Help Wanted!

Talk about a loaded headline. I need help, I want help, help is needed in so many areas! I've been looking for a job in my industry for more than a year. Since 1995 I've been in the Executive Search Industry, a/k/a Recruiter. Headhunter. Flesh Peddler. Whatever you'd like to call it. I recruit executives out of one company and move them to another company. Call it poaching, call it stealing, all I know is its what I know how to do. And I feel I do it pretty darn well. I have worked mainly within the Life Sciences sector; i.e, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Medical Device, Medical Diagnostic and Healthcare organizations. So, if you still have no idea what I'm talking about -- in easy laymen's terms - I take a Chief Medical Officer from GlaxoSmithKline and move him over to Pfizer. That's the easiest way to describe it, but oh, its so not that easy. But you get the gist. After spending the bulk of my career working for other people at their corporate companies, I was able to land a couple key clients and form my own consulting business. This business was run out of my 2 bedroom ocean view Apartment in Cardiff. For two years I was able to do this and I was able to get a dog, hit a yoga class at noon, meet a friend for lunch at Seaside Market, walk into my office and email someone at 9 pm and able to charge upwards of $70 per hour. Until I wasn't able to do it anymore.

Two years ago when our country decided to have the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1940s, my line of work had pretty much taken a huge nose dive. So, in order for me to maintain some kind of a job I was lucky enough to land a gig entirely different than anything I would have dreampt of. I became a House Manager for a high end sober living facility in La Costa, CA. Yup. Glorified babysitter, house keeper, sponsor and friend to women in early recovery. Lucy and I found an amazing home in Carlsbad. A home of hope. A home of change. A home of stress. A home of instability. A home of sobriety. A home of relapse. A home of structure and a home of love. Because as much as I used to complain about the girls in the house, I truly feel that house offered so much promise to the women who lived there and I was able to be a part of that. If even for a short time. Becoming reflective these past 5 weeks since I left my post, I truly now realize how important it was for me to have that experience and how grateful I am to my former boss for giving it to me and trusting, loving and supporting me. I also know that I probably won't ever do that job again, but it was a great learning experience. Now I'm living in an almost parallel situation with my Mother. Mom suffers from FTD Dementia; a form of Dementia/Alzheimer's where she has no cognitive thinking or reasoning capabilities. She has no comprehension of certain issues and her repetitive talk and speech seem to fill the air more than her own breath does. So needless to say I find myself doing a lot of the same duties that I had done prior; doing the grocery shopping, shuffling her to appointments, playing games with her, cooking for her and making sure she brushes her teeth on a daily basis. But she's my mom kind of a difference here. Plus, I'm not getting paid to do this. I'd like to say its out of the love and kindness of my heart; but some days I have to question that. A vision from the movie, "Throw Momma from the Train" seems to enter my mind and all I can hear is Kathy Bates screaming, "Owen Owen Owen!". I look over at Lucy and know that as long as she's happy, I'm happy. and Mom too.

With all that being said, I've been trying to get a real job in my field so I'm not home all day care taking. I've been networking my ass off since I got back, and so far, nada. I've had a couple bites for jobs, but nothing where I feel I would be a strong contributor or feel like I'd be able to learn and grow in the role. So, as of today I'm going to look again outside of my comfort zone of being a recruiter and will venture into some other avenues to explore.

Waitressing and Census Taker right now seem to be leading the path for where my next career may take me. I'm going to do some due diligence on both of them tomorrow. I know neither job garners having anything more than a Junior High school education, but shit, why not. What the hell. Maybe, just maybe, I can make enough money to get myself out of debt, fix my car, pay off some loans and bank some extra money for my "where can I live next" fund. That would be ideal. But as usual, not everything always comes off as planned.

We all know that God sure has a funny sense of humor in how things seem to unfold in our lives; hence, I moved here from San Diego and four days later we had the worst two snowstorms in over 14 years in the Philadelphia region. Welcome Home. We've missed you!