The Job Hunt Pt. VI: The End

This will be the last entry in the "job hunt" series.  Today I got two job offers.  I accepted a job as a Development Officer at the National Network of Abortion Funds.  I am very happy.  It is a nice bump in salary and responsibility.  I finally feel like Jake and I are both moving forward, rather than me just tagging along.  I was worried that I would have to settle and take a step back or stagnate and now that's not the case.  I'm excited and nervous, as anyone probably is before a new job.  But it puts my move to Boston in a whole new light.  I feel like I can finally be excited without worry, without holding back.  It is a great feeling. 

And I am feeling very lucky.  Today the stock market took its biggest dip since 2008 when the bottom fell out before graduation making my first job hunt so much more difficult.  So many of our fellow recent graduates are unemployed or underemployed.  We were taught that if we go to school and work hard everything would be alright, and for a lot of us, this economy is a real slap in the face. 

It really makes me sad.  The Tea Party made increasing the debt ceiling, something the United States had done 74 times since the creation of the ceiling (including many times under Reagan and Bush), into a national charade.  As a result, for the first time in history our debt rating has been downgraded and confidence in the American economy has been shaken.  I remember learning in my Economics class in college that people and countries will always lend to the United States because we always pay our debts.  Now just a few years later, that was put in doubt. 

People all over the country are struggling to find employment and working class and middle class Americans are being asked to bear the brunt of a downturn caused by financial markets and greed run amok.   I will never understand how it is okay to balance the budget by laying off government workers and slashing services that the most vulnerable rely on (usually costing us more in real dollars and economic stability in the long run) but it is blasphemous to ask millionaires and billionaires to pay any more in taxes.  It the general scheme of fairness it seems more moral to ask someone to give up their yacht before we ask someone to give up their kids' braces. 

I will continue to vote and work with my conscience, to support equality, opportunity, and justice.  Today I am grateful.  It is not really the end; it is the beginning. 

The Job Hunt Pt. V: The Philanthropist Wears Prada

I’ve had three more interviews in the last two days.  I finally had that interview with the organization that was hiring, then hired someone, then was hiring again.   The interview was very short and it left me wondering how serious they really were about filling the position or about me as a candidate.  At 15 minutes, the commute would be heaven, but I’m still not sure about those people. 

I had a second interview at the women’s organization and the job description still seems beyond my qualifications.  I applied for two positions there and it turns out the second job I applied for actually reports to the position that I got the interview for.  I don’t know why I got a second interview or if they’ve really read my resume.   At the same time, you can’t grow in a job where you already know how to do everything.  Perhaps feeling a little over your head is a good thing. 

The last interview was the best.  I met with the VP of Communications at a major foundation and she was tall and chic and had beautiful white hair.  The organization sounds fabulous, the jobs sounds fabulous, and clearly she was fabulous.  The best part though, was a printed sign above her desk that said (I’m paraphrasing here): “All you need in life is your friends, to party hard, and to look twice as good as the bitch standing next to you – Paris Hilton.”  What’s not to love?

Job Hunt Pt. IV: The Indignities of the Job Hunt

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. 

Job Hunt Pt. III: When it Rains it Pours

First a bit of back story: Among the many disappointments of this job hunt so far was last week when I got an offer for an interview at a homelessness and housing advocacy organization.  I felt like I was on a roll again; I felt the positive energy I had at the beginning of the search slowly coming back.  The day after I scheduled the interview I got another email from them.  They wanted to let me know they had already hired someone and were sorry they weren't able to meet with me.  I was deflated once again. 

So you can see why I was surprised to see another email from the same organization in my inbox this morning.  They apologized for the back and forth, but had decided to continue their search and wanted to know if I was still interested in interviewing for the position. I'm not sure what makes an organization look for a candidate, hire someone, and then continue to search for someone to fill that position all within the span of a week.  It seemed like a bit of a red flag and I wasn't sure how I wanted to respond.  But my general philosophy is that no harm can come from an interview and going for an interview doesn't mean you have to take any given job. 

So now I have four upcoming interviews.  This one is scheduled for next Tuesday, the day I move in to my new apartment.  Then I have a phone interview tomorrow and two other in-person interviews on Friday.  So long as none are spontaneously canceled on me, that will bring my total to 10 interviews.  The law of averages didn't work out with five, but perhaps with ten it will. 

Job Hunt Pt. II: Happy News!

I was about to post something I wrote recently about a serious job hunting error, but too many good things have happened since then to write about that.  I'm in upstate New York with my bagel buddy right now, staying in his aunt and uncle's lake house.  Before we left I got a call for an interview at a health care advocacy organization.  I'm going in to Boston on Friday and while I'm super excited to have another interview, now that I'm here I'm sad we're going to be cutting our vacation shorter than we might have had to.  It feels amazing to be away from it all.  We already cooked dinner, popped a bottle of wine, went for a night swim and baked a batch of brownies.  When I tested out the wi-fi I found two other emails with interview offers, one with a foundation and one with a women's organization.  It's a great way to start off a relaxing vacation and now I can only hope that more interviews and possibly an offer will roll in sometime soon.  Cheers to that!