I was hit by LW shutting down especially hard for a few reasons. First, of course I would miss my teams. They are what made the job so much fun, and made it seem so simple. The people on my teams came from all walks of life. LiveWork gave a lot of people the opportunity to rise up out of whatever situation they were in and be successful in their goals. I did love watching that.
I wasn't hit so hard by missing the money though. We never allowed ourselves to really count on the money anyway. That part of it was always so erratic. We'd be pumping out batches left and right as quickly as we were able to, only to come to a full stop for days, weeks or even months at a time. We were always thirsting for new clients to serve, hungering for more work. So no, the money aspect isn't one that will be missed.
The job itself though, well, losing it hit me very hard. Where else can I, an uneducated woman, go to find a job like this? I was able to build my dreams from this. Yes, I've been to college and I'm two credits short of having three associates degrees. (Yes, that was three!) One school wanted to combine all three into one bachelor's degree. Life held me back though as it tends to do sometimes and all I wound up with was extremely high student loans, and no degree at all. So, for all intents and purposes, I am an uneducated woman.
Today's workforce just doesn't want to take a chance on an uneducated person. For some reason, that little piece of paper makes all of the difference in the world. I have seen people with no experience what so ever walk directly into the jobs that I am qualified for while I am overlooked.
No, when I said goodbye to LW, I felt as though I was saying goodbye to an opportunity. I had the opportunity to advance and grow within my own career path. It was one that I created for myself using the LW platform. When that platform was gone, I was left wondering where I'd go to find that opportunity again.
Today, I am sitting and redoing my resume. This thing is three pages long! And as I sit here and try to tailor it to the types of jobs that I'd want to apply to, all that I can consider is what it doesn't have. All that runs through my mind is the reasons to not hire me. That's a bit twisted, isn't it? I mean, as I read the resume, I am impressed with my accomplishments, but would anyone else be? I highly doubt it.
I do realize that most people go through the same exact thing when they work on their own resumes. They also feel uniquely under-qualified. I have grown so much though because of my experiences here at LW. I don't think that I can settle for being bottom of the barrel now because I remember what it was like to be at the top of the heap. I don't know. The bottom of the barrel just isn't good enough for me anymore.
So I'm updating the resume and trying to focus hard on all of the reasons that a company should hire me. And then, I'm going to take a chance and send it out, to one company in particular, and then to others. It's been a full week since LW has shut down. It's time to start reaching out, and reaching up again.
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