If you’ve made it to this post, that means you’ve seen a job application I’ve submitted and were just curious enough to check me out. Goodness. Yes, I am a photographer, yes, I run my own business. It is full time sometimes and nothing at other times. Currently I am a little psyched for August to hit as it’s too hot and sticky and gross and people are out of town so it is historically my 3rd favorite quiet month after January and February. I tend to write run on sentences when I’ve had too much coffee. Or am nervous. In addition to this little business, I’ve been working the gig economy for 13 years. Oh look! My youngest child is 13! Coincidence? Not a chance. With the oldest going off to college and just having one semi-self sufficient kiddo at home this fall, I am looking for something more steady and salaried so I can offload most of my other work. Photography will stay around, might be a little different, but it’s my love so I can’t give that up. Also my clients are the best and I’m not missing out on our yearly sessions!
Again, if you are reading this, huzzah! Welcome to my weird little world. I am just a mom, standing in front of grown ups, asking them to hire her. As one potential employer put it last summer, “Moms just get shit done.” Then her board decided their graphic design/publication/editing job that I was a perfect fit for should actually be 75% video production against her teams wishes. Boo. But she wasn’t wrong – I get shit done. I have to. No one else is going to carry the emotional and mental load of parenting and householding if I don’t (not to throw my husband under the bus, but he has his job, and it is the one for which we need the Bacon). I manage my household and kids and our finances. This economy stinks so on top of getting out of the gig economy a steady salary with benefits would be a god-send for our family. But, I’m a weird fit on paper. Solid if not advanced strengths in some areas, weaker in others, and I don’t know how to leverage that into the perfect job and even harder, a cover letter. Consider this blog post a short essay in lieu of a cover letter. It doesn’t help that my husband is an HR manager so he over thinks and micromanages absolutely everything when it comes to job searching and drives me nuts. I prefer to trust my gut and lay it all out there instead. For better or worse, I guess. Like here’s the whole crazy package: If you hire me you won’t regret it. But you will laugh.
I’ve been a digital nomad since before that term was coined. Use to take my iMac laptop that looked like a toilet seat and didn’t have wifi to the coffee shop and write articles on best business practices in the early 2000s. I have intimate knowledge of which coffee shops have the best outlet access and likelihood of getting a table. After 10 years at the FAA as a contractor, five of those remote, I was actually written out of a contract because the other bidders didn’t know I existed – I was so good at my job, “Katie? Oh stuff just gets done and we don’t have to manage her.” It’s a glowing recommendation but lost me a position. I might have experienced some delightful schadenfreude watching my bosses take on all my open projects and scramble to find a sub-contract or sub-sub to rehire me when it wasn’t working. Alas they didn’t, kid number two was on the way, and it seemed like a good time to step back.
My biggest hurdle in this job search (at least today; tomorrow my anxiety will be telling me it’s something else) is not having an adequate graphic design portfolio online. I’ve got a box of hard copies; I really should set up a little photo studio on my work table and start photographing these things. But then what do I do with them? Start another website for just my graphics work? Add an album to this site? I need to take a, “How to get a job as a graphic designer or desktop publisher like all the kids fresh from design school but for people who are old and busy,” seminar. Or just cross my fingers and hope you, gentle reader and HR manager, understand the packaging doesn’t dictate how awesome the treasure on the inside might be.
I’ve hustled my kids into club swimming by building the teams social media presences as well as upkeep on website continuity and changes, as well as print marketing and branding work to really grow their business. Which it has over the past couple of years. I’m just tired. I don’t want to juggle 17 projects for multiple clients anymore. I’d really like to have one main job. Take my photography and studio art back to just stuff I love to do for me and not to strive to make enough to pay bills.
If you’re still reading this and wondering, “Is this woman whackadoo?” Yes, yes she is. It’s lack of sleep and too much stress living in the gig economy with kids and a mortgage. Which is why I’m hoping to streamline my life a little. One job! ONE!! It sounds amazing. All that to say: Hire me! I will do whatever needs to be done to the best of my ability. I’ve never met a software product I couldn’t figure out. I’m humble and own up to mistakes and fix them ASAP. My most recent job submission looked so much like what duties I held in that last contractor position I’m crossing my fingers you are the HR manager for that. If you are, CALL ME. If you aren’t, you should still call me. I’d be a boon for your organization even if I’m not the 100% perfect candidate on paper.