This blog does not reveal you as a great person, which you could possibly be. In the book, “From Good to Great”, great companies hire people based on their skills (rule: first who, then what) and that you have lots of, but my parents, especially my dad, could possibly land you a great gig but can’t now ‘coz you’ve revealed that you’re too shallow. You just about wiped out any serious journalistic job by revealing who you really are (or maybe not who you really are, who knows). Try Hollywood. Most jobs outside entertainment cannot have this kind of publicity.

I too, lost my job – in 1999, and temped until 2007. Nobody told me that to debit and credit and get benefits you had to be a size 8, at the most. I could write a litany about all the places I temped and all the wacky, tacky and sometimes human and inhuman) ways I was treated. As a matter of fact, NPR was one of my temp assignments.

Here is a BBS of beta males http://www.loserkibbutz.com

http://www.campidiot.com/ci/viewtopic.php?id=272976

Do you make a regular appearance at the Topaz Hotel comedy night? Have never been, but would go to catch your act.

I belong to the growing population of people who are retired and have a pension but still want and need to work. Am a former US Foreign Service Officer (Department of State) whose career primarily involved reporting on international oil (Mexico, Venezuela and Nigeria), economic development (El Salvador, India and Kenya) and environment (the UN Environment Program and negotiation of the climate change and biodiversity conservation conventions). Sounds fascinating, and it was, but it’s a career that simply has none of the metrics and keywords a corporate recruiter looks for (unless you reach the exalted level of Ambassador or Assistant Secretary and have some value as window dressing on the company letterhead). You’re a generalist whose strengths are writing well, negotiating, speaking foreign languages, making contacts easily, and understanding other cultures. But those aren’t useful keywords on RetirementJobs.com. You never ran a business, and can’t say you increased the State Department’s market share of anything, managed a large budget (all centralized), or cut government operating costs so as to increase shareholder value. Everyone nods and says wow, you’ve had a fascinating career and have seen many countries, but that doesn’t translate into grasping how you can help them today. As so many others have done, I went into real estate five years ago, when it was booming, but that’s an overcrowded and depressed field these days. I thank the lord evey day for the pension we have, since without it I’d probably be one of those guys with a shopping cart sleeping down on the steam grates at 19th and E.

Still, as you said in the WP mag article, we keep our heads up and eyes open, hoping to attract positive vibrations and recognize opportunity when it comes. Keep on, and best of luck to you.