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- Cassie Glubzinski, 36, began looking for work in January after nearly 12 years out of the workforce.
- After four months, she says she’s “got nowhere.”
- Despite the Great Resignation, many Americans have not found the job search as easy as some have assumed.
After nearly 12 years out of the workforce, Cassie Glubzinski suspected that finding a new job wouldn’t be easy.
But the challenge proved especially difficult for the military mother of three, who applied for “close to 400” jobs in the first six months of this year, she told Insider.
When she wasn’t job hunting, Glubzinski was taking care of her three children and preparing for a move from New York to Florida, her seventh home in nearly 12 years of marriage to her husband, who serves in the military.
But Glubzinski, 36, says the biggest obstacle in her search is her significant lack of work.
“I felt terribly inadequate because when it came to writing a work experience, I had 10 years of experience,” she said. “So it’s cyclical because you want to work, but you need work experience to work, but you need work to get work experience.”
While the U.S. has boasted plenty of job openings in recent years, Glubzinski is among Americans for whom finding work is not so easy. Many struggle to find roles that match their experience or location. Others have found such a role but are balancing their desire to return to work with their family’s childcare needs or fears of Covid. And some job seekers, like Glubzinski, who have taken time out of the workforce are finding it challenging to get back in.
“I felt very much like a fish out there”
Glubzinski quit her job at a bank in 2010 when she married her husband, but says she always planned to return to work when she was done with the kids.
She hoped it would help her and her husband save for their children’s education, provide her with personal fulfillment, and help instill a strong work ethic in her children.
In 2020, she began pursuing an MBA in finance, and when she graduated last January, she thought she had a job opportunity. When that role unexpectedly fell through in February, she says she was forced to start her search from scratch.
This began the first phase of her job search, which she called “non-strategic” because she had minimal insight into the new tips and tricks of the job search trade.
“I was filling out applications and throwing them out like confetti at a birthday party,” she said. “I had been out of the professional scene for so long that I felt very much like a fish out. And I was kind of wandering around on the sidelines, just not sure how to fix this situation.”
After about four months, she says she’s “got absolutely nowhere.” Then a friend gave her some valuable advice.
“She said, ‘That’s not the way to find a job,'” Glubzinski recalled. “This is a professional arena and you sit with a professional degree and you have to treat yourself as a professional and help other people see you as a professional.”
The friend encouraged her to start using social media, specifically LinkedIn, to network and find job opportunities. Glubzinski listened to and even watched several webinars on LinkedIn about building her personal brand.
She was finally out of the ‘confetti throwing phase’.
She says there is “great power” in the informational interview
Soon after, Glubzinski connected with another friend who worked in HR, who helped her improve her resume and tailor it for each role. When she started actively applying again, Glubzinski says she opened herself up to a wider variety of roles and did considerable research on the companies she spoke with.
“I’ve been doing a lot more research about where I want to be, what specifically I want to do,” she said.
Glubzinski also says there is “great power” in 10-15 minute informational interviews. They gave her a quick idea of whether a role and company might be a good fit and opened her eyes to opportunities she previously “had no idea even existed.”
In June, one of those opportunities turned out to be just what she was looking for.
She participated in an online job fair for military personnel, where one role in particular piqued her interest. After speaking with the employer, she was able to continue the interview process.
“It was very much the right place, the right time, the right background and the right homework,” she said.
After tweaking her resume and using all the tips she’d learned along the way, Glubzinski jumped at the opportunity. As a military outreach coordinator, she is responsible for coordinating the recruitment of transitioning service members, veterans and spouses for her company, a large American manufacturing and technology corporation.
“I’m very passionate about the military community and I want to help the military community in any way I can,” she said.
Although she travels at least once a month for job fairs, her role is partially remote, allowing her to be there for her family while still getting the satisfaction she’s been looking for.
She says that while her family is only slated to be in Florida for three years, she hopes to continue that role beyond that.
“I’m so extremely blessed to be in the position I’m in,” she said, “to have a fulfilling role that allows me to help veterans, transitioning military, military spouses. I had no idea I would love it so much, but I love this job.”
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