ON FAMILY ~ Dream Weaver...

"Mama - please find another job so we can pay this kid to stop sitting on me..."

I am in the market for work. Though I have a part-time job that pays me well, I am still in need of additional income to cover things like the mortgage, medical expenses and ever important tickets to a Red Sox game here and there. The problem is that I need this additional work to take place from my home. My nearly 8 month old son needs me here. What to do?

My freelance writing and editing role with the travel search engine site, Uptake, was recently eliminated. But that kind of work is something that I have always done from home around all kinds of other schedules. So I decided to pursue new freelance writing opportunities online wherever I could.

I subscribed to job posting sites sending me batches of want-ads daily from the world of writing and editing. I followed craigslist on Twitter. I searched through community postings in my town. I submitted resumes, filled out online applications and crafted personalized cover letters for job after job most every day. I even applied for a small gig at the local library because, to me, being paid babysitting rates to work amongst books is a dream. Most of the time I didn't get any sort of response. Other times, I got a standardized "thank you for your interest" reply and nothing further. It was frustrating and demoralizing. But then I thought of perusing LinkedIn and came across quite an opportunity.

I have used LinkedIn in the past to find writers for the blog I used to edit for Uptake. I also used LinkedIn to hire my own full-time office job replacement before I went on maternity leave. LinkedIn has been good to me. And now it has led me to a job that I would love to have.
Although I searched through countless job postings in the various groups I belong to on LinkedIn to no avail, it was an advanced search through the main job listings that led me to an ad for a virtual office manager/assistant to the head of an Executive Search firm. A-ha! I have been running an office and supporting a veteran salesman administratively for 18 years. I can certainly do the same for someone else from my home. However, this position is also looking for someone with strong writing skills to work on creating job listings, blast e-mails and social media outreach. This has me excited.

You know what else has me excited? The person I would be working for. He is a passionate entrepreneur. He exudes creative ideas. He has developed a company involved with placing talented professionals in challenging roles within the fast-paced and constantly evolving high-tech industry. He wants to work with the next great thing - the next Facebook, the next Google. And with the people designing those tools. I want to get on that ride. When I freelanced for Uptake, they were constantly coming up with fascinating concepts to get them one step ahead of their competition. Some of these ideas took off. Others crashed and burned. What I loved was that they shared them with all of us and encouraged our input. This fostered an environment of contagious enthusiasm and made me proud to be affiliated with them.

I also am encouraged by this company's growth. They are new but established, if that makes sense. They are growing and refining. Striving to improve. And in it for the long haul. They want to hire someone willing to stick with them, get them organized and help them to become more productive. I get the sense that they value loyalty and commitment - and would love to offer those things to their new employee. I have been blessed to work for 18 years with the same individual. I am all about the long haul.

When I interviewed for this position, I was asked what I REALLY want to do for a living. Not what I want to do for work, but what I would love to do while getting paid in the process. There is that working in a library thing. And being a beat writer for the Red Sox would be pretty damn awesome. But lets face it. At this point in my life I'm not going to go back to school for a degree in journalism. I'm not going to be a celebrated writer for a national publication covering sports or any other topic. And apparently I can't be a library assistant since I haven't heard back from that local application. What I have realized instead is that I don't particularly care much for the selling of products and services, but I do very much enjoy the behind the scenes organization that helps people get where they want to be. I like to help people. Connect with them and connect them to each other. I like to give them tools to minimize the stress and chaos. If I happened to enjoy the girly girl side of life, I'd probably be a kick-ass wedding planner. Instead, I was irritated that I missed a Red Sox perfect game while I was trying on wedding gowns.

What I want to do is to take the strengths I have and use them to make a difference. I would like to take all of my time management tools, organizational skills, motivating personality and diplomatic way of putting things and use them in this new job. From my home. Where I can be handy with my son and an empowering force for my employer. I want to help people find their own perfect job - just like I hope I may have done for myself now. I could be on the cusp of greatness with an admirable boss in a cutting edge world in between changing diapers. How often does that opportunity appear? In fact, there's only one downside to this job. Unfortunately, it's a big one.

My new would-be employer is a Yankees fan.

**Follow-up note - I did get the job!**