Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Hooray! I've finally have time to post an update on this tired old blog. I've been getting lost in the multitude of identities in the blogiphere. Although I keep searching with every ounce of my spirit, I'm not getting anywhere in my search for a good company to devote my talents to.

I have added a few more projects to my Behance portfolio and they were well received by my peers. However my experience with my job hunt has been anything but inspiring. I have given my skills and time to several non profit endeavors and all I've discovered is that they can't pay their bills. Non profit organizations don't pay people, they expect donations of time and talent for FREE. If I continue to give my services away, no one will think I'm worth paying, so I must stop giving my time away.

In fact, this most recent company has me reconsidering every ad I see on Craigslist with a much more scrutinizing eye. Ontrix Solutions is a local SEO website optimizing marketing firm in my part of the San Fernando Valley. They ran an ad for a contractor, marketing associate, part-time. When I responded, I felt hopeful that I possessed the talent and experience to make a decent wage. Instead, I was asked to work without pay for 10 days while training.

Because the software used at their company was proprietary, I thought there may be a need for me to learn something new to accomplish the tasks on their job description. But, it wasn't a NEW system I sat down at, it was an old DELL running 2007 vintage WINDOWS crap. The CS5 Photoshop used was also vintage and my tasks didn't include any "training". So I tolerated the lousy old equipment and went through 15 FREE hours working for this company, only to discover that they just let go their graphic designer and needed me to do her work. So they dropped a wage earning graphic design worker and replaced her with a seasoned pro who is volunteering services for FREE. Hmmmmn.

My comment is OMG, this guy is brilliant.....and I fell for it.

Okay, he fooled me into donating 15 hours of my time for promises of something on another day. Perhaps weeks down the road and months away from a living wage. Sounds like an old trick from the Popeye cartoons. Yup. I guess I'll just put my time to better use and work my new online store. Keep searching for the job with a living wage. Wish me luck!