Fan To Pro - The Blog of Professional Geekery

Know Your Rights

With the exception of my last installment of “Beyond the Loading Screen,” this is my last post for 2011.  If there's one big thing I learned this year, it's this: Know your rights.  Know your rights and defend them.

When you get a job, especially if you’re a young person working at entry level, your employers may try to take advantage of you.  Don’t let them.  Do a web search of what workers in your country/state/province are entitled to - the government’s official site should be the first hit on most search engines - and read.  There are rules set up to protect you.  Learn them. 

This applies to anyone at any job, but it is especially important for geeks.  There’s this sense that since you’re working towards your dream job that you’re asking too much for your rights to be upheld too.  We get the idea that there are sacrifices that must be made.

The Painless Cover Letter

Following our last survey, I saw how many of us hate writing cover letters.  However, there is a relatively painless way to get the words out onto the page.  If you follow these seven steps, you can write a cover letter that will stand out (and won’t fling you into the depths of writer’s block).

If it’s a cold mailing, then you can start writing right away.  Alternately, if you’re responding to a job ad, start by perusing the ad and highlighting all the things they’re looking for.  This could be certain qualities they want in an employee (so make sure you emphasize those that apply to you) or it could be requests (such as “please indicate hours of availability”).  Generally, these answers will fit into the second paragraph.

Okay, deep breath.  Let’s get started.

I Don't Have The Time

I’ve recently run into a little problem in my job search.  It’s a worrying trend, akin to refusing to hire someone unless they already have a job.  There are a number of places I’ve applied where they want me to make a commitment to them, regardless of whether the job is being offered or not.  Now, objectively, if I’m not working for them (yet), then how I spend my time is none of their business.  If I need to spend my time working at another job, or looking for another job, they’ve got to understand that.  Especially in the case where they are only offering minimum wage or commissions-based part-time work, they can’t expect that I’m not going to keep looking for something supplemental.

Paralyzed HR, Active Progeeks

So yesterday, I mentioned that, based on what I've been reading and seeing in people I know doing a job search, the HR/recruiting system of many companies is essentially locked up:

• When there is a system, it often is disempowered, has mixed duties, and either outsources a lot or isn't sure what to do.
• Some companies have just turned to recruiters and tossed out some requests, making things more confusing.
• In the wake of a rather paralyzed HR scene, some smart young companies are trying to jump into business - a sign there's easy pickings.
• I hear constant complaints from everyone, a sign the whole HR/recruiting scene is not working for people - including those in it.

So my take?  It ain't working.

Beyond The Loading Screen: May

May?  What is May?  The fifth month on my calendar is called “Anime North.”  That said, it’s not like this month wasn’t beneficial to my career.

The YA Project
This one has been at a standstill due to certain parties being preoccupied with other commitments.  Seeing as one of those parties was Yours Truly, I cannot complain.

The TV Show
No one is watching the YouTube clips anymore.   I will keep an eye on it for another month, and then consider taking a different approach to getting fans.  I have an idea or two in the works, one of which involves a colab with someone I met at Anime North.  The other involves a skill I developed while making a game show for, you guessed it, Anime North.

The Company
Okay, here’s the big one.  I need to promote and sell my show, and during the con, I met some contacts who might help me do that.  Ironically, not one of them was encountered during my planned Networking Time.  It just goes to show you the value of always being prepared to take advantage of an opportunity as it presents itself.

Actually, this whole month was proof of the value of removing the boundary between work and fun.  When you are doing something progeeky, your work IS fun, and so even in your offtime, you are bound to discover things that can help you on your way.

Goals for June: follow up with the new contacts and get cracking on those new ideas for promoting my show.

-Tamara Hecht

Review of “The Adventures of Unemployed Man”

“Do you ever think maybe thinking positive doesn’t mean being happy while you’re getting screwed by the system.  Maybe it means being positive about your ability to change it.”
- Bruce Paine a.k.a. Unemployed Man

Look!  Up in the sky!  It’s a comic book!  No, it’s an economics text!  No, it’s... “The Adventures of Unemployed Man,” by Erich Origen, Gan Golan, and a hero team of artists.

This unique book explains the causes of the Great Recession, touches on several longstanding societal problems, and presents it all in a way that is accessible and fun to read.  Did I mention it’s a comic?

Unemployed? Try Volunteering at a Con

(This is a guest post by Lauren Orsini.  Thanks Lauren!)

When I was unemployed, my worst enemy was time. It was tough to shift from my identity as a constantly multitasking graduate student to suddenly being a part-time minimum wage cashier living with my parents. I suddenly had hours of free time, which you’d think would be a blessing. But a lack of routine just made me lazy and depressed.
 
I needed to find something to bring structure and purpose back to my life, and fast.
 

How to Jumpstart Your Career With a Blog

(This is a guest post by Lauren Orsini.  Thanks Lauren!)
       
If you read Steven’s interview with me, you know that my blog was an important part of landing a new job. I always knew that blogging was a great way to record and share my passions, but I didn’t realize that it could also get me work.
 
I started my short-lived NaNoJobMo (a riff on NaNoWriMo) blog on November 1. The basis of NaNoWriMo is that anyone can be a novelist in a month as long as they plug away at it every day for 30 days. I thought I could apply the same logic to my job hunt. I would apply to a new job every day for 30 days, and I would do it publicly so the world could hold me accountable to my vow.
 

Interview with Progeek Lauren Rae Orsini

I met Lauren Rae Orsini pretty much by random - she'd commented on my profiling of Anime USA on Twitter, and I looked her up.  Imagine my pleasure in discovering that this woman is pure progeek, from her work in writing to blogging at Otaku Journalist and Japanator, and her convention work.

I asked her for an interview, and before I could do anything else, she essentially interviewed herself for me!  This woman can't stop writing, so here's her pure insights into how she went from unemployed graduate to employed, while building her skills along the way with high-power geekdom.

Best of all? Lauren's going to be doing a series of columns for us starting in a few weeks on unemployment and the job search.

Beyond the Loading Screen

Salutations, Progeeks, Profans, and Protaku.  Tamara here.  On this last day of the year, I’d like to announce my upcoming feature on this blog: Beyond the Loading Screen.

This monthly column is going to summarize the struggles and successes of a progeek and her threefold multimedia quest.  Or, in less flashy words: I will attempt to get a book published, make a TV show, and figure out what to do with my small animation startup.  Then I’m going to blog about it.

Here’s my current situation, and perhaps you can relate.  A geek from the start, I always wanted to do something creative with my life.  I graduated from university just as the recession started, and I have not yet had a steady job.  Well, there was one, but the Unemployment Pixies cast Outsource, and since then I’ve had only sporadic part-time work at various companies.

I always wanted to make films and TV shows, and I have not yet given up on that dream.  About a year ago, myself and two other dreamers started an animation company, which shriveled and died due to lack of startup capital.  One of the people left, but the other remaining person and I are trying to reinvent our company.

So now let’s take some Before pictures.