If you want to eat, you've got to earn a bob

[sovay]

Dear internet, talk to me about jobs.

Please note that this post is not a request for money or offers of employment. The situation which I'm reviewing is the fact that my Nokia job is not sufficient income for half a household. I could afford last year's six-month apartment with adrian_turtle partly because it was a smaller place and partly because I had built up savings. It is in the nature of savings to be finite. As things stand now, we are secure only if derspatchel remains responsible for two-thirds of the rent and similar expenses, which is really not a long-term option. I had been meaning to ask for advice on this front at the beginning of the year, but the beginning of the year was rather more medical than planned—it took until this past week to feel that we were starting to stabilize again after the whole exciting bone-break experience—and now some developments have made the question particularly acute.

I have pretty much no fucking idea how to find a more than part-time job with my scattershot qualifications and physical limitations. I am aware that I am almost certainly overestimating the degree to which I am unemployable: I have two master's degrees and I'm very good with the written word, even if my resume displays almost as impressive a break after 2006 as Rob's ankle in January. I also have several chronic health issues: I fail to sleep on a regular basis: I have real reservations about any kind of work that requires me to be on my feet a lot of the time or holding down a fixed schedule. The Nokia job is great because it's work-from-home and doesn't care what hours I work so long as it's the same number every week, but it does not suffice. I have been recommended teaching and I worry about my stamina. I have been recommended editing and I don't know that my previous experience is professional enough. I'm sure there must be other options that are not retail, but I don't know where to start looking. I mean that almost literally.

And I know the economy is garbage right now, as it pretty much has been ever since I needed a job rather than a graduate student's stipend, but there must be something I haven't thought of. Hence leaving this post unlocked. I am trying to cast as wide a net of other people's opinions as possible. I will try not to bristle if you suggest things I have already thought of, or know for one reason or another will not actually work. Telling me that you would set me up for life as a writer if only you had the resources, however, is probably not very helpful to me.

(We will return to your regularly scheduled reportage of New York City sometime after I have slept and this migraine-like headache has stopped flickering at me. I am very pleased with how my portion of the reading went. It was cool to hear rinue perform and meet marlowe1 in person again now that his hair has changed color. Someone asked me to sign their copy of King David and the Spiders from Mars afterward and I had not been expecting that. There was currywurst. Definitely worth the trip.)

Comments

[gaudior]

So, one thing worth noting is that as a person with chronic health issues, you are totally eligible for programs designed to help people with such health issues find employment.

Such as Mass Rehab:
http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/consumer/disability-services/vocational-rehab/vr-services-2.html

Your local Somerville office is this one:

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/consumer/disability-services/vocational-rehab/vr-area-offices/somerville.html

I know you don't get SSDI, or necessarily need it, but I'm willing to bet their resources will be very helpful.

Luck and love!

[sovay]

I know you don't get SSDI, or necessarily need it, but I'm willing to bet their resources will be very helpful.

As I had no idea this office even existed, thank you for letting me know! My knee-jerk reaction is that none of my health issues are severe enough to qualify as disabilities and therefore I doubt that MRC will help me, but it is information I didn't have and I will not discount it. Love.

[phi]

I mostly only know how to find jobs in the tech sector, so this might be useless to you. Or it might help you think outside the box!

Have you considered tech writing? You don't need domain-specific knowledge, just the ability to learn quickly, excellent writing skills, and fluency with publishing tools (eg, Word templates, other desktop publishing software that I don't know about).

A bunch of lobbying organizations and professional advocacy groups have staff writers to draft press releases, fundraiser letters, that sort of thing. I can put you in touch with someone who has one of those jobs, and she can tell you more about how she got her foot in the door.

Can you code at all? Can you learn? In spite of popular perception, there are jobs in tech for people who don't have MIT degrees: small businesses that can't afford the kinds of salaries MIT graduates demand, places that aren't "tech companies" per se but need part time or occasional tech work done, that sort of thing.

Tutoring came to mind, but I see commenters on LJ already have that covered.

Until you find something more regular, you could always volunteer for human subject experiments at local universities.

For a while in college I worked as a concierge at a fancy apartment building in the Back Bay. It was shitty in that the residents of the building were wicked classist and thought I was beneath their station, but I got paid for eight hours at a time, six of which were typically spent studying and/or reading novels, and two of which were spent doing tasks like ordering pizzas for residents, then transferring them from the pizza box to a literal silver platter and taking it upstairs for them.

Best of luck!

[phi]

Oh, forgot to mention, prospect research sounds like it is well within your skills and abilities, if you can find a place that is flexible about working from home or has flex hours.

Also MIT OpenCourseWare is always looking for people to go harass professors to cough up course materials so the OCW minions can digitize it and get it online. They generally have plenty of people who have enough domain knowledge to deal with CS and physics and the like, but are chronically short on people who can make sense of course materials from the humanities department.

[sovay]

Or it might help you think outside the box!

That's the point of this post—I feel I'm thinking up against a brick wall when I try to imagine jobs that wouldn't fire me, so unbox away!

Have you considered tech writing?

I had not considered tech writing: I assumed it required a technical and/or scientific background which I do not have. Fluency with publishing tools is also something I'm lacking—I understand Scrivener and otherwise the only word processor I use is the ten-year-old version of Microsoft Word I've installed on every new machine since college, because the later versions are full of auto-garbage I don't need and can't turn off. I feel comfortable saying I could learn, but if the job expects me to come in with a working knowledge of Adobe Acrobat, I will feel like an idiot and not apply. I feel very badly as though everything I know is out of date. It may or may not be true, but it's demoralizing.

I do have excellent writing skills, though. I have no trouble saying that.

I can put you in touch with someone who has one of those jobs, and she can tell you more about how she got her foot in the door.

That would be extremely useful, actually. At least I could get an idea of whether it's something I could do.

Can you code at all? Can you learn?

(a) Unless HTML counts, no. The amount of Fortran I learned for the radio telescope was minimal and almost certainly useless to me outside of its original application. (b) I have no idea; I don't assume I can't. I used to learn human languages at above-average speed. I don't know if that would correlate to computers.

Best of luck!

Thank you!

[skygiants]

Are you a fast typist? My transcription job got me through grad school, and while mine was in-office, I know there are others that will allow you to work from home; it is also a frequently required and decently-paid freelance skill. Like any high-speed activity, I find that speed typing can take a certain physical toll, but it's definitely a seated and flexible-schedule job.

I also have a friend who's been supplementing his part-time work with freelance textbook indexing, so if that's something that would be of interest to you I can ask him how he got started with that.

[sovay]

Are you a fast typist? My transcription job got me through grad school, and while mine was in-office, I know there are others that will allow you to work from home; it is also a frequently required and decently-paid freelance skill.

Yes, and my transcription skills as measured by songs, lectures, and spoken word performances are good. I do not type quickly enough without errors to transcribe while listening without frequent rewinding, but I make very few permanent mistakes of spelling or grammar regardless of what I write. What kinds of fields require this work—medical, legal, academic?

I also have a friend who's been supplementing his part-time work with freelance textbook indexing, so if that's something that would be of interest to you I can ask him how he got started with that.

Sure. I hadn't even thought of that, although indices must come into being somehow.

[movingfinger]

Keeping track of jobs offered at your local college and university employment offices might be worthwhile. You do live in an environment where those are big employers. The benefits tend to be good, too.

Depends what you want out of the job, really...

[sovay]

Depends what you want out of the job, really...

A marked and reliable increase in income under conditions that will not stress my health in ways that would prevent me from continuing in the job. I am not looking right now for a position that will lead to something nice in five or ten years; I am not trying to start a career. I wouldn't say no to dental insurance, but right now what I need is about two hundred dollars more every week.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Tutoring? It has the advantage of flexible hours and high pay for the time involved. The disadvantage is getting enough hours, but since this would be supplementary job for you, rather than your sole employment, it might do. And with your degrees and credentials, you can probably impress parents with your ability to prepare their sprogs for good colleges.

[sovay]

Tutoring? It has the advantage of flexible hours and high pay for the time involved.

I tutored both Latin and Greek in college; I hadn't thought of picking it back up again because I assumed the market would already be saturated with under-employed, overqualified students of the humanities. I realize as I type it out that even if this is true, I should still see whether people want to employ this particular under-employed, overqualified etc. I have no idea how to go about making myself visible. (This is part of the problem.) I should find out what the high schools around here even teach.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Back when I last was looking, I used idealist.org to look for possible jobs, as they had interesting nonprofit, do-good sorts of places.

For you, what about seeing if there's anything at any of the museums that you could do? or in libraries? I know you don't have a library science degree or any museum-related degree, but maybe your knowledge of latin and greek would help you in either of those sorts of jobs? Help cataloguing or indexing things, or something? Are there assistant TA-type positions open at any of the areas colleges that would be limited enough, timewise, that you could do them? I know Harvard used to hire people to teach expository writing on a sort of adjunct basis--that might be something. What about substitute teaching in the public school system? How about something relating to film? Does the Harvard film archive need anyone? … I'm not sure what you would do for them, but maybe something? Or at Coolidge Corner? (I mean something other than selling the popcorn… I guess I'm imagining there'd be something that would involve helping management--maybe writing a newsletter or something.) How about proofreading positions at any of the local artsy-papers? There are bunches of think-tanky type places and interesting NGOs in the area--would the Union of Concerned Scientists need anyone to manage a newsletter, say, or Cultural Survival? You can go to these places' websites and see what things they have available.

[weirdquark]

Tutoring was my first thought as well.

As far as library jobs go, there are jobs in libraries that don't require you to have a library degree and some of them may find Latin or Greek useful. However they'd almost certainly want you to work a set schedule, especially while you're in training, and you'd also be competing with all of the library school students. I did have one job where after I was trained said that as long as I worked a fixed number of hours a week could get them in however I liked while the building was open, so some jobs might be flexible enough for you and might be worth looking into, but it's not something you'll be able to count on. I don't have any experience with museum work, but I suspect it's similar.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

My suggestion would be market research. The hours can be flexible to supplement your existing income. As long as you do not mind talking to strangers it is one solution. Or have you thought about being a tourist guide or curatorial position?

[sovay]

As long as you do not mind talking to strangers it is one solution.

I don't mind talking to strangers, but I would prefer to avoid being one of the things I dislike in my daily life—I don't know that anyone likes being cold-called—unless I've misunderstood you?

Or have you thought about being a tourist guide or curatorial position?

I have thought about being a tour guide enough to know I don't want to try it: I'm trying to avoid jobs that keep me on my feet for extended periods of time.

I have no prior museum experience, so I've never seen a curatorial position I could apply for. I appreciate your faith, though!

work

[cloviss.livejournal.com]

Hello there,

May I suggest, on the basis of what you have written, proof reading both generally, and specifically student dissertations and theses.

I am sure that you are aware of the limitations of spell checker, even when it is used. I built up a small reputation at the university I worked for for proof reading technical and scientific theses, even though I rarely had any clue as to the subject matter. A generalisation I know, but talent in the hard sciences does not necessarily go hand in hand with punctuation and grammatical skills.

Advertising in student rags may be a start, or if you live near a university flyers on departmental notice boards, hopefully leading on to word of mouth recommendations.

You could do this online and perhaps you could fit it around a standard part time job.

In any case you have my best wishes in the making ends meet department

Sara.

[sovay]

Advertising in student rags may be a start, or if you live near a university flyers on departmental notice boards, hopefully leading on to word of mouth recommendations.

Thank you for this suggestion. I have worked as a proofreader before, mostly of fiction, although sometimes of academic material; it had not occurred to me to offer the same services for students. I appreciate it.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

Hell, I don't have any useful suggestions right now. You know I'm in a similar boat. I'm just here to acknowledge that this is rough stuff to have to deal with.

Oh wait, I do have to say one thing. For the love of heaven don't do museum docent work or become anything like a tour guide. You've heard me talk about how much it takes out of me, or if you haven't then you are now. I wear the chain I forged in life. You spend your job time on your feet and have to have your game-face on all the time. If that's not enough to put you off, it usually pays like $8/hour and the hours aren't flexible.

Sometimes interesting stuff pops up on hireculture.org that I'm not qualified for, recruiting for research-based positions, archaeological digs, stuff like that. Could be worth watching.

[sovay]

You spend your job time on your feet and have to have your game-face on all the time. If that's not enough to put you off, it usually pays like $8/hour and the hours aren't flexible.

I had already ruled out both museum docent on the grounds of stamina and tour guide on the grounds of stamina and everything you've said about the profession for years. Ominous rattling of future appreciated and applauded, though.

Sometimes interesting stuff pops up on hireculture.org that I'm not qualified for, recruiting for research-based positions, archaeological digs, stuff like that. Could be worth watching.

Thanks! I hadn't heard of the site.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

JewishJobs.org (hey, rattle the bubble), idealist.org, asae.net, and good ol' scary-ass Craigslist have all gotten us jobs. There is also indeed.com. You might consider applying as a night secretary for a lawfirm in Boston that does significant work overseas in the UAE or AUS.

*hugs*

[sovay]

JewishJobs.org (hey, rattle the bubble), idealist.org, asae.net, and good ol' scary-ass Craigslist have all gotten us jobs. There is also indeed.com.

Thank you. Links are good! And nobody else had mentioned two of those.

You might consider applying as a night secretary for a lawfirm in Boston that does significant work overseas in the UAE or AUS.

Hm. On the theory that nocturnal is a selling point under those circumstances?

[laura47.livejournal.com]

Tragically my response to people asking for work is to offer to hire them for Nokia. :-( Good luck, my attempts at finding work like that did not work well except nokia.

[sovay]

Good luck, my attempts at finding work like that did not work well except nokia.

I'm going to try my damnedest. Thank you.

[pameladean]

Research? All sorts of writers, fiction and non-, need research done, and some of them can pay for it. Two Master's degrees should look really impressive for something like that.

P.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

For this kind of work, you might talk to special collections libraries in Boston, as researchers sometimes hire people to look at archival things for them when they can't travel to the library themselves.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

If you're of the disposition to hustle for it a little, my official income supplement is Elance.com.

[sovay]

If you're of the disposition to hustle for it a little, my official income supplement is Elance.com.

Thank you. I'll check it out!

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

How about writing manuals for software? These are almost always contract positions, which can mean you can work from home.

How to get one where you are? See if any of the Silicon Valley companies are doing this? Try Erickson and Cisco.

Since that's really a long shot, there's Elance (http://www.elance.com), which connects freelancers with jobs. Their physical presence is about a mile from my house, and was downstairs from my previous job, plus I know people who work there and people who use them, so it's not a fly-by-night place. You might have luck there. In fact, you might be able to get work from there while maintaining your current Nokia job.

[sovay]

How about writing manuals for software? These are almost always contract positions, which can mean you can work from home.

Thank you. As mentioned above, I had not been thinking in tech directions due to assuming it would require experience and proficiency I do not have; I appreciate counterarguments.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I have always had excellent luck taking on temp work through agencies. About 90% of the people I worked for eventually tried to hire me, but when I hadn't liked the job it was quite easy to use the defined end date as an excuse to get out of there. Temping definitely helps ends meet, though it's not great for getting jobs that best use one's particular skills. And the other thing it does is pad the resume -- getting something current on there with skills similar to another thing you might want to pursue can be very helpful.

[sovay]

About 90% of the people I worked for eventually tried to hire me, but when I hadn't liked the job it was quite easy to use the defined end date as an excuse to get out of there.

I must tell you I am inclined to take this less as a vote for temp agencies and more as indication that you are very good at whatever you do.

Temping definitely helps ends meet, though it's not great for getting jobs that best use one's particular skills. And the other thing it does is pad the resume -- getting something current on there with skills similar to another thing you might want to pursue can be very helpful.

Check. I will look at local temp agencies, then, or at least keep them in mind as an option.

[marlowe1.livejournal.com]

Great seeing you too. Definitely let me know when you come back. I will try very hard to make Arisia.

Oh and the guy that asked you to sign the book was Alex - aka the first reviewer on Amazon. He has been very supportive which does compensate for other personality quirks.

And aren't you a freelance writer already? You definitely should get on that train. You know enough authors to interview for articles and review books which is usually the lower tier of freelancing. I can send you some more if you'd like (I usually suggest that people interview me, but it would be odd in this case since the main thing I'm plugging is the book).

I didn't last long as a freelancer. I had wanted to get back on it. The last thing I sold was that Cracked article - which has a very different pitch format than usual non-fiction markets. They pay fifty bucks per article, but it can be very time consuming getting a pitch together.

As far as freelancing went, I sold a couple of reviews and an interview and then my friend told me about someone that needed her law school statement written, so I began my current writing career.

If you don't mind the ethics of that kind of freelancing, it is quite fun.

[sovay]

Oh and the guy that asked you to sign the book was Alex - aka the first reviewer on Amazon.

Cool! Good to know. I also met the author of "Chabad of Innsmouth."

And aren't you a freelance writer already? You definitely should get on that train.

Fiction and poetry. I have been paid for exactly two pieces of nonfiction in my life. (I've had other pieces published, but not so that it helped me pay the bills.) I would love to be paid for more of it; I am trying to figure out how to make that work. It seems to be a popular choice, which means a competitive one.

You know enough authors to interview for articles and review books which is usually the lower tier of freelancing. I can send you some more if you'd like (I usually suggest that people interview me, but it would be odd in this case since the main thing I'm plugging is the book).

Yeah, I'm not sure I should get paid for reviewing a book I'm part of.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me that I have a friend who faced a lot of similar challenges (and has a similar level of education) finding employment. It's a bit of a long-shot, but I could introduce you two over internets and see if she has any helpful strategies and advice. She got very good at applying for jobs, interviewing successfully and accounting for long work gaps.

Other than that I cannot think of anything of use I could add. I will continue searching my brains for something helpful.

[sovay]

It's a bit of a long-shot, but I could introduce you two over internets and see if she has any helpful strategies and advice. She got very good at applying for jobs, interviewing successfully and accounting for long work gaps.

It couldn't hurt. Her situation might not be reproducible, in which case the most I can do is admire that it worked out for her, but I won't know unless I ask.

Thank you.

[rosefox]

If you're interested in book reviewing, drop me a note at rfox@publishersweekly.com.

[sovay]

If you're interested in book reviewing, drop me a note at rfox@publishersweekly.com.

Done. Thank you very much for extending the offer.