I'm trying!

Today I went to a job fair sponsored by Monster. The advertising for it suggested bringing at least 20 resumes.

I showed up at 11. There were a lot of people standing in line to sign in, so I ended up waiting for about 45 minutes to get into the fair itself.

Which had about 12 tables with employers and a bunch of people standing in lines. As I reached the front of the sign-in line, an organizer started telling the still-long line that the employers were getting "overwhelmed" with people, so they were letting people trickle in and she appreciated their patience. She also said to talk to everyone and not assume you knew what they were hiring for, that talking to a bunch of different companies is the point of these things. I agreed. Until I got inside.

Insurance companies, staffing firms, middling tech businesses, and an elementary school district in Arizona--I don't care what they're hiring for, I probably don't want to work in life insurance and I definitely don't want to move to Arizona to teach 7-year-olds. I waited in line for the two staffing/temping agencies and talked to a representative from each for about 30 seconds. I got rid of two resumes and received two business cards with instructions to visit their websites.

All told, I got an hour's practice standing around in uncomfortable dress shoes and something to talk about besides house-hunting when I met up with Jenn for coffee afterwards.

But at least I tried.