Today is officially my LAST day of college! For now, that is. My projects are all completed and I'm confident of my grade, and I received the email from the college telling me I can pick up my degree at the end of the month. :D :D Needless to say, I'm psyched.
I haven't found work yet, which I'm really bummed about. Hopefully it won't take much longer. I interviewed for an administrative job that I'd really like to get, but I forgot a few important things I should have said. I still have a lot of anxiety about meeting new people, and I spend so much cognitive energy trying to appear calm that I can't remember much during the meetings. Oh well. It's through a staffing agency, and they told me they are still waiting for my background clearances to come back. I hope that doesn't prevent me from starting work in time for the job.
I had to start the mandatory job searches to maintain public assistance last week, which is incredibly annoying. Some of the intake discussions have been helpful, though. Our instructor gave me some excellent pointers on how to let employers know that I have valuable life experience and was far from idle during my marriage, without just saying "I was married to a heroin addict." Nobody wants to hear that. I feel like Lisa in The Simpson's Movie, when Marge enters the hotel room and asks where Homer is, and Lisa exclaims, "He's gone! Let's quickly rebuild our lives while he's away!"
I sent my information to CYS, and was told that they hire for Social Worker Aide level 3. I only took the exams for 1 and 2. I'll have to take it again. I didn't realize I qualified for level 3 with an A.A., but it seems different agencies have different qualifications. Unfortunately, they also pay less than $12/hr to start. Benefits won't do me any good if I can't pay rent. I'm trying not to panic. My parents expect to move around the beginning of March, and I really need to have some money set aside and have my bills and budget sorted out when that happens. The job searching program drives me insane, because the people who hire through them are the people looking for cheap labor, which is why they team up with the welfare office in the first place. Any job I get through them is likely to be a failure as far as getting us off of public assistance in the future. On the other hand, it appears any job I get with my degree won't be much better, except when it comes to benefits. I'm not sure what to do. Hopefully it will just sort itself out in time as long as I keep lots of options open.
