I was turned down by all of the first five jobs where I interviewed. Since then I've had several more interviews and I've gotten some of my confidence back, but the process has included a host of indignities.
The job at the day care center never got in contact with me again. I emailed them to follow up on my application and they never emailed me back. I just don't see how you can leave someone hanging like that after an interview or ignore their correspondence. It seems unfair and unprofessional.
I've seen two of the positions I interviewed for reposted online. I can understand being passed over for someone with more experience or a better skills match, but I was shocked that I was passed over for...no one. I really thought I could have done a good job at either of those positions, but apparently they didn't.
I got a handwritten letter from the free legal clinic, where I had applied for an administrative job, saying that I was their second choice but they had hired someone with more experience. It just goes to show how bad the economy is when someone with more than two years of experience is willing to take an administrative job that pays as little as that job did. It's a job that in 2007 would have gone to someone directly out of college.
All my interviewers ask me why I'm moving to Boston. I'm honest with them; I tell them my boyfriend got into Harvard Law and we're relocating together. For the most part they say nothing. Some are supportive and tell me tales of moving for their spouses or to be closer to family. But some give me that response that I dread, "Oh so you're following your boyfriend?" I always feel the desire to give them the back story, 'oh but you don't understand we've been dating for five and a half years.' But I don't. I just sit there and let them think I'm following instead of leading; leading my own life on my own terms, which is indeed what I'm doing.
I had a job not get back to me after an interview, as well. They told me I was one of the final candidates, and I told them I had a deadline to respond to another job offer. They told me no problem, it should be a quick decision. Unfortunately, they did not call by the promised date, even after I left a follow up phone message basically saying, "I don't normally call to annoy potential employers, but I was wondering if you could just give me an update as to where you are in this decision process, as I have to tell the other company yay or nay in a couple days...." A simple, "We are still deciding" would have been nice. But no. Then they called me weeks later asking if I was still interested in the job. I take it I wasn't their first choice, and their first choice turned them down. Now I, the apparent next choice, was already taken, too.
ReplyDeletep.s. That story was from my move to CA. Also, I am glad you are not working in a daycare, for the record. lol.
ReplyDeleteHaha, KJ yes, you have been through it all too. It feels good to hear from other people (who are also super qualified awesome job candidates) that these things happen to them too. For the record, I would have been working in the development/marketing department for a network of subsidized day care providers for low-income families, but I agree with you that it all turned out for the best.
ReplyDelete