The Name of the Blog

You must be thinking, "Technical Bohemian?!?  Odd name for a blog.  What do you suppose that means?" 

It arose in a discussion I was having in the office of a friend and fellow recruiter one day.  We were discussing how certain personality types fit into certain positions.  We started talking about people in human resources.  And he said, "You - you don't fit the mold at all.  HR types are typically touchy-feely types, and you have that, but they tend to be kind of conservative.  But you're also very bohemian, very artistic.  And you also have a pretty technical side, with your computer skills.  You're a technical bohemian!" 

When I decided to start a blog, I didn't want to limit it to one specific subject.  I wanted to be able to let loose on whatever struck my fancy at the moment.  So, my thanks to Charlie for his inspired naming of my personality type, and consequently my blog.

In the future, you're likely to see articles on just about anything.  As you may have surmised, by profession, I'm an HR recruiter and generalist.  I live in Rhode Island and unfortunately, due to the wretched state of the economy, I've been out of work for the past 15 months.  I have been using my involuntary sabbatical wisely, however.  In between my feverish work searches, I have been going back to school part-time to upgrade my skills with an HR Management certificate program.  When I finish that in June, I'll be taking courses to complete my long-neglected Bachelor's. 

I've also been indulging in my artistic side.  At one of my recent networking meetings, the guest speaker said that we should try and think about our period of unemployment as "the gift of time", a time to be able to do things we wouldn't ordinarily be able to do if we were working full time.  Without actually having put it into words, that's apparently just what I've been doing.  In the early days of my job loss, when jobs were the most scarce, panic was rising, frustration was almost at a fever pitch, and I knew I had to do something to feed my soul and keep my sanity.  I'd been dabbling with polymer clay and jewelry making for a year or so before, but not with any degree of seriousness.  Now was the time to get serious.  I turned my spare room into a full-fledged art studio and made it into a place where it was really comfortable and fun to work.  I scoured the library and the web for books and ideas, clipped coupons and built myself a small library of reference books.  I try to spend a couple of hours a day, several days a week in my studio, developing my skills and enjoying myself.  It keeps me upbeat for the job search.  I also make some nice jewelry that I wear on job interviews that end up being conversation starters.  So you may be hearing about or seeing photos of some of the things I make, or links to other artists's work that I admire.

You may also be seeing items related to school and/or my job search.  One thing you will definitely see is related to a project for my Organizational and Employee Development class.  As a job seeker, I've gotten frustrated with the lack of communication after job interviews, so I'd like to figure out how to fix that.  I'm currently constructing a survey on process improvement in the post-interview process (really, it's not the snooze-fest it sounds like!), and I'm going to be looking for participants.  I'll post the link here, as well as a number of other places, and I'll also post the results here at the end of June.  More details about the project in the next article.

That's about it for now.  I'm going to go enjoy the rest of this beautiful, sunny spring day outdoors.  Until next time, be safe, be well, be happy.

The Technical Bohemian