A Paint-By-Numbers Life

Couldn’t be more excited. 

It’s a sidebar for a fitness piece and I get to weigh in on my own personal workout philosophy.

I know it’s not much of anything, but it makes me feel that my hard work is actually paying off.

SMiles for everyone :D

Job hunting.

A term that has become dirty in my book. Constantly searching for any opportunity that will result in a stable job, with growth and learning.

I’ve been doing everything in the book, updating my resume constantly, going through edit after edit in order to get the most efficacious use of space and information. A synergy that is hard to achieve. I’ve been searching through reputable websites like simplyhired, glassdoor, and the linkedin giant. Probing friends and friends of friends for a lead, insight or any leg up to get in with a company. 

This past week I contacted a friend from college who works at a marketing firm that I felt was perfect for my skill set. She responded with great enthusiasm concerning a referral from her and my working at the same firm. I applied with all the necessary documents: resume, cover letter, writing samples. I received a quick and happy reply from their Human Resources individual.

I think the waiting is what gets me. The constant refreshing of the gmail inbox hoping to see a freshly bolded inbox with the subject line RE: Employment Inquiry or something else that would bring my job-hungry brain to a froth at purely the possibility of employment away from wiping tables in an apron.

I was reassured by my college friend that I would get an interview and with great possibility, a job. I was feeling pretty great. So great in fact, that I shared my gleeful feelings for new job opportunities on facebook. 

With a large smile on my face I opened my gmail to write a few emails in regards to my current project at my Magazine internship. Low and behold the bolded - and gilded - reply from marketing hr is sitting pretty atop groupon and gilt deals.

I open it with great anticipation and happiness, only to feel the gut-punch of disappointment as I read the kurt, one-line email that sends it’s regrets to me; as there are no openings in “my field”. The irony of such things makes me laugh, with four full-time marketing positions open on their website and a paid summer marketing internship in heavy circulation on their social media pages, I find it funny that this HR person says there are no marketing positions available, as if I was blind as a bat.

This back-and-forth has been the case study for the last two years of my life. A perfect example of the high hopes and rejection accompanied with the job search.

I often feel disappointed that I have yet to land a stable job, one to grow with and gain valuable experience.

I have learned to take these experiences in stride and laugh at the comedic timing of hopeful status updates that immediately become marred with rejection.

This post is for anyone in the same position. Those of you who have a Bachelor’s and have struggled, clawed, sacrificed time and money for the opportunity to work with a good company.

Sometimes with the majority of your friends yielding high income jobs and getting fancy cars or get-away vacations, you may feel alone. 

It’s not true, there are plenty of us out there. 

So just remember that you aren’t alone in the game of employment.

-Miles