Some of you may know that photography is my side gig and experimental “follow your dream” type venture. My actual day job is working for the seasonal job website, CoolWorks.com, which is cool, of course. 
I always feel like I’m the rep for the men’s hair commercial when I say, “I was a client first” and now I’m an employee. My connections with Cool Works began when I was working for Gray Line of Alaska and hiring driver/guides to give tours all over the state of Alaska back in 1998/1999. My rep at Cool Works was Kathi, who is now my co-worker. When I moved to Princess Cruises and Tours in 2001, I met Bill, the founder, and eventually Patty, the SHRA queen, at a SHRA conference in Park City, Utah. The fellowship was completed when I met Eric at SHRA in 2006 up in Seward, Alaska. Bill asked me to join the team at that conference and I was thrilled with the opportunity. I still am. As I often say to Bill and most everyone I know, CoolWorks.com gave me my life back.
But now, things are slow. I mean really slow. As the economy started to tumble in September 2008, our world was going great. Summer employers for 2009 were coming back to the site, our traffic was way up, and we embarked on a system upgrade with nGenWorks and HashRocket. Life was good. Then, in February 2009, it slowed down a bit. March was slower. And so on, and so on. Essentially, while we were at the top of our traffic, over 1 million pageviews a month, the employers started to need us less. They would write things like, “You guys are awesome. You can turn off our profile. We can’t keep up with the job applicants. We’ll be back next year.” Great, right? Well, not so much, because where an employer would typically advertise with us for 3 to 6 months, it was becoming more like 1 to 2 months. Our revenue was cut in half. We’re a lean, mean machine as I always like to say, but this made it even tougher. I remember K and I both believing that it would be December before we expected any sort of turn around. That seems to be the case.
For any seasonal employer reading this, Cool Works is still your best option for seasonal job recruiting on the web. Our audience is dedicated and interested in your type of work. We’re your niche. It doesn’t get any better than us.
So why am I writing this? Well, I guess I just want it off of my chest. This is the closest I’ve ever felt in my life to being unemployed. I’m not, but it definitely feels strange. I long for the days when we’re needed again. And, I know that they’re coming. I’ve been in the seasonal recruiting biz for over 10 years. I’ve experienced both the drought and the downpour. The rain will be back and we will all thrive.
Until that time, I will fill my days with social networking, conferences, volunteering, assisting our employer clients to the best of my ability, loving my kitties and maybe a bit more photography. Long live Cool Works! It’s been around for 14 years changing the lives of many people who have taken jobs in the national parks. I witness these changes every day on our social network, My CoolWorks, where I am the chief moderator. It’s a wonderful feeling. May the economy rebound for all of us!
Lastly, as always, a big thanks to Bill for giving me the time to follow my heart.
