Musings from Brian J. Noggle

The Resume

Today was my last day at my current job, and the end of a personal era. Let me explain.

I entered the work force in 1990 when I moved from a forsaken Marcellus (that is, not a town, not a village, not even a Hamlet, but rather a minor character therein) to Milwaukee to attend the prestigious (to those in Milwaukee) Marquette University. I worked my way through college since I screwed off my way through scholarships (quickly), so I held that first job for the four years it took me to complete Writing Intensive English (WINE--who could ask for a better degree?) and Social Philosophy degrees.

After that, though, I graduated with degrees that "prepare you for anything" but give you little in terms of an actual job path. As such, I held a number of positions, many in retail and many part time overlapping with other positions.

I've often told stories of my varied resume for the amusement of my co-workers. However, the allusions to my resume can fail to capture the nature and breadth of the job bouncing I've done, so I provide the following accounting for their reckoning and your amusement:

Company	Title	Duration
Gold's/Sheridan's Shop Rite	Bagger/Checker/Produce Clerk	47 months
Blue Horseshoe Productions	Telemarketing Fund Raiser	1 months
Price Chopper	Utility Clerk	3 months
National Systems, Inc.	Marketing Research Assistant	1 months
Better Business World	Guy Friday/Computer Assembler	3 months
Artmart	Shipping/Receiving Clerk	8 months
Sappington Farmers Market	Produce Clerk	15 months
The Paint Dealer	Assistant Editor	4 months
Drug Package, Inc.	Class II Web Printing Press Operator	24 months
TALX Corporation	Documentation Specialist	8 months
Data Research Associates, Inc.	Technical Writer/Automated Tester	21 months
MetaMatrix, Incorporated	Technical Writer	35 months
Tripos, Incorporated	Quality Assurance Engineer I	?

It's a lot of job bouncing, undoubtedly, but a lot of it took place in the early part of my "career," when an extra fifty cents an hour meant a ten percent pay raise.

Overall, within my employment history, jobs have been fluid, plentiful, and easily changed. In today's economy, it's important to keep this in mind. I've never felt that a single job's going to provide for my retirement (nor will a single government system like Socialism Security). I've also been comfortable moving forward as well as backward or side-to-side to find something new, and I've worked at crummy jobs enough to realize that you can always find something if you're willing to be honest and to work earnestly.

It's a big step, though, leaving a place I've worked for almost three years. Don't laugh; these have been three important, formative years in my life. They represent years 2-4 in my marriage and 1-3 in home ownership. I wrote my best novel manuscript yet, John Donnelly's Gold, while at this last job.

So I'm moving on, and as I reflect on my job history, several things clarify:

I'll always need to attach an extra sheet as necessary when filling out those foolish job applications for advanced positions which demand your complete job history from the time you were a "sonographic model."
Every job is a McJob now, no matter what its rank or salary.
My latest novel manuscript, John Donnelly's Gold, has not yet made me independently wealthy to the point wherein I can sleep until ten o'clock, putter until two o'clock, nap until four o'clock, and write about the fictional human condition until one or two in the morning.
The position into which I am going is my thirteenth job, and I should resign now before the dire consequences occur.

- posted by Brian J. @ 12:12 AM