Job hunting has been a real drag...

These past 3 weeks I have been sending out to what I refer to as "bundles" of resumes to all levels, and numerous departments within the education sector. The 1st week I focused primarily on K-12 as an ASL, Teacher's Assts, Dean/behavioral modifications etc., etc.. The 2nd week on residential, after school programs, more non-traditional roles within K-12 schools and this past week I focused on College/Universities and grad school level employments.

So now of course everyday I've been checking 3 of my email accounts for replies from possible employers. Most of the responses I've received have been "the position has been filled. We will keep your resume on file..." Another one disqualified me because I was not currently a new teacher therefore this school was aimed for teachers with little experience and in grad school right now. I myself only have my thesis left to write. (Which I havent even started due to the stress of job hunting!)

I've also learned that using a telephone number on your resume as a Deaf person is a bad idea. See I recently started using a service that takes any voice mail left for you and transcribes it into texts which is emailed directly to you in a short amount of time. This is great for things like waiting for the cable man to show up, receiving a package from UPS, getting test results from your doctor, etc., etc..

BUTT

If you're using it on your resume and the potential boss/interviewer is calling you and leaving a msg for you to call them back. Which you do through relay, either one (VP or online/TTY) it blows up in your face. The caller is disoriented and caught off gaurd by what they usually think is a telemarketer calling and when and if you actually get through to the person before they hang up and leave a msg for the intended to EMAIL you, it NEVER happens. I have "returned" 3 calls in the past 2 weeks and none of them followed up with me :(

Don't get me wrong, relay is GREAT for people who already know us or have experience. It just when they have NO exposure to Deaf people there's no where for them to start. Luckily for us in this city, we're much more visible due to trains. And its expected here due to the diversity.

Anyways

Through Jack I learned a lot about hearing people and phones. I didn't realize how much the generation after me grew up with cell phones and it makes sense they would choose the mode of communication that comes easiest to them and majority rules. He explained to me that for some hearies emails are way too impersonal. This is not true for us Deafies. Email represents CLEAR communications and that is truly the heart of the Deaf Community. Equal access to information/communication! This has made me try to keep in mind and that once a hearing person meets you, they adjust quite quickly to the idea of text related communication because afterall that is their personal second choice next to phone/voicing. I think on the flip side we're equally as lucky that the generation after us grew up with texting that they too are open to that way of communication. I've meet some deafies who say some of their family members just do not care for emails. Not so much with the older crowds as they grew up writing letters.

Now back to my exciting career seeking adventures. Its been depressing to have to deal with the uncertainty of what I'll be doing in the fall and will I finally earn enough to stop barely getting by? I know July is way to early to expect any answers but my brain just won't compute that and let it slide off. I want to know now. I am so exciting because a week from today Prometheus (Jack) and I and possibly King (to be decided early next week) will be in a car on our way to Maine for a weekend of camping, whee! I just gotta keep reminding myself that. It is gonna be so good to be out of the same old environment and just with a lot of other deafies for a change. Blondie says she misses DC/MD because Deafies are always getting together, its a larger community down there than up here. Then again sticking to the old sterotype of NYers, we're just too busy to be on top of each other. *winks and sticks out tongue* I'll always be happy to visit DC/MD but I have zero desire to live there. Its too played out fot me, the environment itself, how depressing DC is, etc., etc.. I'm grateful for the 15 year span I was there but I love NYC way more. Its hard to believe I've been living here almost 4 years and I'm still as happy to be here as I was when I first arrived.