Tag Archives: unemployment

A Little Good A Little Bad (or Maybe This Is Just How It Will Be For A While)

Posted on March 12, 2014 | 1 comment

I feel like I’ve been pretty negative on here for a while. It’s tough when things seems to not be going your way.

I’m still fighting with the idea that I should not do the recruiting job anymore. The results from another screening I worked came in, and I’ve still never had anyone attend a screening. This isn’t good. The screenings that I worked on Sunday are this week and I should know toward the end of the week if anyone showed up. If nobody did, I’m going to take it as a clear sign that I should stop wasting my time (and the company’s since I’m clearly not a good employee). But I’m going to wait and see.

But yesterday, things took a nice turn for the positive. I still haven’t heard back from the job that told me to wait and not accept anything until they got back to me. But I’ve had other positive job related news.

I did a second interview for another job that seemed good and paid well. And they didn’t seem to have an issue with me being an actor. The only weird thing was the first interview was technically over email and the second was over the phone. I’ve never met them, but maybe this is just the way that they do things.

I also was accepted for a fun food survey. It doesn’t pay a lot, but it’s some extra cash that I’m going to get right before leaving for my trip. Every little bit helps!

And finally, I got a fun acting related gig for today! I’m going to be doing stand-in work for a promo for a network show. I’ve actually been a stand-in for this particular actor for the last set of promos that they did a few years ago. So it’s exciting that I get to do it again! It should be another fun and easy day, just like it was a few years ago.

It’s not exactly acting, but it’s closer to acting than almost anything else could be (except acting, of course). But it’s always nice to be in a room surrounded by creative types and having fun. And again, any extra money that I can get is super helpful.

Technically, my unemployment ended. I was still on an old claim of mine when I was laid off from my job. So I had to wait for that claim to end before starting a new one. I just filed my new claim today and I’m hoping that it will be accepted. But even if it does, I will not get as much in unemployment as I did before because in my second year of work I didn’t make quite as much as the first year. And your unemployment benefits are based on how much you made.

But with all the good news happening, maybe I won’t need my new unemployment claim! Maybe I’ll get a new job this week! But for now, I’m just excited that tomorrow is going to be a day spent on set and I get to be in the environment that I love!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, interview, job, positivity, unemployment

Is Giving Up After A Week Ok? (or How I Lost Money Doing My New Job)

Posted on March 10, 2014 | 1 comment

The film recruiting job hasn’t been going so great. While I’m making minimum wage, the majority of the income is supposed to come from people attending the screenings that I’m recruiting for. So far, of the 3 screenings I’ve worked, nobody has gone.

That’s tough. I also know that I don’t pass out as many passes as other recruiters do. But that’s because I don’t want to be a pest. I know that for the over 12 years that I’ve lived in LA, I’ve always been annoyed by the film recruiters bothering me when I’m rushing somewhere. There have been recruiters who have bothered me to the point that I think it could be considered harassment (including one recruiter I remember from years ago who put a pass inside my purse after I said “no thank you”).

I don’t want to be that person. And that’s probably the reason I’m not making money on people going to screenings.

I’ve also been told by people at the company that all the screenings I’m recruiting for are really tough ones, even for experienced recruiters. And if I had something easier that I might not feel this way. But then they continue to give me really tough screenings.

Since I haven’t made any money on people going, I’m not making that much at all. And when you add in driving time, driving costs, and parking costs I’m barely breaking even (if you don’t include yesterday, I averaged making $3 for the week). I do get some money for driving, but it doesn’t cover the time it takes me to get there.

I talked to my mom about this this past weekend. I’m really wondering if I should let them know that this 30 day trial showed me that this is not the job for me. I’m not enjoying it. And I don’t expect to love doing whatever I do as a day job, but I shouldn’t be regretting having to do it either.

I had a really great job interview last week where the employer basically told me to not accept any jobs until they got back to me. That is making me very hopefully that they will hire me. If they do, I won’t feel too guilty about giving up on the recruiting job.

If I don’t get a new job, at least I know that I have my NYC trip coming up in just over a week so I won’t have to work then.

I’m not sure what I should do, but at least writing it on here and sharing my thoughts is making me feel a little better.

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Posted in Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged interview, job, quit, unemployment

Got A Closed Door And An Open Window (or Trying Not To Overthink It)

Posted on March 6, 2014 | Comments Off

Yesterday was the callbacks for the Universal Studios tour guide position. I was very grateful to make it to callbacks. I think there were about 500 people who went to the open call, and there were fewer than 100 of us there at the callback.

For the first bit of the callbacks, they went over the training and expectations of this job. We learned about pay and schedules and a little bit of what the job would be like each day. Then we took a break and when we came back, we each had to get up in front of everyone and read a little bit of the script that the tour guides use every day.

The part I read was bit about one of the movies that has been filmed on the lot. It was about 2 sentences and I read it without tripping up over the words or sounding too shaky (I’m not the biggest fan of public speaking in front of a crowd like that).

After everyone read a bit of the script, they made a cut. And I didn’t make it.

I have no idea what I did wrong or why they didn’t like me. When I walked out, a few of the other applicants who had been cut told me that they were shocked that I was cut. I have no idea what they were looking for, but obviously it wasn’t me.

I was trying to not be too upset over not making the next cut while I walked back to my car. It’s hard to not get your hopes up about a job that is designed to work with actor’s schedules. But clearly it wasn’t meant to be for me yesterday.

But when I got back into the car, I noticed that I had an email from one of the many resumes that I had sent out earlier in the week. They wanted me to do a phone interview as soon as possible. I called them back immediately.

And one of the first things they had said to me was that the thing that made me stand out over all the other applicants was the fact that I used to be a tour guide at WB.

So just a few minutes after getting rejected as a Universal Studios tour guide, my past as a WB tour guide got me another job interview (and they want to hire an actor so that’s great!). I have that interview today.

Like I said yesterday, I’m really trying hard to stay positive. I’m getting a lot of interviews, so that’s a good sign. I know I’ll find something soon and I can’t let the rejection get me down. The only thing worrying me is having enough money for bills, but for right now, I’m ok and I should be ok through this month. In April I might have to worry.

But that’s not now and who knows what the near future has for me. And I’ll put it out here again, if anyone out there knows of any actor-friendly day jobs (either in LA or work from home), please let me know! Thanks!

Comments Off on Got A Closed Door And An Open Window (or Trying Not To Overthink It)

Posted in Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged job, rejection, tour guide, unemployment, Universal Studios

Job Trials and Interviews (or Let’s Hope Something Comes Of All This)

Posted on March 5, 2014 | 1 comment

There’s been some movement in the search for a new day job lately.

I still haven’t had any gigs with the on call assistant work, but I did check in with the owner and she said she just hasn’t had anything for me yet. So at least I haven’t been forgotten.

I had my first official shift doing the film recruitment job. It was tough. People don’t want to take flyers from a random person out at a shopping center. I don’t blame then. I always have ignored those people in the past. I also got my numbers back from my training shift. None of the people who took flyers went to the film, so I didn’t make money on that (I still got my hourly, but that’s barely minimum wage).

I’m still in a 30 day trial with them, and I’m glad that after that I can reevaluate if I want to be there. It’s a tough job and I know it’s not for everyone. Right now, I’m not sure if it’s right for me. I’m going to keep trying, but it’s hard.

And this week, I went for an open call for new tour guides at Universal Studios. I feel like I’m a great candidate for that job. Right after college graduation I was a tour guide at Warner Bros. The person at WB who trained me used to be a tour guide at Universal, so a lot of the training methods were the same.

And in 2007, 2008, and 2010 I was part of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. I worked at Terror Tram and actually my first year I played a dead tour guide.

I know it’s not the same as being a real tour guide there, but at least I’m familiar with Universal Studios. Everyone I worked with at HHN thinks I’m perfect for the job as well.

And today, I’m going to the callbacks for that job! So I made the first cut! There are still a few more cuts to go, but I’m trying to be optimistic. I know a few actors who are tour guides so at least I know it’s a flexible job.

Besides all that, I’m still spending 2 hours a day applying for jobs online. I know I’ll find something eventually, I just need that eventually to be soon. The only thing I have against me right now is that in 2 weeks I go on my trip to NYC. I know that doesn’t make me the most desirable candidate. But I figured by being up front about it I’m still making a good impression.

Staying positive is tough, but that’s what I have to do right now.

1 Comment

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, interview, job, tour guide, unemployment, work

The Frustration Of Looking For A Day Job (or Why Is This So Difficult?)

Posted on February 24, 2014 | 1 comment

I’ve hit a wall in my search for a new job. I’ve gotten the on call personal assistant job, but my paperwork is still being processed and there are no guarantees that I’ll get any work with them. The other job that I got as a recruiter for film screenings is also still processing my paperwork and again, no guaranteed hours. I have to go through a background check with both of those jobs and that takes time.

I also had a trial shift at another job, but after that trial I’ve realized that I’m not the right employee for them (they would need me to not go on auditions for about 2 months a year). They said that they would pay me for this trial, but they haven’t yet. I’m not sure if I’m going to bother bugging them for the money. It almost doesn’t seem worth my time.

I’m still applying for jobs for about 2 hours a day, and lately I haven’t been getting too many interviews.

I did have one interview this past week, but it really was a failure. I mention in my cover letter that I am an actor looking for a day job but that I’m not a flake, just looking for some understanding and flexibility. I’d rather be upfront with my situation so I don’t waste my time or someone else’s time. I know some actors who lie and when they have auditions they claim that they have a doctor’s appointment, but I can’t do that.

So my interview this past week was for a front desk position that was part-time. It started off great with me finding a parking meter right in front of the building. I took that as a good sign and headed inside. I guess there was some scheduling issues because even though I confirmed my interview time with the person interviewing me, they weren’t there when I showed up. Finally about 30 minutes later, the interviewer came in. She brought me back into her office and the interview got started.

It started off great. It was very similar work to what I did at my last day job and the interviewer and I got along really great. She hadn’t mentioned anything about the flexibility of the job, so I brought it up and reminded her that I’m an actress and occasionally go on auditions.

She seemed confused by that. She wanted to know how soon I would be quitting acting for the job.

I was pretty shocked about that. I’m not going to quit my career for a part-time job. I told the interviewer that again, I was looking for a day job and that I wasn’t quitting acting. At that point, she said that I was not the right candidate for the job and the interview was over.

The interview took about 10 minutes before it ended and when I left, it was the middle of rush hour. What should have taken me about 15 minutes to get home took me over 90 minutes.

It’s so hard to stay positive when something like that past interview happens. I know that eventually I will find another great day job for me, but I’m scared that it’s going to take longer than I have.

So if you all could please think some positive job hunting thoughts for me this week, I’d really appreciate it!

1 Comment

Posted in Acting, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, interview, job, unemployment

Exciting Weekend Plans (or Finally Meeting The Puppy!)

Posted on February 14, 2014 | Comments Off

As you are reading this, I’m on my way to the Bay Area to see my parents and finally meet Tucker! I’m so excited! I’ve been seeing so many videos and pictures of Tucker that my parents send to me, but I’ve been waiting for what seems like forever (but in reality like 6 weeks) to meet him!

And Tucker is no longer a baby puppy. This week he graduated from puppy socialization school (although in the end he ended up being the only puppy to finish all the classes) and my dad texted me this picture yesterday morning.

It’s hard to tell, but Tucker lost his first puppy tooth (right in the middle on top)! He’s officially becoming a grown up puppy now!

I’m also excited to see my parents. It will be my first visit with my mom since she finished chemo (and by the time I get to the house tomorrow she will be 1/3 of the way done with radiation). And I’m planning a fun trip to the gym with my dad (more on that when we get it done).

I’ll also be seeing my brother and sister-in-law on Saturday. My sister-in-law and I have a lot of planning to get done for our trip, which is coming up in a month, so we’ll be working on that this weekend.

Going home will also be a nice break from being in LA and feeling a little lost without a job. But I will say that after my 2 job trial offers I got this week, my 3rd interview resulted in me getting hired! I’ll be working as an on-call personal assistant. There’s no guarantee with hours and the pay is independent contractor (so I have so save a lot of the money I earn to pay my taxes), but it’s something. And my birthday twin, Joanna, is hired by this company as well so I know that it’s a good and flexible day job.

As I’ve said before, I’m hoping that this round of unemployment ends quickly. While I’m getting by with unemployment money, it’s not enough to pay all the bills (or pay down my credit card). I don’t want to be surviving on that money for too long.

But for now, I’m not focusing on my lack of work but my excitement about meeting Tucker (and seeing everyone else in my family!)! And seeing my family will make my Valentine’s Day a day filled with people I love. I hope that you all get to have the same!

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged breast cancer, chemo, family, job, mom, puppy, unemployment, Valentine's Day

Another Almost Job (or It’s Feeling Like Groundhog Day)

Posted on February 13, 2014 | Comments Off

Another day, another job interview. And another offer to do a trial at the job in the next week.

I’m still being very cautious about job offers. I’m still spending 2 hours every day applying for jobs. I have no clue if I’m going to like either of the jobs I’m trying out (or if they will like me).

But again, I’m feeling very optimistic because I am getting good responses to my resume and to me when I interview. This is a much better job search than the past few that I’ve gone through.

I don’t know if I’m getting a better response because I’m being pickier on what I’m applying for or if my skills doing sales (which I only got after my last job) are making me a more desirable employee. But either way, I ok with it.

I have another interview today for another part time job (it’s for an on-call assistant type of job) and I’m hoping that I’ll either get an offer for employment or another trial out of my interview. That way, I’ll have plenty of options and combinations of jobs (since I’ll have to have 2 jobs with any of these part time positions).

I’m also getting ready to get back into substitute teaching. I haven’t been available in forever, but now I have lots of availability again. And I while I need to renew my credential, I’m still current for another month and a half. So all I have to do is make myself available again on the online scheduling service and hopefully I’ll start getting sub offers.

I’m a little nervous going back to subbing. I haven’t done it in a long time so I know I’m out of practice. And I have had some very tough classes in the past (one high school class tried to throw a chair at me and security had to stay inside for the rest of the class period), but I have also had some great classes. Either way, it will be good for me to get back into it. I have fun and it’s decent money for a day’s work. Plus, it’s completely flexible and my agents understand how my schedule is when I’m working.

I’m so glad that I’m having a much more positive week this week. It’s making my unemployment a bit more like funemployment.

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Posted in Work

Tagged interview, job, unemployment

I Got A New Day Job, Sort Of (or Maybe I Won’t Be Unemployed For Long)

Posted on February 12, 2014 | Comments Off

I’ve been busy applying for new jobs and getting a bunch of interviews. So far, I’ve gone to 2 interviews and I have 2 more this week. I’m really happy that my efforts in applying for jobs are paying off with interviews, and I’m being careful to only apply for jobs that I know will be flexible or that I’m confident will let me go for auditions.

I’m trying to find full time work, but I know that part time work is more likely to be flexible. Of the 2 interviews I’ve had so far, one was for part time only (no more than 29 hours a week) and the other was as many hours a week as I’d like (up to 40).

The as many hours a week as I’d like job pays a bit more, but I haven’t heard back from them yet. They mentioned that they had a bunch of people to interviews and I don’t know if there is more than one position open (it’s doing customer service work).

The other job is doing recruitment for film screenings. I had the interview for it yesterday, and they offered me a position on the spot. It’s not a lot of money hourly, but there’s potential to make more for doing a good job. I’m a little wary about the job because I know that there’s probably no way to have that as my only day job, but when they offered me the job, I said yes.

So I’m going to start a 30 day trial with them next week. After my 30 days, I will meet with the supervisor and we will discuss if we are both happy with the job match. I like knowing that if it isn’t the right job for me it will be easy to say “no thank you” and still be able to leave on good terms.

I still have 2 more interviews this week, one for full-time job and one for another part-time one. I’ll see what else comes up for me and maybe I can find 2 jobs that will work well if I do both of them.

I’m just happy that job hunting this time is going better for me than it has in the past. I was worried that I wouldn’t get an interview for forever, but by having 4 in my first few weeks of unemployment gives me hope that I can still be a bit choosy and find something that will work out perfectly for me and my acting career.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, interview, job, unemployment

Interview Time! (or Maybe I Can Find Another Perfect Day Job)

Posted on February 7, 2014 | Comments Off

I’m finally starting to get responses from all the jobs that I’ve been applying for. While some of them are scams from the start (asking me to pay for an interview, lying about pay, lying about a job opening), there have been a couple that are real jobs and they are really interested in hiring.

The first one ended up not being something good. I had a phone interview for a personal organizer (something that I enjoy and have done in the past). The phone interview went really well and they wanted to bring me in for a final interview. After they were done interviewing me, I asked a couple of questions. I found out that it was a commission only job (which it was not listed as online). I also had asked about the typical hours one would work in a week. The person on the phone seemed very insulted that I asked that question and answered me in a very patronizing voice. I let them know that I would have to get back to them about the second interview.

As soon as I got off the phone, I went to google the company. First warning sign: the name of the company that I was given doesn’t exist anymore. I then looked up the phrase “working for XXXXX company”. What came up were many many scam reports warning people about working for this company. They said that they were typically not paid and the way that the company got away with it is by changing their name all the time. While there were a few reviews saying that it was the best company to work for, those responses were almost all the same. And the negative ones were all different but all had similar complaints.

Needless to say I will not be contacting that company for the second interview.

The other interview I had was yesterday. It was for a very popular Los Angeles apartment rental company. It’s a customer service job and very actor-friendly. It’s exactly 2 blocks away from my last job, so it’s pretty close to my house. And I really liked the boss. He was very nice and very ok with me being an actor. And instead of being interviewed inside in his office, we went for a walk around the neighborhood and chatted.

That was nice (and I’m glad I wore comfortable shoes to the interview!). The only awkward thing was that we walked right by my old job and several of my old co-workers were outside. They saw me and some waved, but I think they could tell I was doing an interview because none of them seemed to mind when I couldn’t wave back at them.

That interview went really well (I think), and I’ve already decided that if I’m offered that job and nothing else has been offered to me first, I will take it without hesitation.

I’m still busy applying for more and more jobs. But I’m starting to have hope that there is another day job out there for me that is actor-friendly and something that I could enjoy doing (at least while waiting for my big break!).

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, interview, job, scam, unemployment

Making Up A Schedule (or What To Do With My New Free Time)

Posted on February 3, 2014 | 1 comment

Now that unemployment has officially hit me, I’ve been learning how to schedule my life again. I’ve been so used to scheduling around a work schedule for so long, that it’s been nice to actually have more than a few hours a day to do all the things I need to do.

Some of my chores I’m going to keep on my usual schedule. There’s no need to screw with what day I do laundry, water plants, or do major house cleaning (as those are once a week things).

But now, I’m adding in a new type of meal planning (where I actually can make things for all 3 meals instead of 1). I’m also trying to schedule my free time. I don’t want to turn into someone who is lazy on the couch all the time. I did a lot of that last week when I still had a few shifts left. I watched all 3 seasons of “Veronica Mars”. But I can’t do that anymore.

I’m trying to build a schedule that allows me to have fun while I’m not working but also work hard on finding a new job. When the unemployment breaks were just temporary breaks, I’ll admit that I didn’t work that hard at finding a new job. I knew I had one to go back to so I could be picky. And I was probably way too picky.

I’m still going to be picky as far as finding a job that pays a certain amount or has flexibility, but I can’t just pick jobs that I would want to take. I have to look at the undesirable ones too.

In the past, I spent a majority of my day looking for work. That is a way to get burnt out quickly. So I’ve built a schedule where I spent 1 hour in the morning looking for work and another hour looking in the afternoon (just before the close of business for most jobs). That way, my time is structured but I’m also allowing for some fun free time.

So far, I haven’t found anything right. And the jobs that looked right for me turned out to not be what they said. For example, I applied for a job that was supposed to pay $15 an hour, but when they emailed me back to schedule an interview, they said it was actually an unpaid job but the value of what I would learn was worth $15 an hour. I need a job that pays money to pay the bills, not something that has perceived value.

If any of you blog readers know of any decently paying jobs that are flexible for actors (no MLMs please), please feel free to let me know in the comments. While I’m enjoying this time off for now, I know that the sooner I’m back at a job the better.

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Posted in Work

Tagged job, laid off, scheduling, unemployment

Tag Archives: unemployment

A Little Good A Little Bad (or Maybe This Is Just How It Will Be For A While)

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Is Giving Up After A Week Ok? (or How I Lost Money Doing My New Job)

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Got A Closed Door And An Open Window (or Trying Not To Overthink It)

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Job Trials and Interviews (or Let’s Hope Something Comes Of All This)

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The Frustration Of Looking For A Day Job (or Why Is This So Difficult?)

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Exciting Weekend Plans (or Finally Meeting The Puppy!)

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Another Almost Job (or It’s Feeling Like Groundhog Day)

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I Got A New Day Job, Sort Of (or Maybe I Won’t Be Unemployed For Long)

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Interview Time! (or Maybe I Can Find Another Perfect Day Job)

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Making Up A Schedule (or What To Do With My New Free Time)

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