Making a Job Out of Looking for a Job

My grandsons are looking for work and having a hard time of it.

It's a difficult task to find a job these days. Soooo many out of work. Sooooo many looking for work.  Foreclosures everywhere, people struggling to eat, let alone pay the rent or their mortgage payment.

My grandsons are not alone.

Recently I wrote both of my grandsons, who are adults now, and experiencing the difficulties of finding a job in the current economy...the following:


My new roommate, who just recently got work, said she hunted for a job for four months....but she got a good job at the Walmart Neighborhood Market just 1/2 mile from our house...and she is doing good.  She said anytime she was in the car with her boyfriend,,,and saw a place that looked promising she would ask him to stop and she would go in and get and application. 

There were times when my daughter was in high school, and I HAD to support her, that I was without a job, and so sick I could barely get around,,,,,but I got the Sunday newspaper at 4 pm on Saturday when it came out, and I got out a legal notepad, and began to CUT OUT the job listings and PRIORITIZE them, gluing them to my legal pad, according to who wanted to have you come in on Monday morning and get an application, and who wanted you to come in on Tuesday and bring your resume, who just wanted you to mail in a resume, and so on and so on......

So, every Saturday and Sunday I made a JOB of looking for a JOB, and every Monday morning I was set, organized, and I 'hit the bricks.'  And THAT'S what MY DAD told me to do.......he always said,,,,,,"Keep turning over those rocks."  He meant,,,,keeeeep looking,,,,,keeeeep at it,,,,,don't give up,,,,,something will happen, if you do your part. 

During the depression I was a baby, and my Dad was jobless,,,,,,and he went down to the Union Pacific Railroad freightyards every week, he told me. They finally told him they were going to hire him cause they were sick and tired of looking at him coming in every week.  My Dad RETIRED from the Union Pacific Railroad,,,,and in his later years, he traveled everywhere for them, and had a GREAT position with them.  Funny thing - when I went to get the WorkSource link that I had told my grandsons about....there was an item about the Union Pacific Railroad right on their front page :o) Made me smile.

And as for me,,,,,,when I was just 21 years old.....I applied for a bookkeeping position at the Eugene Register-Guard, the local newspaper in Eugene Oregon.  I had an interview for the job, and a short time after the interview I called the man who interviewed me for the position.  I will never forget his name....Mr. Johnston....one of the best managers I ever knew,,,,,,,and this is what he told me.  He said, "You know, I had my choice down to a pick between two people, but Marilyn, since you took the effort and the time to make this phone call to inquire,,,,,,,You've got the job!"  I had that job for several years!  And....the experience there....fitted me for the next good job I got later!

So I told my grandsons, "You are not alone,,,,,but,,,,,,,,,YOU can DO IT!  You've done it before.  And you can do it again.  Everybody has jobs and then they don't have jobs.  But when they don't have a job....it's time to "Make Your Job 'Looking for a Job'."

I love you both.

Grandma Marilyn