This Town

I had a second interview for the extremely low-paying but entertainment (related) job on Monday. Liked the people but was hoping it would take a couple of weeks to hear back so I could give the library possibility some more time. Well, yesterday my agency called to say I was offered the job and for more money (although still in the low range of mid-thirties). The agency then gave me two hours to get back to them with a decision.

Given that my interviewers had stressed that they wanted a committed person, I had to turn it down. I just wasn’t sure that particular job (administrative work on union contracts) was worth the financial sacrifice, and I felt that I would need a couple more weeks on the job hunt before I could feel comfortable taking it. I had to endure the wrath of the employment agency, which was unpleasant, especially after I had made what I consider to be a measured decision and had endured a couple of less-then-ideal temp jobs for them. There won’t be any agencies left I want to work for pretty soon.

This town is getting small in more ways than one. I had a lunch date yesterday, and, as it turned out, that guy knew Mr. Grabby Hands. They both grew up in L.A., went to posh high schools, are around the same age, went to college in the area, etc. So perhaps L.A. can be a small place.

Factory Girl

My roommate auditioned for a game show gig today and kept me up last night asking for advice on outfits. Then I was woken up this morning with a call about a temp job in Santa Monica at a clothing manufacturer; the position involved helping one of the designers prepare for a trade show. Again, a stretch for "entertainment," but my agency did say this was an unusual job for them to place.

I agreed to take it and spent the day steaming and folding clothes and creating clothing labels. It was actually pretty taxing, and I go back again tomorrow.

Here's an odd story. Yesterday evening I had a drink with a date in Westwood, and while I was steaming the shirts this morning, he rang me on my cell. I couldn't pick it up when he called but figured I'd call him back over lunch. After several bungled attempts at finding a place to eat, I ended up in the Yahoo! courtyard, and just after I ordered something at the counter and was digging my cell phone out of my purse, I ran into him. Strange, as he doesn't even work at Yahoo! He was standing around with his friends, and it was awkward in a "high school cafeteria" type of way.

I told him I was stalking him (he looked like he believed me). We had lunch together. When I got back to work and told the designer what had happened, he responded that it was "just like a John Cusack movie."

Moore Please

I got called by my current agency on Friday about temping as an assistant at a well-known Industry rag that is located very close to where I live, and the job actually paid a whole $15 an hour! But I had to say no because I'm supposed to go in on Monday to train the new hire at my current gig, and I have that job interview on Tuesday.

I walked over to the Grove last night to see Sicko. The ticket cost $12.50, so I had to sneak into a second film afterwards to maximize the expenditure (but I'm glad I applied my ticket to Sicko's box office). In any case, Sicko was very good, but, of course, depressing. I can certainly relate right now, as I'm paying a monthly bill for what amounts to catastrophic health insurance and have had to ignore two or three health issues that I would have seen a doctor for in the past. And I'm grinding my teeth like the 9/11 rescue worker in the film.

Moore is right that we are handcuffed to jobs by the need for health insurance. It's amazing that if I lived in Europe or Canada, I could just waltz into a doctor's office for free.

Obviously I should have moved to France, but they wouldn't have let me stay...

The Financial Review

I've spent a happy 4th this morning "running the numbers." I've decided the decision deadline on "should I stay or should I go" is November 1st. I don't want to keep temping full-time until then, but it would definitely help if I could find a long-term, part-time temp gig that would allow me to be available for interviews or for subbing at the library.

If I still haven't found a good job by November, I'll have to decide if I like L.A. enough to keep looking for jobs and/or waiting on the library, knowing if I take a position after that point I'll be committing to at least a second year of living here. My car insurance payment will be coming up in January, and it'll cost me twice as much if I stay on. My condo won't be available until June 1st, so I'd have to move back home to Houston or in with a roommate in Austin if I do leave. It should be easy to find someone to drive back with me around Thanksgiving if I decide to head back.

In the meantime I'm going to get back out there socially, which equates to more dating, as there doesn't seem to be a whole lot else going on here at this age, and I've done the research.

On Tuesday I have an interview with an association related to the entertainment industry that could be considered a prestigious place to work, although it might be on the senior citizen side. The job as initially described to me sounded like event planning, but in actuality it's formatting contracts, and it only pays in the high 20s. The workplace will have to seem like a barrel of laughs for me to be interested.

I looked back over my temping jobs, and yes indeed, anything that could even remotely fall under the entertainment umbrella paid the lowest temp wages, about $11 an hour. I did get called last week about a temp receptionist position paying $16 an hour at a news studio in Santa Monica (another "entertainment" position), but I was already in a temp job, and frankly that offer wasn't that appealing either. I don't mind starting at the bottom rung, but it needs to be on a ladder I want to climb! The Big Important Talent Agency job that was floated by me so many months ago only paid in the high 20s, but it was in the story department (up my alley), was a short commute, and the contacts would have been invaluable. The cruiseline job paid similarly low at 30k, but it seemed fun, and I got a free cruise! But those jobs didn't come through.

I've also checked out some other library systems in L.A. and no dice as far as openings.

Nights Spent Crying Into Pillow, Part II

It turns out that the question in my interview about part-time jobs was hypothetical, as in, if a part-time reference job came open in the future, would you be interested. I thought my three-month journey through the library interview process was finally coming to fruition, but it appears that I may have to wait for future adult services jobs to open up and interview again for those. Needless to say, I spent a weepy night and day over this. I was so looking forward to getting off the temp bus!

I do have an interview coming up to be a library sub, but I don't know how often that need arises within a reasonable commuting distance, and I don't seem to handle the waiting game very well.

I wrote one of my old placement agencies today (not in entertainment) and told them I would like to interview for any permanent positions that paid at least 45-55k and were located in my area of the city. I've become unable to stomach the idea of working full-time for 35k or less. In a city this expensive, it's positively Dickensian to pay those kinds of wages.

I can't take the low-paying temp gigs much longer either.

I am now setting a deadline for a decent job coming through for me here before I bail back to Texas. It's looking like September. Honestly, I could lie around on the couch at mom's, collect rent on my condo in Austin, and end up in the exact same financial position as working at a full-time, low-paying job in L.A. that barely covers the bills. Not a pretty picture for a 37-year-old, but economically it's entirely logical.

More Sleepless Nights

I started my new gig today after enduring another night of insomnia. Those sleepless nights before starting a new job are becoming the lowest points of my life. Really, they are just the worst.

The job itself is fine. Very close to where I live and near lots of nice restaurants that are more affordable than the ones I frequented while working in Hollywood. It's a very small office though, and they specialize in gay and lesbian marketing. No crush potential for moi.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Visited my seventh placement agency (third in entertainment) since moving to Los Angeles today. Took all the computer tests again-- Word, Excel, typing. The Excel test was actually quite difficult, and I had to struggle through it during what has become my afternoon naptime.

I was sent home with a temp assignment that starts tomorrow and lasts a couple of weeks. Front desk at another advertising agency (ad agencies falling under the entertainment umbrella), but this one is in my neighborhood, and I'm thankful for that.

I was told again that asking for a minimum starting salary in the mid-thirties is a bit much for entertainment. So crazy. The agent I spoke with, who was very nice, floated an interesting job possibility by me, but it only pays in the high 20s. The 20s!

Waiting Games

The entertainment placement agency didn't call with any temp jobs this week, and just as I was about to contact a prior agency for some generic office work, I received an e-mail from yet another entertainment agency (which also places personal assistants) about scheduling an interview. I had contacted them upon first arriving in L.A. and never heard back and then sent them another resume at the end of May.

So now I have an interview with that place next Wednesday and my second interview with the library system the following week. In the meantime I have decided to forego the generic temp work I have been doing and put my faith in either an entertainment job (temporary or permanent) or a library job working out.

I recently saw an ad on one of the entertainment sites for a job that listed the hours as 8-6. I know most of those positions require overtime, but it's ballsy that they would list the official hours as forty-five per week.

My roommate is also out of work at the moment and so we are both doing the "ladies of leisure" routine around the apartment.

During this downtime I caught another L.A.-themed movie on HBO called "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" with that little scamp Robert Downey, Jr. It wasn't great, but it was entertaining, which is more than I can say for "Ocean's Thirteen."

I did also make it to the beach at Point Dume for some sun and surf; of course, there was a film crew set up on the beach.

Last night I went to see the Upright Citizens Brigade, a comedy/improv troupe, on a block of Franklin Street in Hollywood that I hadn't visited before. In addition to the UCB Theatre, there's a used bookstore and a couple of cool restaurants along there, and across the street, oddly, is the Scientology Celebrity Center. The show was only $5, with no valet parking or required meals tacked on, but then, you get what you pay for. It was amusing enough, but the performers (and crowd) were very young and obviously using UCB as a training ground.

Deja Vu

Went to a party in the Hollywood Hills on Saturday with my friend A. It was a "Burning Man" crowd-- hula hoops, tarot cards, dreads. I felt like I was back in Austin.

I enjoyed having the last two weeks off but am now back in limbo, with that Sopranos finale intensifying my sense of drift. My interview with the library won't be scheduled until after the 25th, and I haven't heard anything back from the new entertainment temp agency yet.

I did drive up to Burbank yesterday to check out a digital media company where one of the men I've been on some dates with works. There are only three such companies in the U.S., and this one is the largest. I don't have a grasp on everything they do, but in a nutshell, well, they digitize media. One aspect of that is the restoration of film; I saw someone working on a film in which a young Scott Baio played a Little Leaguer. All that time, effort, and equipment, so a preteen Scott Baio can be restored for our viewing pleasure. Yet it was an impressive place.

The drive up there took me around 35-45 minutes, but then I wasn't driving during rush hour. Burbank isn't on the same walkable, human scale as where I live; it's the land of office parks.

I'm driving out to Point Dume today in Malibu to go swimming. I believe that's Planet of the Apes territory.

It's Confirmed

I had coffee this morning with an extremely nice guy who works for New Line Cinema. He moved here a dozen years ago, but even back then he and several of his friends had difficulties with the Entertainment Placement Agency that gave me the runaround about the CAA interview. He never got any work out of them, and he is the third person who has told me a tale of woe regarding that agency.

He highly recommended another agency in town, but I don't know if I have the stomach right now to resume the employment agency dance. I just had a very difficult week at my current job though and seriously considered telling them the job was not for me. I did, in fact, tell my boss that I was not in any rush to gain "permanent" status. Everyone treats me with kid gloves the minute I hint I'm about to walk! They know it's a bad job. I found out tonight that my coworker will be out sick tomorrow, so I am now looking at a hellish Monday on top of the grinding week I just wrapped up.

I don't want to quit until I have a plan of action in place though. I did apply to the library system a couple of weeks ago so am biding my time to see what happens with that situation.

Just like the guy who went to Largo with me on Wednesday, my coffee date encouraged me to stick it out here at least a year, saying that he went back and forth for the first four years he lived in L.A. about whether or not he wanted to stay. He agreed that the uncertain "contract" nature of a lot of work in the entertainment industry is not for most people and that L.A. is a difficult place to have your accomplishments recognized in order to land a job. He also said that it's challenging to meet people here and that he had tried meetup.com (scrabble, poker) with decidedly mixed results.

After my coffee date I drove to an afternoon cocktail party in Venice where I met a Los Angeles native who had lived all over the country before moving back to L.A. She told me a familiar story: that Los Angeles is the most difficult city she's ever lived in regarding socializing and has the fewest activities to facilitate meeting people of any city she's ever lived in. She, however, did have great success with meetup.com and had a new Latin American boyfriend on her arm that she met at a Spanish language meetup group!

My property manager in Austin has already placed my condo on the rental market, so pretty soon I will no longer have the option of turning tail and running back to Austin and will have to stick it out another year regardless.

Alice in Jobsearchland, Part II

I got firm today about two things: no more driving to Santa Monica and the desire to find permanent work. It worked on both counts, with a temp job offer in WeHo and a job interview at Hollywood and Highland.

Santa Monica is not that far away in terms of mileage (maybe 8 miles?) but it takes at least 40 minutes in the morning and at least 1 hour in the evening to travel to and fro from this area of town.

I would advise anyone considering a move here without a job to locate yourself in Santa Monica. Seems like a healthy job market there (thus the traffic).

Temping Reconsidered, Part II

I had a discussion with my current temp agency today and it was suggested I look over their permanent job offerings and let them know what interests me.

There are several decent-paying admin jobs in my immediate area of town, from Hollywood to WeHo to Beverly Hills to Century City. So I am now switching strategies and hopefully can line up more interviews for permanent positions in the case I don’t get a job offer from the cruiseline. Only one of the positions is entertainment-related, but, other than trying one more time with the personal assistant agency, I no longer have the stomach for the entertainment industry run around, at least not right now.

I realized after posting yesterday that May is just around the corner—only about six weeks away. I think that is way too soon for making a decision about returning to Austin, so hopefully a decent-enough job will come through by then, one that will allow me to spend at least another year or two evaluating Los Angeles.

Temping Reconsidered

After my interview on Monday, I debated about calling in to the temp agencies or taking the rest of the week off, with the hopes that I would get a job offer soon. Out of guilt that I was wasting the week and that I needed to reestablish contact with two of my agencies, I called into one on Monday, but they didn’t get back to me with any work. So, after more internal debate, I called into another one on Tuesday.

It’s always a gamble. The agency may call with something appealing, or they may call with something that you don’t want to do, and then if you say no, there’s a mark against you.

This time I gave them my geographic parameters, and of course they called immediately the following day with an assignment outside of those parameters but with a promise that it would be a “fun” job in the “publishing industry” doing administrative work “for a trade show.”

So with visions of myself blowing up balloons for the booth of a book publisher, I acquiesced. It didn’t help my decision-making powers that the agency had woken me up and needed someone within the next two hours.

As it turns out, the company is a publisher of a couple of trade journals and the job is strictly data entry. Three full days of repetitive, mind-numbing data entry. I have to be here at eight, which means I have to get up by 6 a.m., since of course the job is again near Santa Monica. At least this time I get a real computer chair.

Needless to say, I’m in a black, black mood. They have already asked if I could come back next week, and I, of course, said no. Thank god I had the presence of mind to tell the temp agency that I was only available through Friday.

Oddly, at lunch today I ran into one of the few people I know in Los Angeles.

Anyway, I am planning to take next week off to regroup. I already did a review of my finances last night, and I’m not yet in a place where this type of soul-destroying work is financially necessary.

I’m really hoping that the travel industry job comes through. I liked the people, the offices, the hours, and the location, and the job sounds interesting. It’ll be tough to live on half the income I was making in Austin when it is so much more expensive here, but I’ll just have to hope for the best in terms of future job prospects with the company.

As I see it, if that job doesn’t work out, I have some combination of the following options:

1) Telling the temp agencies that I am now primarily interested in interviewing for permanent jobs and will only accept one-day temp assignments (out of fear of getting stuck in another unbearable situation).

2) Revisiting the personal assistant placement agency with an updated resume.

3) Picking a date at which I end the career exploration and submit an application for Los Angeles Public Library (which isn’t a sure thing, as they have a preference for Spanish or Asian language speakers, and there’s no guarantee they would have an opening within what I would consider a reasonable commuting distance). I have to keep in mind the city training that would be involved and the probable six months without benefits and decide whether I want to go down that path here. Perhaps a part-time librarian gig would be the answer.

4) Making a decision by May 1st that I will return to Austin and telling my real estate agent not to lease my place after the current tenants move out in June. This would be motivated by the desire to reduce my “burn rate,” since my living expenses in Austin were 1/3 of what they are here. I would then just make the most of my last two months here and would travel to Santa Barbara, Laguna Beach, etc. I’d like to stick it out a couple of years, though, so I hope the job situation isn’t bad enough to drive me to retreating that soon.

Lies, Lies, Lies, Yeah!

I've pretty much concluded that the interview with The Big Important Talent Agency ain't gonna happen, despite the temp agency's advice to go buy a suit. I'm sure they have plenty of resumes from Harvard grads willing to do anything to work there, so it makes sense that they wouldn't be interested in dealing with me. It also appears that the entertainment temp/placement agency will not be beating down my door with other opportunities.

Several people have advised me to fabricate entertainment industry experience on my resume, but I don't have the heart for it. Lying is a common practice in the Industry, though. "Fake it til you make it" and all that. I just feel like my experience should be good enough as is.

I did have a good second interview with the cruiseline and become more attracted to working there with each passing day. It's not as youth oriented as the entertainment sector, and everyone seems to go home before 6 p.m. Although I would be back in an office, I think that the travel industry could offer some of the same offbeat and adventurous job potential of the entertainment industry, with less competition and stress.

The Beleagured Temp

Exhausting day yesterday. Filled out all the applications and tests at the entertainment placement agency and while doing so my cell phone kept ringing with other possible temp assignments and job interviews. Finally I was asked to step outside in the hallway to take the calls.

After looking over my resume I was told by the entertainment agency that I had no applicable experience and that asking for a minimum annual salary in the mid-thirties (and I had swallowed my pride writing that down) was an outrageous expectation for the entertainment industry. Yet in the same breath they found a position at a Big Important Talent Agency and called them extolling my virtues.

Afterwards I had to hustle down to Santa Monica for an afternoon temp job at an investment company. I was the receptionist, and it was one of those stressful positions where I felt the roof would cave in if I dropped someone's call. Then I had another dinner date.

I was absolutely beat by the time I got home. I was told I would need a suit for the interview with the talent agency (if it happens), and I need one for another interview this week anyway, so I planned to go suit shopping today. Woke up this morning with a headache and an agency calling me with a one-day job. I told them I couldn't do it and they definitely sounded disappointed.

This is getting difficult.

Back to Business, Part II

Had an interview today with an import/ export company for the travel industry. The experience had me feeling like I was in a Coen brothers film.

Found out import/export and hospitality are two of the biggest industries behind entertainment here.

A connection was able to get me an interview with a big entertainment temp agency in town that I had previously not heard back from. That is tomorrow morning. Then I have a temp job in the afternoon at an investment firm in, yes, Santa Monica again. That agency initially wanted to send me to Encino for the week but I told them I couldn't do it. I still have to work in another permanent job interview this week that's in my area of town.

Starting to feel a bit bedraggled...

Back to Business

So now I have to get back to business because I have two job interviews this week and need to do my homework on the companies. I had to cancel the trip to Santa Barbara in order to do so. I hope I can sleep tonight. Both positions barely pay enough to scrape by on, but perhaps I need to swallow my pride (and financial concerns) and accept that as part of the transitioning process. The employment agencies who arranged the interviews are, I'm sure, taking a nice cut. Neither of the jobs are in entertainment, although one job is not completely out of that realm.

In regards to the entertainment industry, maybe I'm a victim of ageism, as I'm no longer in the desired 18-34 age demographic, so I'm not as easy to exploit salarywise and perhaps am seen as not having "my finger on the pulse."

Thank God the word-processing temp job is over. I went to yoga after work on Friday and my toes spasmed into a misshapen pretzel. That's how messed up my body was after sitting in a hard plastic chair for three days.

During my lunch break on my last day, I walked around the Yahoo! campus, which was down the street, caddy corner to Universal Music Group. That's definitely where all the young people are. Google, a logical place of employment for a former librarian, also has a campus in Santa Monica. Maybe I should have located myself there due to the increase in new media companies in the area (and thus the increase in traffic heading that direction). But I really can't drive there and back every day. It took half an hour just to get from Santa Monica to the 405, which is about a third of the way home for me.

TGIF, Part III

This is my last day at the temp job at the private school. I’ve been sitting on a hard plastic (at first, metal) kid’s chair for three days straight, fixing a scrambled word document. It’s a very New Age-y school, but the “open heart” does not seem to apply to adult temps. Then again, I’m not paying tuition.

I’ve had to get up at 6 a.m. every morning in order to make it here on time. After this week, I have definitely ruled out working in Santa Monica, due to the drive (although that qualifies me as extremely wimpy here). What’s made it even tougher is that I had my usual night of insomnia the night before the first day and only got about four hours of sleep. Yesterday, probably because I was unable to make it to the gym and had been sitting all day, I had another night of insomnia and got a total of two hours of sleep. I’m shot, what with the lack of sleep and the back and hip pain from this chair.

Also, as soon as I arrived at this job, another agency called me with a job in Beverly Hills. Sigh. Them’s the breaks.

I have had fun outside of the job. Tried out salsa dancing at Monsoon on Wednesday and had drinks at the lovely Casa Del Mar last night. Had to cancel my tennis game today though due to exhaustion.

I may be interviewing for a job next week at the headquarters of a luxury cruiseline. The office is very close to where I live, which is becoming a top priority.

Looking forward to the weekend. There’s a trip to Santa Barbara in the works.

The Lady Gives A Little

Two people told me this past weekend that I had to give L.A. at least two years to show me her charms. What's funny is that I had already decided I had to stick it out for at least two years.

Things are looking up already. January is a slow month for the Industry and business in general, so maybe that explains some of the sluggish response to my early job search efforts, but things seem to be improving. I accepted yet another temp job in Santa Monica, at a private school, for the rest of this week, simply because I have to be out there anyway for dates after work. I also agreed to an interview, through the same agency, with an international business that sounds interesting. I also figured out the temp agency for the studio closest to me, Fox, and talked to them today about temp work. I noticed from their website that they have a substantial library on the studio lot-- something for me to think about...

The Commitmentphobic Temp

I temped at a one day gig at a hip advertising agency in Santa Monica today. They wanted me to stay on for a longer term temp assignment, but I turned it down. Tough decision, as I could have created a career path there, and most of the staff was around my age. I don't think I want to drive to Santa Monica every day though. It only took 40-45 minutes, less than I expected, but I think that would get tiring over the long haul.

Also, I've really warmed to the idea of getting exposed to L.A. through temping, and now I'm reluctant to tie myself down to one workplace. I need to get over the insomnia attack that hits me every night before starting a new job though. And, unfortunately, this city is too expensive for me not to commit to a full time job within the next few months.

This past weekend I went on dates with men who have worked in the entertainment agency through temping. One got his temp job by going directly to a studio that has it's own in-house temp agency. I should look into that. Another used my first temp agency and was placed immediately at a studio, where he has worked ever since. *Sigh.*

But now I'm even wavering on my commitment to work in entertainment...