Working in corporate marketing for ~10 years has dried up my passion and creativity.

I am feeling very unsafe in my current job because a staff person on my small team just got fired, and the way the firing was handled left me feeling distrustful and wondering if I will be next. Feeling desperate to find something and extremely discouraged because of the drama and negativity in my work environment, and I don't want that to shine through in my interview. Please give me suggestions to bring back my positive self? I am exhausted from the drama at work.

lately I feel like my life is just falling apart. I'm constantly alone and sad. I make art and I sell it sometimes but not enough to live off of, and I'm very depressed. I also have 1500 in debt because I bought food and art supplies on credit. I have excellent credit because of my past spending habits but I need to make this money back somehow. I also tutor online but the amount i make is so low it cant even begin to cover my debt. I make 12.00 an hour teaching online..but I can only take about 5 students max per day. I have approached some art galleries about showing my work, but they are usually scams and say I have to pay thousands to be in the show. I don't have any friends , none that keep in touch. i feel very sad all the time.

I am interviewing for a role that has a low ball salary given the expectations and specialized knowledge for the job. I am unemployed so I'm considering it. However, on top of that, they have a process that includes 3 rounds of interviews, a homework assignment to be presented to the owners and hiring manager, a psychological assessment and a personality assessment. Would you jump through all of these hoops?

When I started searching, I reached to my contacts and made everyone aware that I was looking for a new position. Sadly, that didn't amount to much as while sympathetic, they didn't have the connections to aid my search. Next, I used the usual job searching sites including LinkedIn and Indeed and added in industry specific websites. The aforementioned were hit or miss but reaching out to 6-degree of separation contacts that were listed as knowing someone at the company and forward along my resume helped a handful of times in terms of an HR interview but didn't result in a job offer. Connections forwarding me job listings has been helpful and has resulted in some interviews but the role went to internal candidates. Listening to everyone's input I probably have thousands of versions of resumes and made the mistake of updating my summary section each time. with the flavor of the month resumes. What I didn't realize it that due to scanning software, your roles are reviewed but not necessarily the summary and that's why your bullet points need to be tailored to the role. The summary helped if it landed in someone's email or they HR / hiring manager was reviewing my resume not ATS or third-party vendors. The same applies to designed versions and what was working well for email didn't transmitting correctly in scanning software. I spent 3 months applying with a designed resume due to my brand marketing background thinking it would help me stand out from other applicants. What I didn't realize until one time I was able to view my scanned resume in a candidate profile was how badly it was screwing up my information. That's why simple and straightforward works best and use STAR or action & result based bullet points. 3-5 is enough( I was using way too many at the start) and have those tailored to the role's JD. Blasting out resumes is not the answer, spending time sometimes even hours applying for a relevant role goes a lot further than easy apply submission. A recent higher-ed application took 6 hours to complete and I took breaks in between) but resulted in an interview. Tip: Review what's needed ahead of time for long-job applications and using the folder method, creating everything that's needed to upload during the submission process instead of remaining online. It's heartbreaking when the application times out and sometimes you lose everything if it's your first application with the organization. Desktop folders make submitting and reviewing past applications so much easier. This one took me a long time to figure out so here's what I'm currently doing.... Starting the month off fresh with a new folder. Each application has a sub folder within that month listing the company's name. I include any material needed for the application as well as a screen shot or PDF of JD in case I needed to reference it later. This helped tremendously as I've been contacted weeks later and sometimes the JD is taken down and I wasn't sure of what I wrote in my cover letter or resume. and had to go fish through resumes to find the right one. I'm treating myself to a new laptop once I find a new role as this one is full of applications and presentations. Finally, I call it the circle method. When preparing for an interview, I draw a circle in the middle of the page. Inside I list the position. I draw off-shoot circles and while reading the JD, add key words and requirements to those circles. After researching the company and compiling my notes, I create my Final Circles containing what I want to address as 6-8 main components related to my experience. At the top of the page I list 3-4 questions I want to ask during the interview so I'm not caught off guard. I include the salary range, work environment and interviewer's name, contact details and date / format / time of the interview. That way, I can review one sheet before the interview commences and I feel prepared. While I haven't found a job yet, I feel like I'm getting closer and starting to have more interviews that are a better-fit for my experience. I hope some of these tips help as I had to learn them the hard way and it's added months to my search. Sending best wishes and good luck to my fellow searchers!

Good Career Options, Information Systems and Technologies

I just found out that the former manager chose to close out my performance review after I left. They marked every category NR (not ratable) and left a comment that I was unavailable/unable to sign. Which now means I am ineligible for an award and could compromise my position due to the current climate in the federal government. The former org’s HR will not help me, stating I need to reach out to the manager directly. I refuse, as I do not feel comfortable and it is not my place. what should I do?