JOBLESS IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA

Hey there, Blogging Pals! Welcome back.

Sorry for the delay in posting. Not a lack of caring on my part as you know I love you all! :) Just so many things to be done and so little time in which to do them. You know the story. It's yours, too.

So... let's talk about job-hunting in Southwest Louisiana. Not that any or many of you will need to do this anytime soon... but thought I would share what I am finding.

Most of you know I have a BBA in Marketing and an MBA in Business Management. Few of you know that I have nearly a decade of running State Farm Insurance agents' offices, nine years of combined Customer Service and IT Deployment with AT&T Wireless (before it was Cingular then AT&T again!), and five years of selling Real Estate as an Independent Contractor. All of this was in Austin, Texas. There were some other things of interest in between all of that but those are the "big ticket" experience items.

Thus... I scan the local paper and a couple of job sites on the web every day. There have not been a plethora of opportunities asking for an MBA, I have to tell you. Just for some examples, the local rag has opportunities such as:
1) Bodyguard and Apprentices
2) Avon Representatives
3) Child Care Workers
4) Clerical Position
5) Director, Health Information Management (I'd apply but don't have an RHIA, RHIT, or CCS)
6) Elementary School Principal (don't have a teaching certificate)
7) Financial Manager
8) and a whole lot of nursing/home health care positions.
These are not the only ones. There are others. I either do not have the certifications or the jobs are entry-level. I did apply for the Executive Director of BeauCARE and hope to make it to the initial interview stage beginning in July. I'll let you know! :)

So... I have explored other sources including JobsInLouisiana.com and Indeed.com. Both provide some postings that might be of interest and I have submitted resumes for a few. No responses or the "resume-reading" software apparently doesn't like my choice of words. *chuckle* I've got some words for resume-reading software, folks!! That's a whole 'nother post.

One of my Louisiana pals did introduce me to a gentleman who works out at Fort Polk. He took me on a tour of the place (which I had not visited in over 35 years!) and it was a real eye-opener. That is material for another post and I promise you it will be relatively soon. Anyway... he is a government employee but knows some of the contractors out there (Raytheon, Cubic, Northrop Grumman, etc.). He took a few resumes and told me he would hand them over to some of the contractor managers he knows. True to his word, he clearly did! I received a call from a very nice lady who was "impressed" (her word, not mine) with my education and experience and was really HOPING I had some Finance in my background. Nope. Sorry. Really don't. She had received an excellent promotion to Florida with Raytheon but was unable to take it until she backfills her existing position at Fort Polk. I laughed and told her we have the same problem from opposite sides of the fence!! She needs someone who is going to be hard to find and I need a job that is going to be hard to find!! We laughed and wished each other luck and success.

So... I remain unemployed for now. That has certainly been a good thing for my front landscaping... but somewhat detrimental to my checkbook. Sigh.

If anyone out there has any insight for me regarding my job search here, please email me!! I am willing to look at just about anything that pays more than minimum wage!! :)

Thanks to you all for still reading! Take care... and until next time...