Impending Updates and the Career Front

I'm working on some of the fairy wallpapers as well as a set of Christmas-themed fantasy wallpapers. These tie into another quiz, which is, of course, a way of getting the word out about the website.

I'm currently working on monetizing my website and blogs, since finding a steady job is turning out to be... difficult. Even the newspaper job listings in the Venice Gondolier and Venice Herald-Tribune are not materializing.

The economy in cities like Venice and nearby Sarasota depend, to a large extent, on "Season" - that is, Tourist Season. Unfortunately, with the state that the economy is in, the tourists just aren't showing up. Four restaurants closed in Venice recently, which obviously isn't helping the job market.

There are waitressing jobs in Sarasota, but I can't drive 20 miles to work every day - not with the price of gas lately. It makes me wish that Florida had better public transportation systems.

The "other" job hunt - the long-term one - isn't going so well, either.

I've done the usual - spamming resumes, etc. It's not enough to be passive, I can't just post my resume places and expect employers to pound down the door - on the other hand, it doesn't hurt to post it as many places as possible. Searches in places like CareerBuilder, Creative Hotlist, and Monster.com are as much a part of the war as passively posting my resume on them. They're excellent resources, and if you're looking for a job you need to use every option at your disposal. Anyone seriously looking for a job can't afford to pass them up.

At one point I found an international listing of game companies, A-Z, got frustrated, and started applying to them in alphabetical order. I'd gotten to G, passing up the companies that obviously wouldn't hire me or the ones that weren't a good fit (the website was completely in Japanese, or they produced only interfaces for medical software... why are they in a listing for game companies?), when I got sort of frustrated.

The crux of the matter is that without the right connections willing to help you, genuine entry-level positions aren't necessarily easy to find. Most public listings are for Mid-level or Senior something or other, with 5 years of experience in Underwater Basket Weaving (or a similar skill). I've even offered to work for free - unfortunately, I am no longer in college. I'd still probably do an unpaid internship for the lulz.