Category: Career

I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride. There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but WORK has been my drug of choice! I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing over the years. Each week I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. My 7th job was Features Staff Writer for the Murray State News.

Double Major

I studied Music and Journalism at Murray State. In high school, I was involved in television production, choir and theatre. In 2008, I won two Student Emmy awards for my ENG reports and won reporter of the year in my Production class. Four of my reports aired on the local news in Memphis, Tennessee.

Journalism was supposed to be the backup plan if music performance did not pan out for me. However, I realized that if I truly wanted to be television journalist, I would not be able to be a performer. Both careers are not very lucrative and do not mesh well together. Some journalists make millions of dollars, but most journalists make about the equivalent of a teacher’s salary.

Features Writer

During my final semester of college, I was hired as a staff writer for the Murray State News. Since I wanted to be a television journalist, I never considered writing for the school newspaper. The Features editor would give me weekly assignments to write for the paper. I never chose any of my writing assignments. Recently, I found several of my articles online, but had no memory of writing some of the articles.

Last Article Before Graduation

I wrote about 12 articles for the school newspaper. My final writing assignment was to cover The Suspensions, an a cappella male singing group on campus. This article was significant for me. My friends Daniel Milam and Micheal Martin sang in the group. I interviewed both of them at the same time and recorded the interview.

We laughed and had so much fun. I kept the conversation on the recorder for a few years after the interview. Daniel passed away a few months later in a car accident. It was a devastating loss for the Murray State community. This article was the last article about Daniel before he passed away. I cherish my memories with Daniel especially this article and that interview.

https://thenews.org/2012/12/06/students-form-male-female-a-capella-music-groups/

Conclusion

Writing for the school newspaper was quite the experience. I actually do not remember writing most of the articles because it was so long ago. I was shocked to find some of the articles online. It is a bit surreal that I wrote articles that I have no memory of writing. However, this job gave me an opportunity to use the writing skills that I had learned in my journalism classes during my time at Murray State.

https://murraystatenews.org/10973/features/department-edits-mozart-for-children/

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years/

How many jobs have you held in your life? I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride.

There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but my drug of choice has been WORK! Most of my adult life I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing. Each week I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. Job number 6 was Assistant Office Manger at Camp Thunderbird in Bemidji, Minnesota in the summer of 2012.

Summer of 2012

Every summer, I would come home to Memphis from college and could never get a summer job. In 2012, I got creative. I decided to apply for several summer camps in different states. Within a few days, I heard back from a camp in Minnesota and interviewed for a position. I signed the contract and left Memphis about a week or so later. Yay for creativity!

Camp Thunderbird

I flew to Minneapolis and took a bus with other camp staff members to Bemidji, Minnesota. It was a beautiful city and camp site. There were two camps, one for boys and one for girls. I worked as an assistant office manager at the boys camp. The first week all of the staff members cleaned up the camp site. This included painting, sorting and organizing materials, and thoroughly cleaning the cabins for the incoming campers. During the second week, we had training for all of the staff members at both camp sites. The third week, the campers came!

Summer Camp

The campers came from everywhere around the United States. All of the staff members came from different states as well as different countries. The camp lasted eight weeks for the campers. Some campers only did one of the four week sessions, but most did the entire eight week session. All meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner were provided. Every staff member went by a nickname. My nickname was “Aria”. No one ever called me Dominique the entire summer.

There was even a snack after the campers went to bed for the adult staff members. We ate together every meal with the campers in the dining hall. The cook was amazing! This job was completely out of my comfort zone, but it was a wonderful experience. I am not an outdoor person, but I think this experience did give me a better appreciation for nature and its beauty. I did not quit this job, but the contract ended after the summer.

Sincerely,

Dominique Duarte

https://www.camptbird.com/

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years-5/

How many jobs have you held in your life? I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride.

There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but my drug of choice has been WORK! Most of my adult life I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing. Each week I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. I will reflect on my experience at each job. Job number 5 was Campus Pizza at Murray State.

Campus Pizza

Campus Pizza was a pizza delivery service at Murray State. I worked at Campus Pizza during my senior year of college from fall 2011 until October 2012. This job was a solid job for a college student. It was not as physically challenging as working at Winslow Dining Hall. You would prep cook the pizzas when you arrived to the shift. Then, we would wait for students to call in orders for pizzas, make and cook the pizzas, and delivery the pizzas to the students’ dorms.

Schedule

I worked Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from around 4pm or 5pm until midnight. During the 2011-2012 school year, I did not do any musicals or operas. I just did the Alpha’s Miss Black & Gold Pageant in the fall of 2011. This freed me up to work most weekends at Campus Pizza and get a consistent paycheck. Furthermore, my grades were much better when I had a job than when I did not have a job during my junior year.

Student Managers

Murray State Dining Services had student managers. The student managers were in charge of the older staff members who had been at the University for years, which was a bit weird. Most student managers were pretty good, but they were college students. It was too much responsibility for a college student. Management is hard for adults in general let alone, 19 to 22 year olds. A student manager is a great idea and concept, but it was poorly executed at times.

Shift Coverage Issues

We did not have the student managers’ cell phone numbers. No one ever answered the dining services phone, especially on the weekends. There was one student manager, who was a former roommate of a close friend. She was amazing at the job and I loved working with her. She knew that I was a music major and had performances sometimes that may conflict with my work schedule.

In the past, if I had a performance, I would place my name on the shift coverage sheet for someone to take my shift ahead of time. I tried to get someone to cover my shift. If no one signed up, I would let this student manager know ahead of the shift, so it was never a “no call, no show”. However, this student manager graduated in the spring of 2012. Unfortunately, I had one more semester of college in the fall to complete my double major in Journalism.

New Manager

One of my former co-workers was promoted to student manager in the fall. I had worked with her the previous school year. This student had taken some of my shifts a few times when I had performances in the past. I was cast in Big River and Little Shop of Horrors at Playhouse in the Park and had performances on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays during the fall of 2012. So, just like in the past, I tried to get someone to cover my shift, but no one signed up for this shift.

Firing

On the day of the shift, I left a message on the Winslow Dining Services phone to no avail because no one received the message. After my performance, I got an email from the new student manager and former co-worker saying that I was fired because I did not show up for work. The job was about to end in a little over a month permanently since I was graduating in December 2012. But it hurt a bit to be fired by someone who I had worked with and who knew that I was a good employee.

Reflection

I worked hard at that job for over a year and was dropped like a hot potato. If there had been an adult with life experience in this situation, it would have been handled much differently. If I had just been able to contact the student manager, everything would have been fine. I sent an email to the student manager explaining that I did call, but I never received a response from her.

You should always contact your employers if you cannot come in to work and speak to them directly. However, this has never been an issue at any of my jobs in the real world. There was no way to contact my student managers since I did not have their cell phone numbers or email addresses at the time. I graduated college a little over a month after the firing. Lastly, I was still working at the Murray State News during that semester, so comme ci, comme sa. Next post will discuss my time at the Murray State News.

Sincerely,

Dominique Duarte

Have you ever been fired? Comment below!

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years/

https://www.murraystate.edu/campus/Dining/index.aspx

How many jobs have you held in your life? I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride. There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but my drug of choice has been WORK! Most of my adult life I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing. Each week I will discuss and reflect on one of my former or current jobs. Here is job number 4!

First United Methodist Chancel Choir

In college, I began singing in the choir at the United Methodist Church in Murray, Kentucky. The chair of the MSU music department was also the choir director at this church at the time. She would hire a few university singers to sing with her church choir. I attended rehearsals on Wednesday nights and sang with the choir every Sunday. It was a wonderful job for a college student and, even better for a music major to work on their sight reading skills.

Cultural Difference

Many predominantly white churches pay some of the singers. Before college, I had no idea that this was a thing because I had only attended black churches. Most predominantly black churches view paying singers as something you should not do. I have received so many mixed messages over the years about singing at church for pay.

Quitting

For me singing at church is not just a job. It has been my way of serving in the church. Well, the paid singers were serving First United Methodist Church in Murray because the university singers helped the elderly singers feel more confident with their singing. However, I quit this job because I had mixed feelings about singing at church for money. It was actually a classmate’s comments that convicted me about it.

Conclusion

After I quit the choir, I was often asked to sing at different churches during my time in Kentucky. I was always paid after I sang a solo at a church. So, I could have just kept my regular church job to be honest. One friend recently said something recently that resonated with me. She said that she invested thousands of dollars to be a trained singer.

So, she should be compensated for her singing at a church. It is not just a talent, but something that I have invested so much time and money into. However, I am still on the fence about this topic, even in 2024. As an adult I have been paid several times to sing solos at churches over the years. I am grateful to share my gifts in the church whether I am paid or not. If I am paid it is a nice bonus, but if not that is okay too.

Sincerely,

Dominique Duarte

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years/

https://www.murrayfirst.org/

How many jobs have you held in your life? I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride.

There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but my drug of choice has been WORK! Most of my adult life I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing. Each week I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. I will reflect on my experience at each job. Here is job number 3!

First College Job

When I went to college, I debated multiple times whether to work while I was in school. I did not mind working, but music was an extremely time consuming major that required several rehearsals and way too many classes each semester. During my first semester of my sophomore year, I decided to get a job at Winslow Dining Hall at Murray State.

I cannot remember how much I got paid for this job, It was probably minimum wage. Minimum wage in Kentucky at the time was $7.25 an hour. I worked this job for only one school semester August 2009 until December 2009. This job involved some serious back breaking work on top of my crazy music major schedule. I worked Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Winslow Duties

I worked in the dish room for most of my shifts. Working in the dish room is not for the faint of heart. It is hot, wet, and you see some pretty nasty food combos on the dishes. On weekend mornings, I sometimes made omelets for students. I tried flipping an omelet just like my co-worker did, but dropped it on the floor. LOL. Also, I would have to clean all of the tables and there were several tables on both sides of the dining hall. This was a pretty big dining hall.

Quitting

If I had a normal major that did not require so many outside rehearsals, I would have continued working this job. Yes it was hard work, but it was similar to the work that I did at Ryan’s Grill Buffet & Bakery. Furthermore, I made straight A’s the semester that I worked at Winslow Dining Hall.

This was the only time in my college career that I did that. This part-time job kept me more focused with my schoolwork because I had less time to complete it. So, maybe, I should have kept this job after all. If you are a college student, consider getting a part-time job. It actually may keep you more focused on your schoolwork than you think.

Hope this helps,

Dominique Duarte

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years/

https://www.murraystate.edu/campus/Dining/index.aspx

How many jobs have you held in your life? I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, and television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride.

There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but my drug of choice has been WORK! Most of my adult life I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing. Each week I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. I will reflect on my experience at each job. Here is job number two!

My Second Job

In the summer of 2008 before I went off to college, I worked as a server at Ryan’s Grill Buffet & Bakery. This job may have been one of my worst job experiences to date. Ryan’s Grill & Buffet on Riverdale Road in Memphis, Tennessee was a very popular restaurant for years. I remember going there often to eat with my family on several occassions. However, it was much cleaner and well managed back then.

Bug Problem

When I worked at this restaurant, there was a significant roach problem. It was terrible. One day, a customer told me that a roach went into the salad on the buffet line. This was mortifying. When I would go to the stock room there were always roaches in there too. The Riverdale location closed not long after I left. I was not surprised when the location closed because I am sure they failed the health inspections.

Money Woes

Since Ryan’s servers received tips, the hourly wage was only $2.14 an hour! I had checks that were $14! My total tips for two months was only about $350 dollars. This was enough to pay for my college textbooks only. It is tricky when you are a server at a buffet restaurant because people do not think tipping is necessary since the server does not deliver the food to the guests. But at Ryan’s, I took all of the drink orders with unlimited refills, gave guests multiple baskets of buttered rolls, and bussed the tables.

Quitting for College

I quit this job when I went to Murray State in the fall of 2008. Ironically, there was a Ryan’s in Murray, Kentucky so I could have tranferred! Who Knew! This was my only restaurant server job to date. After this experience, I never wanted to serve again due to the super sporadic tips and low hourly wage. Furthermore, I was not the best server, even at a buffet style restaurant.

Yes, I was friendly, but moving quickly has never been my strength in life. A server has to work fast and swift especially at a non-buffet style restaurant. I struggled to be fast at the buffet style restaurant so there would be no serving for me in my future, not in this lifetime. Serving is a very challenging job that requires significant muli-tasking and strong customer service skills.

Food for Thought

I encourage everyone to appreciate their servers when they go out to eat. If the food is messed up, it is not the server’s fault unless the server took your order incorrectly. If the food is taking too long, this is usually not the server’s fault either. The cooks are probably behind on the orders. If you have ever been in a restaurant kitchen, it is chaotic back there, especially during rush hours.

Your server has between six to eight tables at a time. At the end of the day, most servers want you to have a positive experience and they are not trying to ruin your day. Servers have been some of the kindest people that I have worked with most times. Servers are extremely hard working, even the grumpy ones, lol. Please give your servers some grace the next time you go out to eat. Empathy goes a long way.

Dominique Duarte

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years/

Looking for a Job? Try Indeed: https://www.indeed.com/

How many jobs have you held in your life? I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, and television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride. There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but my drug of choice has been WORK!

Most of my adult life I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing. So I will be doing a series on my 33 Jobs. Each week I will discuss one of my jobs and reflect on what I learned. Maybe you can apply for one of these jobs. Let’s start with my first job!

https://www.ghstv.org/

https://www.ppp.org/

My First Job

My first job was working for GHS-TV and Poplar Pike Playhouse as an intern for the summer of 2007. It was actually a full-time position that paid minimum wage which was $6.50 an hour at the time. In high school, I was enrolled in a class called “Production”. We were known as the “production students” by faculty and classmates.

Production Class

Most students thought we were insane and had no life outside of the theatre or televison studio. Well, they were not wrong. We basically worked full-time as students at GHS-TV and Poplar Pike Playhouse during the school year. The actual Production Class was during fourth period. We all had different positions in the class for both GHS-TV and Poplar Pike Playhouse.

Production Jobs

For the Poplar Pike Playhouse, I was an assistant box office manager my junior year and box office manager my senior year. I was also a producer for Wake Up, Germantown and student reporter for GHS-TV. Our fourth period Production Class was a daily meeting between the fine arts faculty and all of the production students. After the meeting, we would get to work on whatever projects that we needed to do for either GHS-TV or Poplar Pike Playhouse.

A Small Misunderstanding

This job was a great first job. I just continued doing the work that I had been doing during the school year. But this time I got a paycheck, which was amazing. However, once the summer was over, the fine arts chairperson told me that I was expected to take Production Class for both fourth and fifth period during my senior year.

If I had know that I was expected to do fourth and fifth period for Production Class, I would not have done the summer internship. 4th Period Production Class and Chamber Choir were my only electives that year. All of my other classes were required in order to graduate. I could not have another elective and I did not want to drop choir.

The department chairperson was not happy, but there was nothing that he could do. I am so glad that I stayed in choir because I made the All-West Tennessee Honor Choir that year, which was a cool experience. Lastly, I became a music major in college. I may not have been accepted into the music department at Murray State if I had not remained in choir during my senior year.

Conclusion

Compared to most people’s first jobs, this was a cool first job. During the internship, I got to work with my classmates and prepare for my Production Class jobs for the following school year. Production Class responsibilities were extremely difficult to balance during the school year. The summer internship was a relief because I had no homework or classes in the summer.

During the school year, I stayed after-school quite late almost daily for Production related projects. Sometimes, I would get up at 3am just to complete my homework. The paid summer internship was probably one of the calmest times in my life. Furthermore, at the end of my senior, I won two regional Emmys for my news reports at GHS-TV and won best reporter in my production class. Internships are a nice way to expose yourself to the workforce. So if you are in high school or college, I would encourage you to apply to internships as soon as possible.

Dominique Duarte

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-live-life-one-day-at-a-time/

“Life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” -Forest Gump. Who knows how to manage life after college? I learned that the quote above it so true to life. the Forrest Gump is a classic film that I have watched growing up. The quote above was just a funny saying to me at the time. But I had no idea how accurate this quote would be in my life. I graduated college 11 years ago in December and it has been quite a wild ride. Managing life after high school and college is not for the faint of heart.

2013-2016- NYC & Back Home Again

On January 2nd, 2013, I moved to NYC. I decided to move back home to Memphis three weeks later at the end of January. I stayed in Memphis for three years, but those three years were necessary for me to grow as a performer and a person. I performed more in those three years in Memphis than I have in the last seven years since living in NYC. Leaving NYC in 2013 was a setback at the time, but moving back home taught me to make the most of the setback.

2016-2017- NYC & AMDA

In 2016, I decided to move back to NYC after getting accepted into AMDA. On August 6, 2016, I moved back to NYC. I got a job at the Disney Store in Times Square, and took classes at AMDA, full-time conservatory from October 2016 until June 2017. I received a signficant scholarship to go to AMDA. I took a small personal loan the first year to cover the left over cost and was approved without a co-signer. However, I could not get approved for another small loan for the second year.

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-wait-patiently/

2017-2018- AUDITIONS

I left AMDA after two semesters and began to audition in NYC. I got callbacks on my first two live auditions, which was amazing. I got an agent and manager in February 2018 and booked a musical in Colorado from March until May 2018. I came back to NYC and auditioned regularly while I worked full-time at Trader Joe’s. Due to burnout from performing, I decided to take a break from acting at the end of 2018.

2019-2020-Teaching & Church, Pre-Pandemic

In 2019, I began working for the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services as a teaching artist for the Arts & Literacy Program. In February of 2020, I applied and was hired as a full-time teacher at Achievment First Crown Heights Elementary for the 2020-2021 school year. During this time, I finally found a church home in NYC at Bethany United Methodist in Brooklyn. I joined the church about a week before the shutdown for COVID.

2020-2022- Teaching, Return to Acting

In order to teach at Achievement First, I had to enroll at Relay Graduate School of Education to study Elementary Education. I completed my first year of teaching and graduate school. However, my second year was not as successful for teaching or finishing my degree. I worked at two other schools my second year of teaching, but quit both schools before the end of the 2021-2022 school year.

Then, I took a leave of absence from grad school and began acting again after a 3-year hiatus. Surprisingly, I booked quite a bit of acting work in 2022 in television, film, as well as a play and a new musical reading. During this time, I worked at Jazz at Lincoln Center, returned to the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services, and began working in catering for Amerivents as well as Cipriani.

2023- A Year of Several Changes

2023 was a roller coaster of changes. In January, my catering jobs slowed down to nothing. In late 2022, I quit my jobs at Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Coalition because I thought I would make more money I worked more hours at the catering jobs. Once the catering jobs came to a halt in January, I enrolled in classes to get a security guard license and work as a flex security guard. At the same time, I applied for teaching jobs again. I got a position as a 6th grade math teacher at a school in the Bronx and reenrolled at Relay for my final semester.

2023- Brief Return to Teaching & Setback

When I re-enrolled in graduate school, I was hopeful that I would finish out the school year with a master’s degree in Elementary Education. However, I was asked to be dishonest by my leadership team at the school. I thought about being dishonest because at this point I felt desperate to keep this job to finish the degree.

But once my professor informed me that what I was being asked to do was against state regulations, I decided to resign. No one tells you that there are consequences for honesty. It was already April by this time so I did not finish my master’s degree again for the second time.

I resigned from teaching and went back to catering just in time for the busy season. I continued auditioning again and booked a staged reading for a new musical in NYC, a staged musical presentation in Pennsylvania, and a national choral tour that I loved. What started out as a really rough year turned out to be one of the most memorable years by early November.

End of 2023

November and December took me on another wild ride. I finished my tour on November 5th and returned home to a bit of a cultural shock. I went back to catering, but I knew that catering was going to slow down in January so I tried to find other jobs. I accepted three jobs within a few weeks.

Conclusion

2024 is a brand new year and I am thankful for it. I have learned quite a bit in just the last few weeks. I am learning to stand up for myself more and do things that are more aligned with my values. Yes, I want to act and perform, but I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur as well. My focus this year is to make that a reality. I started my own business in Tennessee and I can do that again in NYC. Working for myself is my ultimate goal and I pray that it comes to fruition. Life will throw things at you, but you have to just pivot and keep going. Be persistent and consistent!

Book Suggestion: The Power of Persistence: How to Stop Quitting on Yourself and Achieve Your Goals: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Persistence-Quitting-Confidence-Willpower/dp/1640954694

Hope this helps,

Dominique Duarte

Job hunting can be quite the experience for everyone. It can be arduous, time consuming, and exhausting. The job market is super competitive right now, so you need to be prepared with your best resume and cover letter to stand out from the other candidates. Assess your skill sets, apply for hundreds of jobs, and prepare for your job interviews in order to find a job.

Assess Your Skill Sets

What are your talents? What skills have you acquired thus far? Analyze your work experience and the skills that you have acquired from past work. If you do not have much work experience, then list any volunteer work or internships on your resume. Your resume can make or break you from getting a job interview. Your resume should be a summary of your past jobs and highlight your skill sets within each position that you held.

Apply for Hundreds of Jobs

Applying for jobs is a numbers game so you should apply for as many jobs as possible. Apply for hundreds of jobs at a time. Use https://www.indeed.com/ to apply for a massive amount of jobs in a short period of time by uploading a resume to the website. When you apply for jobs make sure these are jobs that conincide with your past work experience and skill sets. Please make sure the resume looks professional with no typos or errors.

Prepare for Interviews

You got called in for an interview! Congrats! Now this is where you need to shine bright like a diamond. Please bring your best personality, your resume, and your best business casual attire. Practice possible interview questions with a friend if you get nervous during interviews.

The most challenging questions tend to be the following: What are your weaknesses and why? Why did you leave your last position? Why should we hire you? Tell me about a time when you had a conflict at work and how did you handle it? Be prepared to answer these questions because at least one of these questions will probably come up in an interview.

Conclusion

Assessing your skill sets, preparing for your job interviews, and applying for hundreds of jobs should get you a job as soon as possible. Remember to apply for jobs within your skill sets and past work experience. Furthermore, you can create more than one resume to fit into different job types. For example, I have three resumes, one for customer service applications, one for teaching applications, and one for performing applications. Each resume serves its purpose and I submit the appropriate resume for whatever job type that I am applying for at the moment.

SIDENOTE

Lastly, there are many more job opportunities in certain cities and areas than others. If you are struggling to find work in your current area, consider applying for jobs in other areas and possibly relocating. Yes, relocating can be costly, but if you end up accepting a full-time job that pays well, you can afford to relocate and make up the financial difference once you begin working.

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-be-a-good-employee/

Hope this helps,

Dominique Duarte

How do you prepare for job interviews? Comment below!

“The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice. It is conformity.” -Earl Nightingale

Society loves to tell you which jobs are the best and the worst and why. Social media and the internet post articles all the time about this subject. Your own family and friends will inadvertently tell you their own prejudices about certain jobs. Who do you listen to? To compromise or not to compromise, that is the question?

Jobs & Career Prejudice

We all have a tendency to look down on some jobs and romanticize other jobs. The people who work at the job make the difference, not the job or career itself. For example, if you work in a service job, the assumption is that you must have made a mistake or lost your way. If you are a teacher, people will remember their own educational experience, which leads them to either demonize education, or overromanticize your job role.

Other people view you as almost angelic for doing such a selfless act as teaching young students. In the arts, singers, musicians, artists, dancers and entertainers are viewed as glamourous, talented or pompous and self absorbed, if they are successful. When the success dies down, they are villainized. If they self destruct, it was because they chose such a horrible career choice. Or, if you are trying to make it and have not had instant success, then you are wasting your life. If someone makes it, then they were just lucky, no hard work was involved along the way, it was only their pure talent that got them to the top.

Why Are You Showing Up for Work

Are you doing the job with integrity and honoring your true self? Or are you giving a subpar performance just to get a paycheck? Do you give 100 percent and still feel unfufilled in your work? When we choose to compromise, we give up our true callings to win societal approval and avoid discomfort financially. You can be whatever you want to be in life. If it is legal, of course.

Unfortunately, some people do find ways to do illegal things within legal jobs and careers. Go figure! However, most of us choose a practical career or job in order to have stability. We settle! We settle to fit in, to not stand out, to be accepted by our family, friends, and colleagues. There are no good or bad jobs as long as you do not compromise your intergity and your authentic self while working that job or career.

What Makes a Job or Career?

YOU make a job or career! You make the difference! If you are doing a job that you find fulfilling, then that makes it good no matter what anyone else tells you. Teaching is a beautiful career, especially when someone is passionate about it. Every customer service job is essential to the function of our economy and day to day living.

When a service worker is giving 100 percent, he/she can make a person’s experience memorable. If someone hears a beautiful piece of music or watches a powerful film or play, it can have an impact on his/her life forever. When you show up and give the best of yourself, you will feel happier no matter what job or career you have.

Conclusion

I remember getting so much praise and appreciation from people in general for having a teaching career, which fed my longing for approval abundantly. If I wanted to keep up the people pleasing and the NYC teaching salary and benefits, I could have continued working in education.

I was chasing a check, caving in to familial and societal approval, compromising my integrity regularly, and neglecting my mental health on a daily basis. Your conscious knows when you are conforming, but you ignore it. We all know that there will be hard days at work no matter what job or career you have. But ask yourself: how do you show up to work each day? Are you just trying to get through the day every single day? Are you using any of your natural gifts? Do you know what your gifts are?

Find out as soon as possible if you do not know. Listen to your conscious or God or whatever you believe in. Tune out what the world is telling you. This is hard, but I believe in you. If we would become self-aware and be true to our authentic selves, I truly believe that we would all find contentment and peace within.

Book Suggestion: The Big Leap: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/6391876

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/the-best-ways-to-find-a-job/

Hope this Helps

Dominique Duarte