Some people can't find the needle, I can't find the haystack

Things are taking a turn towards both the interesting and the frustrating of late.

Out here, the recruiters seem to smell blood in the water when you contact them. It is getting kind of ridiculous how desperately they circle. They call and call, even if you schedule a set day that you will call them. It is nice to be wooed and wanted, but it almost feels a little too good to be true. Of course, considering the relatively low pay, mediocre benefits, being charged for parking and living in one of the snowiest and most crime-ridden cities in the country per capita is a dead give-away that it most assuredly isn't all that good.

It is the opposite out in the Pacific Northwest. To continue with the aquatic theme, Portland is much more akin to chumming the water hoping for a dorsal fin to pop up over the breaking surf and getting nothing. There is no sense of urgency at all. The recruiters there seem to have a "dont call us, we'll call you" mentality. This to live where we want to, instead of where we are with significantly better pay and benefits.

Both situations make me a little edgy because I feel most comfortable somewhere in the middle. I don't need to be sold on a job, any job, just because there is an opening that needs to be filled. However, I also don't want to be pushed off like I am bothering them by applying. It is discouraging. The hardest thing about Portland is that I KNOW there are jobs. Plenty of them in fact. They have innumerable opportunities at almost every hospital on their websites. Some have been posted for months and are still vacant.

Speaking of jobs, I am now trying to get my ducks in a row for an internship at Legacy. I think this illustrates the difference between Portland and Rochester pretty clearly. In Rochester, I applied with just a resume and a smile. At Legacy, I applied and was told I need to apply through the internship because that is the only way they will hire new graduates. The application opened up on the 3rd (I found out on the 4th) and will close on the 21st. In the meantime I need to get two reference forms filled out by clinical instructors. Sounds easy right? Well, it kind of is and kind of isn't. The forms have to be filled out and signed somehow by me and the clinical person, which isn't easy to do since I don't work with these people any longer. So, I thought I would just email them instead. Well, this is an issue because the forms then need to be sealed and signed across the seal (and also cannot be folded or stapled or breathed on incorrectly) while somehow I sign it too. This is in addition to a few other pieces of paperwork that also need to be included in the application. Then I have to hope that I can get an interview dependent upon my application and what two areas I select to apply to (which is its own issue because you have to guess how many new hires might be accepted and there is a possibility that some areas may not hire anyone).

On a funny job side note, I got a call from Rochester Psychiatric hospital today where I had previously interviewed. They are literally sending letters to my last three places of employment and needed the address for the school in Korea. I shit you not. I explained that they would be better served writing to just the US locales because of the English barrier, but they weren't sure what they were going to do. The chances of me working there went from 5% to less than 1% both because they aren't likely to get much of a reference from overseas and because if they are working on a letter writing campaign, by the time they would even get around to offering me a job, we will be long gone from this area. I am glad to see it is 1982 and physical letters are still be used for references. I am half surprised they didn't tie a note to a carrier pigeon's leg or send it by donkey.

I really ought to get back to work on my patient assignment, but I keep getting distracted by everything else going on. I plan on continuing to try to pester places into taking my resume next week. In the meantime, if anyone knows anyone who might be able to help with the hunt, it would be most appreciated. I am not opposed to begging. Unless a perfect job presents itself here, there is pretty much ZERO chance we will stay in ROC. Even if it does, the chance maybe creeps into numbers congruent with the weather here in the dead of winter....high teens, but a 'feels like' chance of much less.

Two more days of clinical and then a week off for Spring Break. Sweet sweet freedom.