Take me as I am, Hire Me, or Leave Me! #14

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of Job Searching Part 1

The Ugly

I would be lying if I didn’t say I had some moments of insecurity before attending TPE.  Two weeks prior I only had one interview scheduled. My fellow classmates, who work in res life ,were getting interviews left and right, which is understandable since their background is in res life and mine is in leadership.  I knew I wasn’t spending enough time searching. I was more focused on the remaining two events that I was overseeing.  I was struggling with balancing work, life, and job searching. My practicum supervisor, also my mentor, took me into her office one Thursday afternoon to check in to see how I was doing. She asked that awful question “ how many interviews do you have set up so far?”  “One” I said with tears in my eyes. She looked at me like I had 10 heads. ( She doesn’t deal with criers very well.. oopppsss).  I came up with some lame excuse on why I wasn’t spending the time. She reminded me with a firm voice that this whole process was another fulltime job in itself and I had to make the time, even if it was stying up until 2am.  With a swift kick in the butt,  I set a timeline applied to a butt load of jobs and walked into TPE with 6 interviews. I slipped some resumes in a few jobs I was interested in and by the end of the first day my grand total was 8.

            I was pumped the first day of interviewing but only 1 out of my five were a fit. I left that night discouraged and dreading the next day. I reflected on what I might have done wrong. Did I not do enough research? Did I just apply because I needed some interviews at TPE what could have been the problem. I understand  not every school is going to be a fit for me but I just didn’t have a good vibe with my interviewers. One actually bored me and I wanted to get up and leave, but I knew that I had to finish strong.

In order for me to stand out my last question was “ if you were to write your autobiography today what would the title be? Well, one director didn’t like that question too much because she didn’t see herself as a creative person and wasn’t surprised she didn’t have an answer for me… Glad I am not a fit thereJ

Day two I was feeling the time differences and I stayed up way too late the night before networking with other grads and professionals.  However, my most successful interviews came out of the 2^nd day which one lead to a 2^nd interview. Which was weird to me because I felt I did better the first day.. but what do I know this whole process is a crap shoot. I hate not having control over a situation.

Going in I thought I would freak out because I am not a crowd person and I have a bad attention span so I was anxious about being so close to everyone while interviewing. To find out, it wasn’t that bad! Once my first interview  finished I laughed at myself because I was freaked out over nothing. ( That’s usual)  The carpet, pipe and drapes and sections made it easier to focus.  ( Except for schools who brought really big signs, they were a bit of a distraction) However, the worst part of the interview was sitting in the waiting room waiting for your name to be called. Employers came in from both sides, some with just a sign, ipad or some who would call your name. You sat in your seat feeling like you were watching a tennis match. I am surprised I didn’t end up with whiplash J

So reflecting back there wasn’t anything that was THAT ugly… maybe my breakdown before TPE.. Oh well.. it happens.

Take me as I am… right?