It’s been almost 3 weeks since babydeux was born.  It’s been a fun, exhausting time.  (If anyone has any pointers on how to take a 2 year-old with no self-control and a newborn out in public by oneself, let me know!  Because, err, that isn’t happening any time soon…)  But reality is checking in, my husband is going back to PT work, and I…well…I am on the job lookout once again.

Things are different this time around though.  Here’s my list of things that went wrong during my job search before:

1.  Worrying about disclosing information to a future employer that could jeopardize employment:  

I don’t have to worry about taking maternity time off in the future.  I can go into every job interview knowing that I can essentially be a workhorse for them, and don’t have feel the guilt of disclosing future leaves of absence.  To say this is a relief is an understatement.

2.  Feeling like crap…makes you look like crap.

I don’t look like a whale now that a 7lb bundle of joy has emerged – watermelon-like – out of my body.  I am not going into interviews with the feeling that I look like hell – which as everyone knows – when you feel like you look like hell, you generally do simply because of your demeanor.

3.  Dressing for the part…

The maternity pantsuit I bought for $22 is currently being consigned at a local store for $75 (which I will get half for, if it sells), which makes me glad that it is out of the house.  Why?  Because I felt terrible in it.  The sleeves were too long, the jacket was too big (even on me pregnant), and the pants were too loose.  Putting on the maternity suit didn’t make me feel powerful – it made me feel obese and frumpy.  I didn’t stroll all confident-like into interviews – I slumped like a giant black pile of goo.

Now?  After perusing the local thrift and consignment stores and finding nothing that worked, my husband and I went to Nordstrom Rack to find an interview outfit for me to wear.  For $80 I found a Calvin Klein dark grey sheath dress with matching jacket.  Just putting it on made me feel better than I had in a while.  Zipping into a form-fitting dress, putting on my dress shoes, and doing my hair and make-up were confidence boosters I hadn’t felt in a while, and I went into my first interview post-baby with confidence that I looked the part that I was trying to play.

4.  Desperate no longer…

And finally, the thing that will probably land me my eventual job – the thing that my husband pointed out to me as I stepped back into the car after my interview the other day – I don’t have the air of desperation around me anymore.  Before during my job search, I was getting so desperate and despondent at not being able to find a job, that I was projecting that air to the people around me.  It took a few weeks of adamant non-job searching for me to relax a bit, realize that we still have a fair amount in our e-fund and aren’t going to melt into debt, and find a little zen.  Of course giving birth helped too.  I am back to feeling confident about myself (sans desperation) because I know now that if everything falls through I am physically capable of doing any job, whereas before I was limited by pregnant mobility.  The restaurant I worked at before is hiring and would love to have me back – it’s sort of like having F-you money (thanks Jim Collins!) since I know that I have a fallback if worst comes to worst.

So here I am again, back in the job-searching saddle.

I have emailed all the recruiters that I had met with before and updated my status.  Some have gotten back to me, some haven’t.  One is actively submitting me to every job he has that I’m qualified for – almost all of those are for the same position I did get an interview for while pregnant but didn’t get (same company, multiples of the same type of position) – so I’m hoping to get another shot at that type of contract position.  I did have one interview with a recruiter who liked me and thought I was a good fit for a specific position – she is trying to schedule an interview with that company now – keeping my fingers crossed that they haven’t found someone for that position yet.  I have a phone interview next week and am doing a little prep on how not to mess that up.  I’d like to at least get a chance to sit in with them in person.  There are opportunities out there for me – I just have to find the right one that fate has directed my way (and not mess up that opportunity, of course).

Are things looking up now?  I think so…