What the Duck — a job trek

The end of my one-hour-fifteen-minute commute was coming, and so were my steady paychecks. Could a shorter commute beyond the local Starbucks be in my future?

Well, I’ve pondered the fifteen minute to itinerant extremes for a long time, because I had been on the temporary path off and on for 15 years. However, three months before the October 2008 close, I cheerfully suggested 20 minute commutes to all listeners from agencies that placed designers on a temporary basis.

Now, the cold rain doused all these wishes, and I emailed agents far and wide in search of work. Some of my friends have mighty jaunts; for example, they may live in New Jersey and work in Ohio, surviving on a light per-diem rate for food and housing expenses. These hearty souls were in demand, up to a point.

By late January 2009, I was in contention for a handful of design jobs and for cordial sorry-they-can’t-use-you phone calls. Actually, one local company wanted me, and then had a hiring freeze, followed by a 6% layoff. Phone updates with the recruiting agency were as filling as “How is the weather?” So in late January, I decided to explore the opportunities in Europe by attending a job fair at the grand Athletic complex at MIT in Cambridge.

Most of the represented organizations, scented by wafting poolside disinfectants, were graduate schools located in cities and in the hinterlands of England and central Europe. The companies that attended weren’t looking for an interaction designer, unless that title was a moniker…