Update by the Numbers

[ase]

1.) Still alive.
2.) Still interviewing and sending out resumes.
3.) Roommate staged a sushi intervention; see (2).
4.) Sushi intervention was before the polite "thanks but no thanks" email after a second interview. Crushing dismay is being fended off with applications of logic (made the second interview cut!), investigating PT jobs, and occasional chocolate.
5.) Weekend resolution: get out, enjoy sunny and warm weather, avoid computer & job listing websites. My carpals will thank me.

Comments

[ashcomp]

You might want to consider getting onto any kind of a payroll while you chase the one you really want. If you got on an afternoon/evening shift at, say, a Starbucks, you'd still have most of the day availble for interviews. Eves are usually something like 3-11 pm, or 4-midnight. Money coming in beats pride hands down.

[ase]

Yes, that's buried in (4). Safeway is hiring for residential deliveries, the snack shop up the street has a sign for a closing shift person, and there are many, many cafes in my neighborhood. Pride isn't living in poverty and boredom: it's limiting employment gaps in your work history.

[ashcomp]

I mention Starbucks in particular because they have health benefits. Plus, IIRC, a free pound of coffee (or equivalent?) per week. Which may not do much for you personally, but could help make a lot of new friends :) In any case, anything is better than nothing.

The recession makes a dandy and perfectly valid cover for professional employment gaps. Hope it doesn't have to cover a long one.

One hopes you go to interviews dressed like you're applying for the CEO's job. It can't hurt to show (or convincingly feign) respect for the interviewer. Also to do some research about the prospect organization. Nobody expects a job candidate to know the company's operations in detail, but some evidence of due diligence and homework-doing is good for a few brownie points. It's nice if you can leave the impression that you're particularly interested in working for them, as opposed to any damned job that's out there.

[ase]

One hopes you go to interviews dressed like you're applying for the CEO's job.

I've explicitly asked when arranging interviews; biotech interview dress code runs to business casual. I'm not sure super-formal would even be appropriate for lab jobs: high heels and expensive skirted suits don't mix with lab walkthroughs. Instead of freaking out over clothes, I've been doing that due diligence and trying to find second-degree connections on LinkedIn. And debating whether 2" heels are worth the psychological height advantage / walkthrough tradeoff. (So far, I'm coming down on the heels side.)