I GOT A JOB!

Hey everybody.  Wow, I am sure blogging a lot less than I expected to this summer.  I'm sorry, but I feel I have quite a valid excuse and that is, drum roll,please.....I GOT A JOB!  Yes, after many years of waiting, and wondering how I will be able to become part of the work force, I, Kate Gibbs, landed a  paying job as an advertiser for the summer.  I was asked to work for a local organization called The  Windermere Valley Early Childhood Development Team (WVECD Team)  I advertise all summer programs that are going on this year  for kids.  I work from home mostly, writing up the ads, and sending them the person who is in charge, and she posts them of facebok under the WVECD Team page.  I then, go out to the events to take pictures of the kids, interview them about what their favorite part of each program is, and post  the pictures on facebook to promote the programs.

I'd never thought of myself as being an advertiser, especially as my first job,but I'm really enjoying it.  It involves my two favorite things, writing, and working with children. It was a little confusing at first, figuring out exactly how I needed to make the ads, but, I think I'm getting  the hang of it now.   Most ads are quite short.  When people read an ad, they just want to know the facts about what's going on, and not read a tenthly summary about it.  Well, we all know that "short and sweet" is NOT my strong point, but I am learning.  ha ha.   It's not too bad.  I just look up the website for the program, write down basic facts, and contact information.  Keeping the ads short is a good learning skill for me to learn, and I have to practise it, because, besides writing these ads for Facebook, I have also been allowed to put my ads in a little local flyer called the Valley Peak that everyone in Invermere reads. My friend Patti and I made a portfolio of all the newspaper articles I've written at the Valley Echo for Work Experience and compiled them into a folder to show off as proof of the work I did.   The man who runs that paper says that paper has quite limited space, so I have to make my ads even shorter and sweeter than I did the first time I wrote them.  Yikes!  ha ha.  I can handle it!    Writing the ads for WVECD is only going  to be a summer job, but Valley peak has allowed me to write for them inb the fall too.  I might put bits and pieces of my blog in there.  Cool!

Like I said, this job keeps me quite busy this summer.  I write one, maybe two ads a day.  I love it!  Being employed is something I do not like to take for granted.  Having physical challenges,it is hard to get jobs, because the building has to be set up perfectly, and the work has to be not to physically demanding.  In this town, finding a job that meets that criteria is hard.  I went for an interview at the Library once to see if I could get a job, and it didn't work out because of my physical limitations.  When that happens to you, you kind of lose hope.  You think, "I can't even put books on  high shelf myself, who is going to want me to work for them. Those frightening  Thoughts of "You can't" come into your head, and you get down on yourself, but you have to make those thoughts leave your head just as quickly as they came in, because  the truth is  YOU CAN!  The right job for you will come along.  You just have to be super duper  patient, and determined too.  Never let your diverseability be the excuse for why you can't do something.  If someone thinks you are unemployable, your job for the time being is ,to prove them wrong, and put yourself out there.  Don't give up!  You can do it!

So, I just wanted to thank my friend Patti for helping me get the job in the first.  She's been an amazing help in getting me organized, and doing some of my work with me on the days I spend with her.  Thank you to my family for supporting me, and Lisa Lehr, my boss who hired me in the first place.   I apologise in advance for maybe not writing so many blogs this summer.  I'll try though! 

As of this summer , I am officially part of the working world!  :)