Hey, everybody, I could use some input!

Yesterday I was scanning the writing jobs on a national job site on the 'net, and I came across this very interesting ad for a grant writer for a non profit called Family Promise http://www.nihn.org/about/about.html. The job is part time, and you can work at home. Family Promise is working to help homeless families get housing and provide training to the adults to allow them to enter the work force and become self-sufficient. I'd never heard of them before, but as far as I can tell, they seem to be a legitimate organization working towards a very worthy goal. In fact, nothing could be closer to my heart than the work they are doing to assist the homeless and help them get back on their feet and be productive members of society again.

Guys, I think that I could do this job. I feel that I really have made some good strides toward recovering from the neurological damage I sustained from the CO, and I feel much clearer and more focused than I did even a year ago. I want so much to be a productive member of society again, myself. This just might be a great first step. I could work in the quiet of my own home without the distractions of a regular workplace which would really help me stay focused and on task. When I worked as a professional librarian I successfully wrote up and obtained several grants for my library. They were small ones, but I DID get them. I was also the science and medical book reviewer for THE professional publication for librarians - "The Library Journal."

I'm still a pretty good researcher, and, in fact, because of my own precarious housing situation, I've already been doing a lot of research into available funding for housing for people at or below the poverty line. I am very familiar with government agencies, and I've fought several successful battles on my own behalf with them. In addition, I've written an article on homelessness for one weekly paper and went to a major paper Colorado Springs and got them to print a front page article on homelessness with me on the cover (not my idea to be on the cover - theirs ).

What goes against me is the huge gap in my work history and the fact that Family Promise wants someone with 3 years experience as a grant writer. What I was thinking is that I could send them my professional librarian resume, highlighting my research and writing experience, and then in the cover letter, explain briefly what happened to me to create the gap in my job experience. I think in this case, I just might be able to turn my greatest liability into my greatest asset. After all, my experience as a homeless person myself will mean that I will bring far more determination and dedication to the project than someone who has never had that happen to them. And how many people with two master's degrees have experienced being homeless and living below the poverty line, and understand first hand the desperation of such a life?

The folks who hang out here in the Cellar are a pretty bright bunch and a lot of you are professionals. You also know more about the current climate of the employment world than I do since I've been out of the loop for so long. Do you all think my application might have a chance of being considered or am I nuts to even think of trying? If you do think I might have a chance, any ideas on how I might package my application? Your thoughts would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

[slang]

Originally Posted by marichiko

Do you all think my application might have a chance of being considered or am I nuts to even think of trying?

This sounds like the perfect job for you and I sincerely hope that you get it, or it leads to something as good.

In my opinion as someone that doesnt really know how things work in that particular area, it's the reason for a gap in employment that might be hard to overcome. From what you have described here, it doesnt sound like it would kill your chances outright. It may also be of some value to the decision maker that you have made huge gains to recovery.

I've been away from design for 3 years now and am interviewing here and there. They ask what I've been doing the last couple of years and I tell them "taking advantage of the downturn by getting another degree, working with other modeling type software in preparation for getting back into the market." That may very well be the reason I am not working right now, but it doesnt seem to phase the interviewer.

Demonstrating the required skills doesn't hurt either.

So, should you pursue this? Yes. But I would do what you can to actually see them. Tell your story, sell yourself.

That's what I'd do, for what it's worth.

Good luck Mari.

[lumberjim]

Sounds to me like you are underqualified to be a grant writer. they want 3 years of experience. You have gotten 3 grants. your librarian skills don't exactly translate. I would expect that grant writing full time is quite different. If no one else applies, you might get it, but you just know there is some newly mommyfied and therefore housebound grant writer out there that would be just perfect. I like it that you are at least thinking about getting back to work, but caution you against setting high hopes. For two reasons:

#1. your hopes will, statistically speaking, more than likely be dashed which will discourage you from job hunting....

....and in interest of satisfying my current 'troll mode' status, and in compliance with the wishes of those of you who have privately encouraged this kind of behaviour toward certain parties, I give you #2.(pun intended)....so....

#2: I think it is a cop out. you know you should be getting back to work, but you do not want to..... so, you hang all of your hopes and thoughts on a job that you know you won't get, thereby ...temporarily, at least.....relieving yourself of the prospect of going out and getting a job that consists of actual work.
Why not play to your strengths? You could be a Lilly Tomlin impersonator. You could do parties with Gilda Radner impersonators like Lady Sidhe.

[Clodfobble]

If I were the person looking at your cover letter/resume, my one big fear would be that you were still incapacitated in some way by your CO exposure. Obviously you have to explain the time gap, but I would spend the first part of the cover letter highlighting your experiences as a librarian, etc.--and only after you've established that you're an excellent writer, not just in work history but in the cover letter itself, about halfway down the page bring up the reason for the employment gap (making sure to make it sound like another qualification instead of an excuse.) Incidentally, I'd also focus more on the homelessness than the actual neurological damage aspect of it.

If the cover letter starts out with explaining the employment gap, they may never even get to the resume part. Anyway, I think you could definitely do this job, and I agree with slang, trying to talk to someone in person would be the best way to go about it. Enthusiasm is much better seen than read. Good luck!

[garnet]

Go for it Mari! You know, even if you don't get it, it's a motivator. You know you could do this job, and if you're anything like me, you don't like being told you can't do something. And it sounds like a great opportunity. So do it, girl! I've got my fingers crossed for ya!

[God]

Sayin' a prayer or two wouldn't hurt either, for Christ's sake.

Originally Posted by lumberjim

Sounds to me like you are underqualified to be a grant writer. they want 3 years of experience. You have gotten 3 grants. your librarian skills don't exactly translate...

#2: I think it is a cop out. you know you should be getting back to work, but you do not want to..... so, you hang all of your hopes and thoughts on a job that you know you won't get, thereby ...temporarily, at least.....relieving yourself of the prospect of going out and getting a job that consists of actual work.
Why not play to your strengths? You could be a Lilly Tomlin impersonator. You could do parties with Gilda Radner impersonators like Lady Sidhe.

LJ, as always, your post is thoughtful, uplifting, and completely clueless. :p

[lumberjim]

you could say it was tough love........i'll just leave it at that.

[flippant]

Yeah only geniuses grant write........The last time I was involved in a selection of one we picked the person we knew that may have written some grants before. I think your resume is a good idea and maybe it will stick out more than most. Just don't minimize your own abilties during the process (if the responses on the cellar are any indication). I know your background having heard it for many years, and they would be Lucky to have such a person. How many years experience have you had writing, and were you or were you not educated at a prominent university for just that? (rhetorical) And remember, if grant writing doesn't work out you could always become a used car salesman. (maximum qualification is the ability rip someone off with their knowledge of it)

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by flippant

~snip~~~ And remember, if grant writing doesn't work out you could always become a used car salesman. (maximum qualification is the ability rip someone off with their knowledge of it)

there are plenty of real life jobs she could hold. I don;t know if she could handle selling cars.....you have to think a few steps ahead to do that properly. and in sales, people need to like you. she might be a tad cloying for sales. maybe she could work the register at the grocery store, or if she needs to work at home, there are always jobs for medical transcriptioners and such in the paper.

you are a very good friend, flippant. i mean, to sacrifice yourself like you do, posting in mari's threads and always sounding even stupider than she, just to make her look smarter....it's quite ....touching. we could all use frineds like you behind us. good job

[flippant]

If "stupider" were actually a word I'd feel really threatened right now. I'm not her "frined" either. What do you use frineds for?

Well, LJ, aside, thanks to everyone else for your encouragement and suggestions. Clodfobble, I think that's an excellent idea to discuss my other qualifications in the first part of my cover letter and then introduce my CO expereience as the final qualifier while down playing the neurological aspect.

Even if I don't get this particular job, it has given me a more concrete goal to work toward. "I wanna do something with my writing" is pretty vague, now I have something specific. The stupid hospital FINALLY has the results of my neuropsych eval for me - it's only been since August that the tests were finished. The wait on the results has delayed me getting into the voc-rehab program, because they won't do anything for me until they see the results. So, next week I'm going to trot down there with my paperwork and see what they can do for me, as well. Who knows? Maybe they'll send me to some journalism courses up at CU so that I have some recent credentials to show future employers. Meanwhile, I'm still going to apply for the grant writing job. It doesn't hurt to try, and like Garnet said, it will help to get me back into a mind set where I'm looking for REAL work again.

[jinx]

Originally Posted by marichiko

and then introduce my CO expereience as the final qualifier

Qualifier? How does poisoning yourself qualify you for this job?
Do you mean that your sob story might trump the fact that you don't have the 3 years experience they are looking for?

[limey]

Originally Posted by marichiko

... [snip] It doesn't hurt to try, and like Garnet said, it will help to get me back into a mind set where I'm looking for REAL work again.

If you seem to be in the ballpark (and to me, you do, mari), then I've always said it is up the the potential employer to write you out, not you. So apply, emphasise your qualifications, both "academic" and experiential, and see what happens. Good luck, mari!

[Elspode]

I only know one thing for certain, Mari. If you don't apply, you will definitely not get it.