Yes, I'm tardy

Yes, I realized I have been very negligent in posting to this site. But I have been busy . . .

. . . Busy attending the free classes for the unemployed at Grandview University. Yea!

. . . Busy trying to get my new business off the ground--thinking about writing a business plan, networking, designing a brochure, getting a web domain, and so on and so on

. . . Busy applying for the few jobs I have found in my field

. . . Busy talking to DMACC about classes I can take this fall

. . . Busy again at Iowa Workforce to see about their new unemployment/dislocated worker programs

. . . Busy trying to increase my customers for my current part-time business

. . . Busy attending meetings, networking groups, having coffee with friends and new friends

. . . Studying

. . . and the list goes on . . .

I am especially enjoying meeting new people and seeing new places. Today I ended up on the Des Moines campus of DMACC. I had no idea they had a real campus there. Pretty cool. Lots of very friendly people there also. As is the same with Grandview. Am really enjoying that experience.

Tonight I attended a meeting held at First Christian Church. The meeting was sponsored by AMOS (A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy). They have been meeting for several months at the grass roots level to try and find solutions for the unemployed. I attended a meeting in June also. See my blog dated June 9. I highly urge everyone, employed or not employed to attend next month's meeting. It will be on Aug. 11. Not sure of the meeting place yet though. They are working through the church community and meet in churches generally. I came away totally energized! An Iowa Workforce representative was there as were people from AARP, AMOS, Iowa Employment Solutions, Iowans for Social & Economic Development plus many pastors from local churches.

It's been a long time

Seems like it's been a long time since I wrote here. Time has just been sweeping me by. I've relaxed my job search a bit. Am not as frantic as I was initially. I have still been taking advantage of some of the great programs offered at Iowa Workforce. Went to a resume writing workshop yesterday. Have also started going to a great program called Net2Work which is being held at the Botanical Center. There was a great inspiration talk 2 weeks ago by Drew McLellan, the Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group here in Des Moines. He talked about how to market ourselves and offered good tips about social media networking.

I am still keeping my daily "to do" list which keeps me on track and where I keep track of the jobs I've applied to and the rejection emails I've gotten. No luck so far with interviews. It's difficult when you're competing with several hundred people. But, because of my lay-off, I've got to do a lot of things I couldn't have done if I were working. Have gone to art galleries, had a garage sale during the week and have gotten to know people at Iowa Workforce! Life is good!!

To Gray or not to Gray

That is the question I will ask tomorrow at the Iowa Workforce workshop for tips for hunting for a job for workers ages 40 and up. A few months ago, I started to let my hair go to its natural color (gray!!), covering up the gray with semi permanent rather than permanent color until my roots grew out. I started doing this in order to save money in the long run. Now that I'm in the job search and will be facing age discrimination--yes, it's out there--I don't know if this is the way to go or not. Stay tuned here for later thoughts. Or give me your comments ladies. What do you think? Have you gone gray? Has it affected your job search?