The job hunt

Marc is now officially deep into the game of the current economy known as The Job Hunt.
He'd been on a few interviews and out to a number of auditions right after we were both severed from our full-time jobs at The Deseret News in December but now he has to apply for four jobs a week if he wants to collect unemployment benefits.
So while he was serious about the others, now he's feeling the pressure.
It makes for some stress in his and my life.
I feel badly for him as his ego takes a regular beating, much of which isn't really his fault.
For instance, the three auditions he went to a couple of weeks ago. One place wanted a prophet kind of guy with a full beard. They called on Friday for an audition Saturday — not much time to go from clean shaven to looking like Dumbledore.
The next place wanted a friendly looking fellow who was fat and bald. Fortunately and unfortunately (for getting the part) Marc is neither these days.
The third was the most likely part for him. They wanted a farmer dude who looked like he'd spent his days in the sun chewing on wheat. He showed up looking very much like the other 2 dozen guys who were chewing wheat and wearing flannel shirts.
The actual job interviews were almost as frustrating.
People who want a writer don't want a man who's been an editor so much of his life.
People who think they want an editor don't want him to be so critical.
No one gives him the chance to show what he can do, this man who wrote, managed, designed and produced an award-winning weekly paper for decades.
One group, a local magazine business, said they really liked him and his resume but then e-mailed him to say they'd gone in another direction. Then they called back and said, "Oops, the other guy turned us down so would you come in for another interview?"
He did, taking along story ideas and plans for the future. He felt good. He expected a call but we heard nothing except that the magazine had been sold.
Now we see the editor he was to replace is still on the masthead so I guess she didn't leave. Plus they are running stories very similar to the ones he suggested.
At a couple other places, we found the company hired the person they really wanted internally after just going through the motions on outside interviews.
After another promising interview at a computer software business, he was told, "Don't worry if you don't hear from us right away. We plan to take 2-3 months to make a decision."
Today he's headed off to a second interview with a place that he suspects is actually a pyramid sales operation.
He's more tempted to do an expose on them than work for them but they have this intriguing offer:
"Come on in and work for us. First, we let you pay us $350 for the sales kit and then we'll pay you nothing but straight commission thereafter. How soon can you start?"