BYU MBA Program 2008

This entry will be a lot easier to write to say the least because I finally decided to use the 3 year warranty I bought on my Dell laptop and get the keyboard fixed. The space bar was busted up and some of the keys would only work if I hit them two or three times, so it is nice to finally have a fully functional keyboard.

Aside from a new keyboard this week was interesting seeing I attended another job fair. This time it was held at the University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals and where the Super Bowl was held last year. There was over 250 employers at the fair so the representation was much better than the last job fair I attended. Thousands showed up to this job fair, many in suits looking for professional jobs ranging from my age to people in their 60s’. The Job fair was so big they even had workshops going all day and stations where you could get resume help.

A friend of mine flew in from Utah to attend this job fair, so it was nice not to go at it alone. Another aspect I liked about this job fair is the fact that Jobing.com, who put on the job fair, listed all the companies that were going to show up. This also allowed me to type in each companies name into the job site to see what they were hiring for. Unfortunately not many professional jobs, just a lot of entry level and Bachelor degree level employment, which is fine for most people, but someone like me who had an MBA job and bought a house thinking they were going to keep that job for more than two stinking months and now has a mortgage that requires an MBA salary that will not do.

So unfortunately I showed up to the job fair with little expectations, and that is what I found. After making a few rounds and checking out all the companies and realizing none of them were hiring the kind of job I needed I decided to get in line for Resume help because I really had nothing else to do at the fair. While I was in line I caught the eye of the local news station who asked if they could mike me and follow me around for a while. I said sure, and for the next 45 minutes the news crew followed me around. It made it kind of awkward when I was talking to the resume help lady and a company I decided to visit because the news crew set up a camera and hanged a microphone in between us, but it made the job fair fun. Here is the link to my 15 seconds of fame that was on the nightly news (there is a 15 second commercial first, I apologize):

http://www.azfamily.com/video/localnews-index.html?nvid=270569

Pretty nice huh, there I am on TV letting everyone in the Phoenix Metro Area that I got laid off after only 2 months of work. I guess I have some pipe dream some employer saw that clip and felt bad for me and they are thinking “lets give this guy a chance!”. One can dream can’t they….

After my time with the News crew I made a few more circles around the job fair just to confirm I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now is not the time to be an out of work MBA grad looking for jobs. The job market is brutal, and these job fairs just make me feel like there are no jobs out there for me. It is rough right now, and I am beginning to look forward to NSHMBA in October (National Society for Hispanic MBAs) which is an actual job fair tailored for MBA students and grads. I just hope by the time NSHMBA comes around I have something or else my family and I are really going to be in trouble.

Every morning now I go through the same routine, I wake up early; go on all the internet job sites and check to see which new jobs are posted. If I am qualified for the job I will re-write my resume and cover letter and send it off and apply, hoping for the best. I have heard little to nothing back, and I am considering more and more the job that is posted for car salesman for the local Honda dealership. I figure that is a job I can get into, and leave if I have to, without hurting a company too much. I would love to just grab a normal job for a while, but I would feel real bad only being there for like a couple of months and then leaving when they thought they had a commitment from me. No sense in having some company train me for the future and then I just ditch out on them, that is not right and I am not that kind of person, even if a company has already done that to me in the past.

I am still holding out that my alumni networks will come through for me and something will come up. I was talking tomy wife and we were trying to decide if I was worth more as a stay at home Dad for the time being so she can work from home, but the problem is in September her work ends and we will really be in trouble. That pretty much gives me one month to find something. I had a previous goal of trying to find a job before my 2 week severance ran up but that did not happen, so hopefully this goal of finding a job before my wife’s work ends will come true.