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lydyI am not yet at the end of my extended unemployment benefits, but I can see it from here. I've really been ramping up my job search, and worrying about various options. One of the facts I have been considering is that I have had no significant depressive episodes since I started working nights. While correlation is not causation, it seems very likely that there really is a causal link. I could work a day job. I have done it before, I am fairly certain I could do it again. But I think I would probably need significant chemical assistance, both in sleeping pills and possibly anti-depressants. I am a big fan of better living through chemistry, but an even bigger fan of arranging one's life so that it isn't a fight every goddamn day.
There haven't been a lot of sleep tech opportunities in the Twin Cities, and I have not been chosen for the ones that I have applied for. Presumably this is because every other unemployed sleep tech is also applying for them, and there are any number of very good techs out there. So I also applied at two different traveling companies, that send you on a temporary basis to places that are looking for staff.
The first recruiter I talked to was...not good. In particular, he was very cavalier about the issue of housing. I am, obviously, going to maintain my residence at Blaisdell Polytechnic, which means that I need to pay double rent. The company did not provide housing or housing assistance, and everything that the recruiter said really seemed to imply that he was more comfortable working with 20-somethings who could fit their life into their car and who wanted to travel for fun. He was waxing poetic about the joys of working in Florida. Yeah...I'm not going to Florida. It may be a small thing, but man it was also vastly off-putting that his voice mail signs off with "Have a blessed day." Do people who do that have any idea how alienating that is for non-Christians? At any rate, I haven't heard from him in several weeks.
The second company I applied with is called Aureus Medical Group. The recruiter seems all together more competent and serious. (He did give me a weird pep-talk on how the job he was putting me in for was not a cake walk, and he hoped that I understood that I would actually be working. In addition to that just being odd, it contrasted wildly with the other recruiter, who was all "Sometimes you can show up for a shift and they'll just send you home!" as if that were a special perq.) The actual pay is not great, but they also pay a per diem for housing and food that is quite generous and pre-tax. They do offer benefits, though they don't seem real good. (Like vacation is a week after one year's work!) The insurance will probably be better than nothing, but again, not spectacular. However, it is work in my field, it is a night job, and I actually would like to work.
I had an interview with the recruiter, which went well, then filled out a ton of paperwork. He said that he had three possibilities, and that he would put my application in to all three of them. Later that day, I got a call from Cleveland Clinic, scheduled an interview. Per my recruiter, they must have called me about 5 minutes after he put my application in. I did well on the interview, they made me an offer, and I'm off to Cleveland. I'll be working four tens, not three twelves, which is what I'm used to. The shorter shift may well be nice, and the additional day probably doesn't matter that much, because I will not be having a social life. There's still one piece of administrivia that we haven't sorted. I asked to start after Thanksgiving, so I could have Thanksgiving at home. Which means I need to leave the day following, and won't arrive until Saturday. But I have to have my fingerprints done before starting work and I start work on Monday. So, waiting for all that to get figured out.
I found a small, not dire airbnb for quite cheap that is reasonably close to the Cleveland Clinic. I've had a couple of email exchanges with the "host" and she seems perfectly nice. It doesn't have a proper oven, so I don't know how I'm going to make bread. There was a lovely lovely apartment for about $600 more a month, but as DDB pointed out, for the price differential for one month, I could buy a table-top oven. It's basically a bedroom, living room, and incredibly small kitchen that looks reasonable functional, though with very little storage space. And a bathroom. It's a stand-alone unit, I don't have to share space. It is on the second floor, and I hate stairs, but well, such is life, right? The neighborhood is "Maple Heights" if you know anything about Cleveland. Me, I know nothing. It looks fine on Google street-view. Who knows? I know no one in Cleveland. On the other hand, it's not safe to socialize, anyway.
I'm stressed and scared. I do not know if this is safe or wise. But because the government is what it is and has done what it has done, I'm up against it. If they had just paid for everybody to stay home for six weeks, we could be looking like New Zealand. But they didn't, and we don't.
Advice welcome, especially if you know Cleveland.
There haven't been a lot of sleep tech opportunities in the Twin Cities, and I have not been chosen for the ones that I have applied for. Presumably this is because every other unemployed sleep tech is also applying for them, and there are any number of very good techs out there. So I also applied at two different traveling companies, that send you on a temporary basis to places that are looking for staff.
The first recruiter I talked to was...not good. In particular, he was very cavalier about the issue of housing. I am, obviously, going to maintain my residence at Blaisdell Polytechnic, which means that I need to pay double rent. The company did not provide housing or housing assistance, and everything that the recruiter said really seemed to imply that he was more comfortable working with 20-somethings who could fit their life into their car and who wanted to travel for fun. He was waxing poetic about the joys of working in Florida. Yeah...I'm not going to Florida. It may be a small thing, but man it was also vastly off-putting that his voice mail signs off with "Have a blessed day." Do people who do that have any idea how alienating that is for non-Christians? At any rate, I haven't heard from him in several weeks.
The second company I applied with is called Aureus Medical Group. The recruiter seems all together more competent and serious. (He did give me a weird pep-talk on how the job he was putting me in for was not a cake walk, and he hoped that I understood that I would actually be working. In addition to that just being odd, it contrasted wildly with the other recruiter, who was all "Sometimes you can show up for a shift and they'll just send you home!" as if that were a special perq.) The actual pay is not great, but they also pay a per diem for housing and food that is quite generous and pre-tax. They do offer benefits, though they don't seem real good. (Like vacation is a week after one year's work!) The insurance will probably be better than nothing, but again, not spectacular. However, it is work in my field, it is a night job, and I actually would like to work.
I had an interview with the recruiter, which went well, then filled out a ton of paperwork. He said that he had three possibilities, and that he would put my application in to all three of them. Later that day, I got a call from Cleveland Clinic, scheduled an interview. Per my recruiter, they must have called me about 5 minutes after he put my application in. I did well on the interview, they made me an offer, and I'm off to Cleveland. I'll be working four tens, not three twelves, which is what I'm used to. The shorter shift may well be nice, and the additional day probably doesn't matter that much, because I will not be having a social life. There's still one piece of administrivia that we haven't sorted. I asked to start after Thanksgiving, so I could have Thanksgiving at home. Which means I need to leave the day following, and won't arrive until Saturday. But I have to have my fingerprints done before starting work and I start work on Monday. So, waiting for all that to get figured out.
I found a small, not dire airbnb for quite cheap that is reasonably close to the Cleveland Clinic. I've had a couple of email exchanges with the "host" and she seems perfectly nice. It doesn't have a proper oven, so I don't know how I'm going to make bread. There was a lovely lovely apartment for about $600 more a month, but as DDB pointed out, for the price differential for one month, I could buy a table-top oven. It's basically a bedroom, living room, and incredibly small kitchen that looks reasonable functional, though with very little storage space. And a bathroom. It's a stand-alone unit, I don't have to share space. It is on the second floor, and I hate stairs, but well, such is life, right? The neighborhood is "Maple Heights" if you know anything about Cleveland. Me, I know nothing. It looks fine on Google street-view. Who knows? I know no one in Cleveland. On the other hand, it's not safe to socialize, anyway.
I'm stressed and scared. I do not know if this is safe or wise. But because the government is what it is and has done what it has done, I'm up against it. If they had just paid for everybody to stay home for six weeks, we could be looking like New Zealand. But they didn't, and we don't.
Advice welcome, especially if you know Cleveland.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 12:05 am (UTC)I have some kitchen stuff I don't need anymore, including a tabletop (toaster) oven.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 12:25 am (UTC)If I understand things correctly, the unit does have a toaster oven. Not sure how big it is. Am contemplating getting a small cast iron dutch oven to make tiny loaves in, if they fit.
Thank you for the very kind offer, though. At this point, I really need to be there and see what the power and countertop situation is before I do much more.
Ma Distant Cleveland Connection
Date: 2020-11-13 12:36 am (UTC)Re: Ma Distant Cleveland Connection
Date: 2020-11-13 01:05 am (UTC)P.S. Have finally gotten around to starting _Ancestral Night_. Thanks for the recommendation, and yeah, I can see why you saw similarities.
Congratulations!
Date: 2020-11-13 01:00 am (UTC)I don't know much about Cleveland, but as a former medical librarian, I know the Cleveland Clinic is one of the top medical facilities in the country. It's not quite as well know as Mayo, but it's their league, from what I have heard.
Re: Congratulations!
Date: 2020-11-13 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 02:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 01:32 pm (UTC)Please say whether you try this.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 04:21 pm (UTC)Best of luck on the job!
no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 09:43 pm (UTC)i don't know maple heights at all, but will ask my brother. you say it's a neighborhood? there's also a city of maple heights but that's a bit further out. if you would feel comfortable sharing the actual address, you could DW message it to me and i could relay it to said brother for more info (he would never bother you--he is a very decent sort of brother). anyway, i could certainly relay specific questions. i hope you will like the job!
no subject
Date: 2020-11-16 04:46 am (UTC)For fingerprints, can you have that done locally and then sent to Cleveland?