Yesterday was the first day that I've regretted leaving the Ph.D. program. It hit me that I picked a very bad time to add the uncertainty of unemployment to my life, since the economy seems to be doing poorly and jobs are very hard to find. And then I started thinking to myself "Was being a Ph.D. student really so bad?" At any rate, I certainly left the program in the worst way possible: citing wanting to be honest, I chose to tell my boss as soon as I'd decided, thinking that he'd keep me around until I'd defended my Master's thesis. That's how I ended up unemployed in December. I should have stayed in the program until I had a job lined up and then left.
No, that can't be right. Staying like that still seems disingenuous to me, and I wouldn't have as much time fail at finding a job if I had stayed.
Today I walked around Evanston a little trying to find temporary employment. Everyone I talked to wore this weird smirk when I asked if they were hiring. I found 4 places that are hiring (and I have since heard about 2 more). That should make me hopeful, but *every* retail place I walked into featured employees standing around waiting for customers. And the places that are hiring always take applications, so they might just be looking for the perfect person to come along.
Job-hunting feels desperate now. I think employers can feel it.
My wife and I feel it, too. We are going into emergency-save-money mode.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment