily available with minimal effort. And that's the catch--I haven't really gone on offense at all this time, except to post a resume online at a couple of job sites if that counts. That's completely unlike my experience in getting the job I have now, which required me being persistent and becoming a thorn in the side of the HR folks to keep things moving. Now I get bombarded with multiple calls and emails each day, sometimes from the same person or team (I guess they figure leaving another message on the same phone on the same day or the next is good for effect), and I'm having some trouble keeping up with them all. Heck, I didn't figure looking for a job would be another job in itself. But even if some of the contacts are from headhunters that are leaving their 238th message of the day, it is nice to be on the receiving end for a change.

On top of the obvious plus of having a few years of experience under my belt, I think that P.E. license is really going to bat for me. I can already tell it was a worthwhile investment that's paying potential dividends faster than I thought it would. A few of the positions make prominent mention of a license requirement or preference, even for power industry jobs that a license wouldn't seem to be a big perk for. But I suppose I was wrong in assuming my newly-gained license wouldn't serve me much until after I left my current field. People apparently pay more attention to that sort of thing than I had guessed.

Also, although there are plenty of good-looking positions being handled by recruiters, it seems that the highest-quality ones are still out there to be found by those who put forth the effort and know where to look. Several big design-build firms have a lot of openings out there of interest, stuff I'm actually qualified for and wouldn't be afraid of getting in over my head with, and some even have entire sections of their websites devoted to folks like me who are looking for overseas work. So like a lot of things, while good stuff becomes apparent after a little work, perhaps the best stuff is reserved for those who go actually spend considerable time digging. And I bet those companies intend for it to be that way.

As I was telling a friend recently with whom I have a lot in common when it comes to sentiments toward life in general, I find myself in the awkward position of having to choose from multiple good options. I've grown accustomed to just being resigned to take whatever I can get, making choices that don't really make me happy but rather appear to have the least chance of making me more unhappy. But now it seems that now I'm in unfamiliar good-better-best territory. And as such I don't really know how to handle it aside from praying and hoping I get some glimmer of direction that I've rarely gotten before and, to be honest, had more or less given up on getting. But I think I could get used to this sort of decision space. Hopefully I'll spend more time here in the future.

Overall, it's getting harder and harder to see myself sticking it out here like I had intended to. My miscalculation of what it would take to actually pursue the overseas/travel/expatriate dream has put me in the awkward position of having to make big decisions I didn't think I'd have to confront for a few more years. Things like joining the military, changing jobs, buying a house, and others have all been on the radar screen for a while, but nowadays it seems they're all demanding decisions at the same time. Or at least they're all hinging on what happens over the next few months or so.

Needless to say, that's not at all the kind of time and pace I'd like to work with. Decisiveness is something I need to work on and that's being proven by the current quandary I find myself in. Life would be so much easier if I could just deliberate and come to grips with things one at a time instead of all at once, but I guess I've been around long enough to know better than to expect that to ever happen...