Ah, yes it continues . . . the Job Quest . . . now that should be a reality show, but as always I digress.

Now that my latest stint as a temporary attorney is over, I’m back on the job search scene with a vengeance.

My first stop:  Networking with friends.  Now this seems to work for others, but not me.  One friend, a legal recruiter, said, "But Jessica, I read your blog, and looked at your pictures, your so talented, it seems you could do something with that — not practicing law."  Lovely, I thought, maybe it’s talent that’s keeping me from getting a job.

Another friend, who’s always talking about how his fledgling company has gone from five to five hundred employees — practically overnight says, "Are you still looking for a job?"  Gee, I thought, you must have thrown away all those e-mails I sent you offering to work for your fledgling company.

My second stop: a non-profit organization whose goal it is to place ‘qualified’ minorities in the industry.  The recruiter/placement person sat critiquing resumes during our career strategies workshop.  "You shouldn’t have your high school on the resume," he said to one woman.  "More bullet points." he said to another.  He read mine to the group and they actually oohed and aahed — and really I’m not patting my self on the back, but for some reason, non lawyer folks think being a lawyer is impressive (when they’re not cursing your name and calling you ambulance chasers) — and he said, "Oh, you should have no problem getting a position with these credentials."

Ironically that’s exactly what my career counselor said fifteen months ago — and yet here I am marching toward death — with no unemployment benefits.

My third stop:  Again, I got a phone call from a potential employer who saw my resume on CalJobs (and yes, now that I have no unemployment, I’m deleting that resume).  Looking for in house counsel, he said, paying at least $72,000 a year.  The downside, he was located in Chino, CA.  For folks who didn’t watch the first season of The O.C., Chino is about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, In San Bernardino county — ok, really, the desert.  And just to put it in perspective, it takes about 45 minutes to travel 10 miles during rush hour.

So, being the trooper I am, I braved the long drive on four freeways, in 100 degree heat (it’s a dry heat) to meet with the folks from this Chino company.  Of course, because, really my luck is this way, this Chino company is of course one man, about ninety, with one crazy litigation matter against the State of California, that no lawyer would take.  His idea was to maybe employ someone part time to work, in his family room, on his one case.

Now, on the drive back, I pondered how this would look on my already hodge podge resume, and things weren’t looking so good.  So I was saved? from making a decision about this case when I got a ‘no’ first thing this morning.

The job quest marches on.