Friday, June 10, 2011

Job Hunting=Looking for Bigfoot

Seriously? Since when did job hunting become similar to looking for Bigfoot?

A job hunter enters the forest of job advertisements/postings/etc. looking for areas of possible jobs (or Bigfoot sightings). You check out the job (what are the requirements, job description, etc.), circle it a few times so see if the job is a likely fit, and then blast it with a bevy of documents (resume/vita, letter of application, references, letters of recommendation, teaching philosophy, or whatever other document the list asks for)!

And then? Well, then the waiting game begins. Maybe YOUR barrage of qualifications scared the job from its hiding place and you get a face-to-face sighting/interview of the elusive job. But then again, maybe you were wrong and your attempt is met with silence.

If you are lucky to get an interview landing the exclusive/job isn't a sure thing. Maybe your camera's flash wasn't working or your batteries dies on your digital camera. Who knows? Any one of a number of things could go wrong and then you're back to the drawing board again.

I'm at that point right now, but I have a feeling that my job hunt may start looking like shooting a shotgun into a barrel of fish. Something's gotta make contact!  :)
Okay, so maybe my description isn't really that apt because I did get two job offers, but they weren't for jobs I can see making a career. I took a part-time summer position at the University of Idaho as an office worker in their Distance Learning program in hopes that when fall rolls around I'll have a teaching job lined up (we'll see). I was also offered a full time office position at WSU in the Athletic Department, which I think would have been wonderful because everyone I talked to was great, but ultimately wasn't where I wanted to end up (and the pay was crummy).

So I'm still searching for the elusive Bigfoot teaching job, but at least I have a part-time distraction for now.

1 comment:

Chuck said...

Oh, I feel your pain. I hate job hunting. It's up there in the top five of my worst experiences, along with toothaches, headaches, and visiting the dentist. Hang in there, something good is being prepared for ya! :)