This morning I remembered that when I was here during the summer I had learned that the local mall, Washington Square, has a website where all the stores list their job openings. I went there and ran down the list looking for any that said they had seasonal openings. I came up with a list of nine stores that were looking for someone on a seasonal basis. I printed up ten copies of my resume and hit the mall…
The first thing I did was stop at the directional board and note where the stores on my list were. Then I started walking. I was passing a kiosk when a man asked if I wanted a sample of meat. It was a Hickory Farms kiosk. I took the sample and jokingly said, “I applied for your job but didn’t get it.” (That happened while we were still in Wisconsin.) His ears perked up and he said, “We just opened this kiosk today, but we’re going to open another at the other end of the mall soon. I might be interested in talking with you before we get that one in.” I left him a copy of my resume.
Some of the stores I went to took my resume but encouraged me to fill out their application online. Two stores, Something Silver and Made In Oregon, handed me paper applications which I filled out right then and turned in. In both cases, they then scheduled me for an interview next week. At another store, Williams-Sonoma, the assistant manager almost sounded like she would be willing to hire me on the spot, but she had to run it by the manager first. I was tempted to stop right there and hope to hear from her soon, but I figured maybe I shouldn’t put all my eggs in one basket.
Applying in the mall before the holidays was a quick and easy way to get my resume out there to a bunch of stores in a short amount of time and not have to waste a lot of gas. I came out of the mall feeling much more hopeful today!
Mark took a driving test for UPS today. His abilities were a little rusty, but he has been accepted to drive. With some practice, I know it will come back to him.
This evening Mark and I met my son at a restaurant and had dinner together. It was so good to see him and catch up on each other’s news. It’s good to have time to spend with my family and friends and know I can see them again and again for the next few months!