Day 4: Challenge Card - "Snail Mail Résumé"

Today's Challenge Card:

"An ad for your perfect job has been posted.  They will only accept resumes submitted through the mail."

I can't help but be hung up on the fact that this imaginary business only accepts hard copy resumes. Even when I worked at fishing lodges for two summers outside of of Sioux Lookout, the owners had access to fax and Internet.  This is obviously not my actual dream job which, if you're interested to know, would be working at the Googleplex.

Regardless, this Challenge Card presents three main issues:

1. Find somewhere to access a computer to type up my resume;
2. Find a way to print out a hard copy of the resume; and,
3. Make room in my budget for postage.

I've been lucky so far that my other challenges haven't eaten into my budget, it is Day 4 and I'm still operating on a bit of a cushion left over from my grocery purchase.  Paying for a stamp ($1.00 for a single at the Post Office) is in the budget today, but depending on what comes up tomorrow it might end up costing me two coffees (the additional Challenge rules allow you to "purchase" a cup of coffee for $0.50).

Stamps are cheaper when you can afford to buy them in a book or coil (equivalent of $0.85 per stamp), which I would do without second thought in my life outside the Challenge. However, spending $8.50 on stamps you might not even use when your live on $11 per day is definitely outside the realm of possibility.

Getting back to the resume itself, this is yet another area where Kenora has some great resources. The staff at Lake of the Woods Employment Action Project (LEAP) were very helpful with this Challenge.  If you are starting your resume from scratch, they offer templates, help with formatting and a resource area, free of charge, where job seekers can access computers, printers and other office equipment.

LEAP will even provide one-on-one assistance with job searching, also at no cost, to individuals who are unemployed and not currently attending school.

One other resource I'd like to plug in this blog is the Kenora Public Library, which has turned out to be an asset in many ways during the Poverty Challenge.  The library offers half an hour of free Internet access for non-members and black & white printing at $0.25 per page, so this would also be a good option for someone who already had a resume prepared and ready to print.

I hope I get the job!