Day Three Hundred and Fifty Three of Unemployment-Fifty and Unemployed

Normal Sleep

I managed to fall asleep normally last night despite the long nap I had taken in the afternoon. Today was a holiday, Victoria Day, so most businesses and government offices are closed. The WorkBC office is closed today as well.

I still had a bit of a cough and sore throat. I was also still feeling a little depressed. I contemplated whether or not I should just spend the whole day in bed feeling sorry for myself but managed to get up.

Home Physiotherapy Exercises

I started using a heavier weight with my home physiotherapy exercises today. I was surprised that it didn’t make as much difference as I thought it would. It still caused me a little pain as it always does. I wondered if this added weight will improve my range at all.

As I was doing my exercises, I was wondering if I should start to do weights with both sides instead of just my injured side. After my fall, medical professionals could always take one glance at me and know right away which arm or shoulder was the injured one because of muscle atrophy. I could never tell the difference. I wondered if all of my efforts have made any difference and if my arms now look more equal to each other. I’ll have to ask my doctor at the next appointment.

Housework Day

I didn’t feel like leaving the house, so I stayed in doing housework. Whenever I want to avoid doing something, like job searching, I find that mindless housework helps me. I heard the laundry machines of my neighbors around me so I know that I’m not the only one catching up on housework today.

I have a lot of recycled paper that has accumulated that I need to take down to the recycling room downstairs. For some reason, I couldn’t seem to get motivated to get them out of my closet and downstairs to that room. Suddenly, I felt all overwhelmed with unhappiness and had to go lie down.

Submitted for TV Commercial

I got an email from my extras agent about a fast food restaurant TV commercial possibility. I was surprised to see that she was working today since it is a holiday. I replied right away to let her know that I was interested. I have tried for this fast food restaurant at least two times, maybe this time will be third time lucky!

I was looking at a friend’s blog and he mentioned that he had worked on a car commercial the other day. I had worked on that same car commercial a few months ago. I wondered how often they create commercials and how many are shown on TV and how many are on the internet. I don’t have a good idea of which ones make it to TV since I usually fast forward them on my DVR.

Created Profile for Extras Casting Director

I decided to sign up on an Extras Casting Directors’ Website. I have been avoiding this for weeks but took the time to do it tonight. They had just opened a couple of months ago and a lot of people have gradually been signing up with them.

It took me an hour to get through the whole process. The thing that took the longest time was trying to find all of my photos that show me in different poses and costumes. I thought I had named the files and folders properly, but apparently not.

A few months ago, I had gone through the whole process of dressing up and setting up my camera on a tripod. I took dozens of photos and I did like a few of the photos. It was quite time-consuming though. I changed to a different look and then did it all over again. I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy this at all.

Most aspiring actors/extras will invest and pay for professionally taken photos. There are lots of photographers who will do headshots in this town. However, I’ve never wanted to spend the money. On top of the photographer’s fee, the big expense is printing out the headshots. I once had a photographer friend do some quick candid photos but generally speaking, I don’t think a professional’s work is that much better for what I want it for. And besides, I really can’t afford it now.

Anyway, I sent the photographs I had taken to my agent and sort of forgot about them. Now that I needed them for this Extras Casting Director, I couldn’t find them. After wading through thousands of emails and files, I finally found a few that I could upload to the site.

I think that it’s probably time to do another photo session. If I’m going to be depending on extra work for a steady part-time income, I guess I’d better put some effort into getting better photos. Now that I’m all set up on this online casting website, I hope I’ll get more work!

Day Three Hundred and Thirty Four of Unemployment-Fifty and Unemployed

Email from Extras Agent About TV Commercial

I got an email from my extras agent last night. It said that I have been picked for the TV commercial next week, but it isn’t for sure for sure yet. I’m not going to get excited until I actually get a firm confirmation of a booking. In the meantime, she has made me unavailable for that day on the online booking calendar for next week. I don’t even know what the commercial is for exactly. I could really use the extra money though.

Ran to and from my UBC Volunteer Gig

I had a better sleep last night though it was a little difficult to wake up this morning. It was a beautiful sunny day for me to run to UBC. It was a nice easy run and I was even able to push myself a bit. Although it’s tough going getting up early in the morning, I do like how quiet it is on the roads.

I finally got to chat with my UBC friend about her experience at the Paris Marathon. We had been talking about her on-going training for months. After she and her husband had paid for non-refundable air tickets, she became injured and was not even able to run for a long time! For eight weeks before the race, she worked hard at physiotherapy, aqua running and consulted with sports injury specialists.

The Paris marathon has a time limit of six hours, so if a participant wants to get the coveted finishers medal, they have to cross the finish line before six hours. All she wanted to do was do a sub six-hour marathon so she could get that medal. Even as a healthy runner, it would be a challenge to deal with the jet lag and finish by six hours.

She had emailed us all the information on how to catch the live streaming of the race. I got up early that morning in order to see if I could catch a glimpse of her and her husband crossing the finish line. Despite many tries, I was not able to link up to the video feed. They also didn’t provide the finishers and their times right away either. It wasn’t until the next day, was I able to get the proper links from another friend that showed their triumphant finish!

She told me all about the marathon experience. This happened before the Boston Marathon. I was so happy that they had both finished in time and received their finishers t-shirts and their finishers medals. We did discuss how heart wrenching the Boston Marathon event has been. But they’re already planning to run the NY Marathon next.

WorkBC Visit

I went to the WorkBC office in the afternoon and was feeling quite motivated. I was able to work on two job applications in the short time. I found one job listing that sounded interesting and relevant to my experience.

I was feeling a little enthusiastic today which was a nice change. I didn’t let the music playing in the background distract me as much as it usually does either. I’m hoping that this change of heart will continue so I can be more productive. When I’m depressed, I don’t feel like doing much of anything.

Last Minute Booking for Tomorrow

I got a call from one of the Extras Casting Director asking me if I was available to work tomorrow morning on some show. Although I had made plans, I agreed since I can always use the money. She said that it would be a later morning start and it probably wouldn’t be a long day. That was good-maybe I could do my errands before I had to go to work.

I thought about getting my wardrobe ready for tomorrow but I didn’t have the details. She had told me where it would be, a cafe setting but I didn’t get the specifics, like what time of year it would be and what colors to avoid. I was waiting for the production to finish tonight so we could find out what time we would start tomorrow.

I kept checking my email and finally got word. I was cancelled! Apparently, they had to cancel the filming tomorrow because of casting problems. Because it was a last-minute cancellation, I would still get paid my 8 hour minimum so that worked out rather well for me! The casting director said that she would get back to me when they had re-scheduled the shooting day.

In all my years of doing extra work, I haven’t been cancelled like this very much, maybe a handful of times. I had been cancelled on a TV commercial a few months ago so that was a nice pay cheque. Now, I will be able to do my errands after all.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Nine of Unemployment-Fifty and Unemployed

Worked on Retail Blog

I have neglected working on my retail blog in the last while, so I took time today to edit photos and write some posts. I’m a little worried because my laptop is on its last legs and I don’t want to lose all of the work that I have put on the hard drive.

The big problem with this laptop is that the USB ports don’t recognize any devices. So when I tried to change the music in my iPod for example, it can’t get recognized and can’t have songs transferred from iTunes. More importantly, I can’t make a back up of my retail blog work on a stick or an external hard drive. So I’m trying to use up all of the photos that I have worked on before my laptop permanently dies.

Call from Extras Casting Director’s Office

I got a call from the extras casting director’s office today. I had worked on their production last week and they wanted to know if I was available for a re-shoot tomorrow. It’s quite unusual for a production to work on the weekend, so I figured that it must be urgent.

I would like to work but I wanted to commit to my weekly violin lessons, especially since tomorrow will only be my second lesson. I told her that I would not be finished until 2 PM so she said that if the call time was later, she would let me know.

I had come home in the afternoon and there was no message so I figured the call time was earlier so they weren’t able to book me after all. I know it’s crazy to give up work but I want to commit to as many violin lessons as possible. But then, at 11 PM, I got an email from the Extras Casting Director and it looks like they think that I will be working tomorrow. I emailed her back to make sure she was aware of my not being able to work until after 2 PM and she said she’ll know better in the morning.

WorkBC Visit

I found a few job listings that I was interested in that had employee reviews connected so I looked up some of the company reviews. There is a pro and con section. I was practically laughing out loud when I saw a few pros–one was unlimited soft drinks (in the Sri Lankan office) and the other was ‘got to eat at my work station’ (in a Canadian office). That made me really think of how vastly different some worker’s expectations and desires are from others.

For some unknown reason, the staff person supervising the resource center today suddenly decided to play the radio loudly. They were sitting right beside the speakers so I wondered how they could bear the noise? The resource center obviously has an inconsistent policy as to when they play music. If I knew when it would be, I could make sure and not be here then. The main reason why I come here is so I can concentrate on my job search and not be distracted as I am at home.

It was almost time for the center to close which was just as well because the music was driving me out anyway. I think that I’m going to have to either adjust to the loud music and office noise or learn to be more disciplined doing my job search at home. I’ll have to think about it this weekend.

Afternoon Run

I decided to go for an afternoon run. There are a couple of church spring fairs so I said I would only allow myself to go if I ran there and back, a total of around 8 miles. Of course I can’t really afford any unnecessary spending, but I can’t resist these huge rummage sales.

I really enjoyed myself tonight. I felt really good running up and down the hills in this neighborhood. I also did manage to grab a few bargains. The biggest coup was an official hockey jersey from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. This is particularly valuable because it was when the Canadian team won the gold medal! It only cost me $2!

By the time I had finished my shopping, I was ready for the easier run home, which is slightly down hill. It was getting dark and colder so it made me want to run faster so I could get home. I felt like I had gotten a good work out. I hope that I can get a longer run in tomorrow though.

Day Three Hundred and Nineteen of Unemployment-Fifty and Unemployed

Home Physiotherapy Exercises

I managed to have a complete night’s sleep last night. I was surprised that I slept almost 8 hours without interruption! I decided to start off the day with my home physiotherapy exercises. I’m hoping that it will just be part of my daily routine and that I won’t slack off!

Ran to Granville Island

It was another sunny day so I decided to run to Granville Island. I had read about an event today, One Day Without Shoes by Toms. Toms is a very popular shoe retailer here. For every pair of shoes that are bought, they donate a pair of shoes to a needy child. Today, they were having an event where people everywhere would meet up and then walk for twenty minutes in bare feet in order to call attention to the plight of children who did not have shoes and were subject to a lot of disease because of it.

By the time I got to the public market at Granville Island, there was a small group of people. We were given cloth bags to put our shoes in and stickers and cards with the information about the cause in case anybody asked us why we were walking barefoot. Luckily, it was sunny and not too cold, or it would have been difficult to do.

Walked Barefoot to Kitsilano Beach

We all walked from Granville Island to Kitsilano beach. The soles of my feet are very sensitive so I thought that I might not be able to make it but I did. There were times when it really hurt to walk on the gravel or sidewalk. It really made me think about the poor kids who have to do this everyday. So it was really good for me as far as awareness goes. We did see people notice us, it was hard not to notice a group of people holding signs, flags and daffodils and walking barefoot.

There was a photographer/videographer who documented our walk. Although it was a relatively short distance, I was definitely ready to put my running shoes back on once we reached the beach! They took some photos on the beach with the beautiful mountains as the back drop. They provided us with coffee, cocoa and cookies, too.

I kept wondering why they didn’t do a better job of publicizing this event. I had only found out about it by chance, the night before. I’m sure that if there was more notice and more ads, they would have attracted more people. I was chatting with some people after the walk and was surprised to hear that they were getting paid to do this! Apparently, there was a Craigslist ad that some people answered. Too bad I hadn’t noticed it! But no matter, it was a good cause so I didn’t mind doing it for purely altruistic reasons.

Elections BC Office

I got an email from the Elections BC office saying that I forgot to fill in my social insurance number and my birthdate on my application form. I was surprised to read that because I know for a fact that there was no blanks for that information on the form. I was astounded that they suggested that we email the information back to them. What?!

I am not impressed. Do they have no idea about internet security? Do they not know that emails are not secure? Do they not realize how confidential that information is? I was not impressed last week when they sent a group email and showed everybody’s email addresses. I complained and they apologized and said, oops!

I dropped by the office to give my information. I asked the receptionist where it had been on the application form and she admitted that it wasn’t even on it. She just put my information on a little piece of paper and said she would add it later. That really annoyed me that the government is so lackadaisical about our private information.

WorkBC Visit

I was surprised to hear loud music when I got to the WorkBC office today. It was quite distracting and I wondered why it was playing? In all the days I’ve been there, I’ve never heard music before.

I’ve always hated music playing in offices. At my last office, one person used to play music and it was never too loud, but loud enough that it was distracting and annoying. I don’t mind if somebody listens to headphones in the office, but when you are forced to listen to their taste in music, it’s really bad.

I emailed my job counsellor to ask if the policy has changed in the office. I wondered if it’s like fast food restaurants, where they purposely have loud music and loud decor in order to discourage people from staying too long. She said that they were trying something new out. I wondered why they would ever think that a blaring radio in the background would be a good thing for us job seekers? This was obviously for the staff to enjoy.

While I was there, I could see others who were annoyed with the music. The first radio station that was playing was music and then a DJ talking. It was loud enough that I could hear what they were saying and that was bad for me because I couldn’t concentrate.

The main reason why I go to WorkBC to work on my job search is because I don’t have the distractions of radio, TV or whatever that I do at home. If this continues, I know it’ll drive me crazy. I guess it’s time for me to learn to work at home again.

Calltime pulled to 6 AM

When I got home, I got a call from the Extras Casting Director who confirmed that the calltime (start time) for tomorrow’s shoot is now 6 AM. It was bad enough when it was first given as 6:30 AM! I live at least 40 minutes away from the studio so I’ll have to get up really early.

At that time in the morning, there shouldn’t be so much traffic at least. I have to get everything ready the night before because I don’t want to be scrambling so early in the morning! I hope that I don’t have any problems falling asleep.

Day Three Hundred and Seventeen of Unemployment-Fifty and Unemployed

Home Physiotherapy Exercises First Thing

Although I had difficulty sleeping last night again, I did manage to get up ahead of my alarm and have time to do some home physiotherapy exercises. Since my last physiotherapy appointment a few days ago, I really want to make sure that I don’t get lazy and stop my exercises.

I was still experiencing pain in my arm and shoulder and despaired a bit because I just passed the seventh month mark since I had my running accident. I can’t believe that it’s been so long since I tripped on a sidewalk crack when I was running uphill, flying and landing squarely on my elbow, palms, and knees, dislocating my shoulder, breaking my arm and shoulder, tearing my rotator cuff tendons, nerve damage and getting lots of road rash.

Although my orthopedic surgeon and physiotherapist assured me that I am right on schedule as far as my recovery is going, it still seems like I have a long way to go. It really depressed me thinking that it’ll still be another few months before I’ll be recovered, and that’s only if I keep up with my exercises and don’t have any set backs!

Ran to and from Yoga Class

I had a good run to my yoga class this morning. It wasn’t raining and there was even a hint of sun at times! I really pushed myself running this morning because I felt so lazy not running for the last three days. I nodded at a fellow runner along the way.

I did good time today and was hot and sweaty by the time I got to my mat. The class was packed again and I saw a few people who I knew. The instructor that has taught three times so far, continued to impress me. For a long time, we would get instructors that were taught at the same school and the classes would be pretty standard. This instructor really knows her stuff and spends more time really teaching.

I ran back home and was glad that I got in the 8 mile run and the hour of yoga. I was still feeling anxious and sad though the work out did make me feel a little better. It did help that it wasn’t really miserable weather today, too. It’s not like I wouldn’t do the same work out if it was raining, but it does take more of an effort to enjoy it.

Possible Change to Filming Dates

I got another email from the Casting Director of the movie I’m working on this coming week. She said that there was the possibility of a change to the filming dates again. This time, they were thinking of pulling the date to tomorrow or even Tuesday.

Again, it was so frustrating to have to be so flexible. I had changed a doctor’s appointment and my informational interview on the basis of the first dates given. I was still on hold for another gig for Tuesday so if we had to film on that day for that movie, I’d have to give it up. If I said that I couldn’t work the Tuesday, then they might cancel me for the two days of continuity. First, I was told it would be three days of shooting, and then it was changed to two. Who knows how many days it will end up being?

Finally Finished my Tax Return

I finally got motivated to do my tax return today. I made a promise to myself that if there was one thing that I would accomplish today, it would be my tax return. I don’t know why, but I have almost always been last-minute in doing it, even when I know I’ll be getting a refund. I don’t know why.

I’m not one of these people who have all of my paperwork organized and ready to go. Inevitably, I’ll be searching for something. This time, it was my actual tax assessment from last year. I have no idea where it went. I had printed out my return last year, so I had that at least.

Last year, I used the company tax software. Since my old firm does financial planning, a big part of their practice is doing tax returns for clients. I was able to file my taxes the last two years, using that professional software.

This year, I had to find a tax software program to use to file online. Revenue Canada’s website does provide a list of tax software programs that are either free or free to some people, for example, those with income under a certain amount, seniors or other factors. Unfortunately, I did not fall under those categories so I looked at the two free programs. Those programs were fairly cheap, but since there were free ones, I thought I’d try there first.

I googled them to see if there had been comparisons between the two. There didn’t seem to be that much difference, so it was almost a matter of my just making a random pick. I downloaded the program on my computer and then started away.

This whole process took a few hours. Although I have a fairly simple return, I kept getting stalled. I would remember about a donation that I didn’t print out and I’d have to go through my emails to find it. I matched all my tax slips with my check stubs and they didn’t match. I was missing two tax slips but I added them anyway.

Finally, I was done. According to the software, I would get a refund of around $450. I was just glad that I didn’t owe anything. However, I’m going to wait at least a month after I get the assessment before I count on that extra cash. Last year, I got my refund and then a few weeks later, they came back and said that I owed money! The only thing that was bad about it was that I couldn’t save the file to the computer, I could only print it and my printer doesn’t work. So I have no hard copy. At least I got it done for the year.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty One of Unemployment-Fifty and Unemployed

Another Beautiful Day

I had another normal sleep last night and woke to another beautiful sunny day. I have to admit that my mood seems to heighten whenever the weather is nicer. I did my home physiotherapy exercises right away before getting up. I still have some pain but it’s not so bad. I am still planning to go to yoga tomorrow.

Attended a Health Fair

I went to the 2013 Vancouver Diversity Health Fair in the morning. I had gone there last year and found it very informative. There are several exhibits, family activities, healthy cooking stage, and testing areas on health issues.

I received a shopping bag that had information, schedules and samples, such as a skipping rope, tape measure, pedometer, toothpaste, toothbrush, and more. Since it is a ‘diversity’ health fair, there are lots of volunteers who hold signs that say which languages they speak.

Last year, I wasn’t there in time to take advantage of the health testing. This year I wanted to get my hearing tested and have an oral cancer screening. Unfortunately, they cancelled the oral cancer screening and the audiology testing was outside. It wasn’t so crowded so I decided to wait and get my blood pressure tested since I was right there.

For years, I’ve always had good low blood pressure readings. The last time I was at the doctor’s, I had a higher reading but my doctor figured that it might have to do with my anxiety with my broken arm and shoulder and all.

I was confident that I would get a good reading as I always have. I told the nurse that I ran several times a week and did yoga. I also told her that I’ve always had low to normal readings. This time, the blood pressure cuff really hurt! It was really tight and uncomfortable! The first reading was an error. I was annoyed because I didn’t exactly want to go through that painful experience again!

The second time she took it, I was absolutely shocked to see it really high! It was so much higher than I have ever seen it before! Even the nurse was surprised. She said that she would do it again on my left arm. Again, the reading was sky-high.

I was in a panic because that had never happened to me before.  I wondered if she would urge me to head straight for the hospital!? She referred me to another booth so that I could speak with a nurse. She filled out a sheet that I could take to my doctor for her to follow-up. She asked me if I was under an unusual amount of stress and I explained my anxiety from my joblessness, financial stress and recent stress from my injuries. Despite all of that though, I didn’t think that those were enough to cause that much of a jump in my blood pressure!

I went through the rest of the fair in a daze. I just couldn’t believe that my blood pressure was so high! I tried to rationalize that there was something wrong with the monitor. I wondered if my recent injuries have had anything to do with it? I wondered if I was a ticking time bomb and if I could have a heart attack or stroke out at any moment? I was an emotional wreck.

I did go ahead with my hearing test and it was fine. I was relieved because I think I would have had a breakdown if that had been a problem, too. I visited the other tables with a different view. If before I would ignore those booths that had information about kidney, heart or related information, this time I lingered and stopped.

I’m glad that I came to this health fair and wondered how long it might have been before I was aware of the change in my blood pressure level! The nurse had told me to not worry about it too much but how can I not? I wonder if I’ve finally reached that point of the start of chronic illnesses despite all of my efforts?

Industry Meet and Greet

This afternoon is the Extras Casting Directors Meet and Greet. They are holding it at a studio that has a stage and seating area. My agency’s time slot is from 3:30 to 4:30 but we are urged to come early so that we can get photos and measurements taken.

I arrived early because I wanted to make sure that I could get parking. I ran into a friend from another agency who let me know that they are very behind schedule. Since it was still such a beautiful day, I stayed outside the studio for as long as I could. Even then, when I got upstairs, I was waiting and waiting.

We had our photographs taken and then had our measurements taken. Nothing was a surprise with my measurements except my head size. I always knew I had a big head but this time I found out it’s the size of some slim girl’s waist! Nothing I can do about that.

Once we finished that, we had to wait in the hallway for a couple of hours. It was good to see people we hadn’t worked with for a while, so it was a bit of a social time. Next stop was going in and sitting in the theater seats while other agency clients went up to line up to talk with each Casting Director who were sitting at tables. That was another couple of hours wait.

There were hundreds of people and it was stuffy and hot. It says something about how slow the industry has been if there are that many people willing to give up their time for just the possibility of getting more work. Some people had left without even seeing anybody or everybody. I figured that I had waited this long, I wasn’t going to leave. It was five hours before it was our turn and we could go in line to meet and greet the casting directors.

There were ten or eleven of them. I had looked them up on IMDB to see which shows they were responsible for in the past so I could see who had hired me before. I wrote the shows down and when I met each one, I thanked them personally for hiring me in the past.

The casting directors have amazing memories and all of them knew who I was from years of working. I got a lot of constructive comments that were helpful to me. This was not just a handshake, this was a really meaningful meeting to me. I was really impressed that despite being there since 9 AM, these casting directors did not rush us through even though we were the last to be there. I was finally finished at 8:30 PM.

By the time I got home, I was exhausted and still worried about my blood pressure thing. To make matters worse, I would have less time for sleep since it’s daylight saving time. I hope I can fall asleep early tonight.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty of Unemployment-Fifty and Unemployed

Decent Sleep

I woke up this morning to blazing sunshine. I managed to have a fairly normal sleep last night so I felt pretty good. My arm and shoulder felt pretty good, too. I quickly did some home physiotherapy exercises so I can get on with my day.

On Hold for TV Commercial

My agent emailed me and asked me if I was interested in being considered for a union commercial that may be filming on Saturday or Sunday. I replied that I was interested. I have no idea what the commercial is for but quite frankly, I don’t care either. TV commercials usually pay better than regular gigs.

My other agent had told me about yet another industry meet and greet that will be held tomorrow. (If I do get the TV commercial I know that I won’t be able to go.) The last meet and greet I went to a few weeks ago was for only three casting directors, this one is for us to meet eleven of them.

Pilot season is starting soon so they wanted to try to meet as many people as possible before then. This meeting will be for union performers (full, apprentice and background) only. They will hold another one for non-union extras after pilot season is over.

A lot of pilots are filmed here in Vancouver and then are shopped to different networks. Generally speaking, if the pilot is picked up, the show will not be filmed here. One example is the TV show, The Good Wife. I love this show! I was watching the pilot and then spotted some of my friends in a jury scene. That’s the only reason why I knew that the pilot had been filmed here.

The film industry has been dead lately because of competition from other filming locations, like Toronto and Montreal. I wonder how many people will show up for the meet and greet tomorrow? I bet a lot of people will be there.

Ran to the Beach

It was such a beautiful sunny day, that I decided to run to the beach. I live fairly closely to the beach. Although I resumed running in December, which was three months after my running accident, I’ve stayed inland for the most part. Before my accident, part of my long runs were along several beaches.

Because it was so sunny, there were a lot of people out, on the streets and on the beach. I decided that I wanted to actually run on the beach beside the water. As I ran, the waves were going in and out. I had to run side to side so I wouldn’t actually get wet.

On the beach, there were some beach volleyballers playing. Although they wore shorts, it wasn’t quite warm enough to play shirtless, which attracts a lot of spectators in the summer. This beach is famous for this.

The good thing about running on sand is that it is a giving surface and also provides more of a challenge. I loved seeing the waves, blue skies and mountains in the background. After a decent run, I turned around to head for the WorkBC office. Although it was a short five mile run, I felt pretty good after it.

Daily WorkBC Visit

When I got to the WorkBC resource center, I was surprised to see that all the computers but one was being used. That has never happened before. I thought that it wouldn’t be so busy because of the beautiful weather.

I went through the motions of my daily job search. Today, I was feeling a little more motivated than I had been the last while. I tried to concentrate on my own work and luckily, wasn’t distracted by the more colorful characters I usually encounter there. Everybody was quietly working and looked focussed.

I went to some job listings sites and did a little reading. Before long, I got a pop up window that warned me to save work because the center would close soon. I always forget that they close the center an hour early on Fridays.

I had another 15 minutes before they would shut off the computers so I was furiously working. The countdown was on when I tried to send myself some of the work I had done. And then suddenly, the screen went blank. I missed it by seconds!

What was odd was as I put my jacket on to leave, I noticed all the other job seekers still staring blankly at the monitors. It was like they didn’t understand what had happened. They must have forgotten about the pop up window warning about the shut down. It took them a while before they finally reacted and started packing up their stuff. Were they really that focussed that they didn’t know what was happening?

When I got home, I remembered why I like running along a beach but not on the beach, I had lots of sand in my running shoes! I even had sand in my socks. I hate that feeling. Guess I’ll re-think the beach running next time.

Read an Article: Need a BA for a File Clerk Position

I had read an interesting article written by Catherine Rampell in the New York Times last month, It Takes a BA to Find a Job as a File Clerk.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/business/college-degree-required-by-increasing-number-of-companies.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

(The insert link button still does not work for me)

This article discusses how increasingly more firms are requiring degrees for any job in the firm, regardless of whether or not you actually need one. So a receptionist or office runner would require one in order to work there. Economists call this ‘degree inflation’.

Why are more and more firms doing this? Basically, because with this kind of economy where they get thousands of job applications for a job, they can. This situation is pushing out the less educated for those positions, making their unemployment rates even higher. Job seekers get more and more desperate for lower paying jobs. It reminds me of the PhDs driving a cab situation.

I have found this also to be the case in my job search. I am surprised to see most admin jobs asking for a degree or at least a two-year college certificate. In the past when I was in a hiring position, I hesitated considering university grads because I thought that they would get bored and leave sooner. Now, it looks like employers don’t have to worry about that so much. I found this article interesting but sobering. When is this situation going to turn around? Or will it?