Day 130 Steppin' Out

This depression thing is quite literally kicking my butt (or other words of choice).

However, I think I made a little forward progress today. For starters

I emailed the recruiter back and told him based on what he told me that I could not accept the position they wanted to interview me for. I didn't apply for it, it was a reach, out of the blue air for them to pull my resume and somehow think I fit.  No way, I don't.  I laid awake last night, going over everything in my head that he told me and as I was reviewing it I started to get knots in my stomach.  The kind that if you carry them for long are the beginnings of ulcers. No thank you. A perforated ulcer is what killed someone near and dear to me.

So, I don't know if that burned any bridges with that recruiter, but I know in my heart of heart that would have been the worst combination on the planet - me and that job.

Besides, I already have enough stomach troubles.

So, I feel like that was a step forward - making a decision about the sort of job I would/wouldn't take and doing something about it.

Step two today was I did my test for user testing.  Actually, I did it twice as the first was inconclusive.

The deal is you go to usertesting.com and sign up to be a tester.  They make sure your email works and send you a link for a sample test you record.  This does require a headset with microphone.  You read the scenario out loud, and then talk your way through the process you go through to find the information the test is asking for.

My scenario was to pretend I was taking a trip to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.  I needed to find a map of the museum and describe the steps I went through to get there. The purpose is to provide a running commentary on what you did to find the information.  The second part of the test was to determine what day the museum was closed.  You'll be happy to know that this very cool museum is only closed one day a year and based on what I saw, free to the public as well.

The first time I took the test, my microphone didn't record well.  Could be because it's some old school stuff, but we'll see.  The company sent feedback saying that the first test was inconclusive.  So I did the test again. I hope to have an analysis in my email sometime tomorrow morning.  According to C it pays $10 a test and most of the tests don't take a half hour.  You have to be selected to perform the tests (they send you an email) so it really can't be a full time job or even much of a part time job.  

The third thing I did today was send off my resume to Lee, Hecht, Harrison. They are a company hired by you know who to help with placement in a new position.

According to the letter I received from them, they have "everything you need to find your ideal job 50% faster than searching on your own."  They also state they helped 140,000 people "succeed" in their work search.

One of the gazillion search companies out there evaluated my resume and said that my resume indicated I was a "doer" and made that sound like a bad thing. I fulfilled my obligations and went above and beyond over and over again.  How can being a "doer" be negative? Wouldn't you want to hire someone who gets things done?

None of this all took terribly long, but these activities are steps forward.

Tomorrow my agenda is to look for new doctors - some that won't push new drugs at me so I can be a guinea pig.