Good Grief! What a Relief!

Phew! That's over. My exit interview was this morning. Sad, to say the least, that "doing the right thing" netted a discontinuation of my employment. That someone else's bad behavior is allowed to continue without repercussions. Oh, well, it was a "take this job and shove it" situation, and I felt that way all along. This exit was easier than my first one. Only six months into the job, it was apparent that it was the job (really, let's be real here, it was a person - one person) or my sanity. I value my sanity, having come close in the past to losing it for good. Not pleasant at all.

Until today, my job search has been limited to posting my resume and applying for jobs on Monster and Indeed and CareerBuilders. I use others like Juju and SimplyHired and USAJobs. This afternoon, however, I interviewed with an employment company and they assured me that I have good "soft skills". (I assume most companies value that; I know some that do not - firsthand.) Could it possibly be that my "soft skills" can make potential employers overlook the fact that I am degree-less??

I'm learning that a job is not just a job.

Vacation. I didn't imagine that not all companies award vacation days the first year of employment. Some don't give vacation days until after a year of employment. After all those years of using vacation days for kids' stuff (my turn to volunteer for a field trip; my turn to bring cookies for the Star of the Week; my turn to stay home with the chicken pox-ed kid) and not for a real vacation, I want one whole week and then some occasional days. For God's sakes, isn't it enough that you spend more of your awake time at work than at home? Nobody should be married to their job.

Health Insurance. Some pay your premium, some don't. Most claim that they have a decent plan. The problem I have found with this is that it is very difficult to determine if it is a decent plan until you are on it and have to use it. I prefer to stay on my husband's plan, pay the penalty, and have the company pay me what it would cost them to insure me.

Flexibility. Most companies say that they are flexible when they are hiring. However, their definition of flexible may be different from your definition of flexible.

Sick Days. See "Flexibility" above. Ditto.

I've applied for unemployment again. Not sure if I qualify. The unemployment site is not very wordy. (They don't seem to have "soft skills". Hmmmm.)