Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Job hunting is an excruciating process. That’s probably reality check #8131341 for me, but seriously…it sucks. You prepare your resume and cover letter (and in my case, writing samples) and then email those few documents off to someone who usually doesn’t know you and has never met you, and cross your fingers (In addition to crossing my fingers, I sit impatiently at my computer and wait for Gmail to notify me of a new message in my inbox that has nothing to do with Facebook and everything to do with my career…but I digress).

You hope that your cover letter is more dynamic than the 10 or 100 that the hiring manager has already received that day, and you hope that your resume somehow takes on a life of its own and compels him or her to respond to your email, or even better, to pick up the phone and call you.

I applied for about six jobs or assignments last week. Among those applications were responses to current job postings, along with various query emails to editors of magazines that I’m interested in contributing to. After almost a week of extremely impatient waiting, the phone rang. Finally! I landed an interview for Tuesday, and now have a chance to make an impression that is more than simply my name, education, and work experience on virtual paper.

In all honesty, I’m relieved. I’m weary of experiencing moments of clutching fear where I doubt myself and all that I know. I’m not going to relax and uncross my fingers just yet though: Right now, I need all the luck I can get.