Two years ago, in August 2008, just as the economic recession was beginning to take effect, I began to put my career plans into motion. Having been somewhat unlucky with employment, I decided to start my own consulting business, as a way to put the principles I valued in the urban planning field to action and as a way to define and judge my work standards. So, for two years, in addition to completing my business plan, I also applied for short-term projects and research grants to help push my professional credentials forward and hence make my work profile marketable in the field for which I had trained for seven years.
There was, however, the issue of money. Obviously, I needed some income to pay my monthly bills and the second phase of my marketing plan. Someone said to me, "Why don't you try one of the temp agencies?" Of course, temping was always an option, but my previous experiences with temp agencies in Madison and Honolulu told me that I would not get temporary jobs in urban planning or in fields related to it because the jobs offered are usually in blue collar or in administrative fields.
In July 2009, after losing hope of finding short-term planning projects in my community, I finally relented. I submitted my work profile to four temp agencies and left the job hunt up to them. After all, what are temp agencies for? Several weeks passed, but I received no offers for employment. I pursued potential openings for the following weeks by following up on my initial application.