Death of a Fish

Today, my beta fish of six months, Wilbur, died a tragic death due to soap residue in his fish bowl... that's right - it was my fault. We didn't always have the best relationship, but I promise I didn't kill him on purpose. He was quite delightful in the end, and I felt horrible for his death. So, I dedicate this post to him.

The most important thing while job searching, interviewing, and pursuing your career are relationships. Many people will be able to relate to your situation, many will not, and some will just be down right irritating. Always keep in mind that most people are looking out for your best interest. My secret weapon was gratitude. No matter how irritating the billions of suggestions people send your way are just say thank you.

Whenever I was job searching I always had a handful of people sending me emails with a link to a company or a job search site and every time my knee jerk reactions went something like, "REALLY? Thank you soooo much for sending me this link because I was just looking at my computer screen doing nothing and wallowing in self pity when magically you sent me this link that will lead to the land of opportunities - NOT!"

Sounds harsh and it is. Luckily, none of my well-intentioned friends and family felt the wrath of my sarcasm. I always tried to respond humbly and with a sense of gratitude. If all else in this world failed I would have an awesome support system to fall back on. Get your support system in place when you start applying. Call your friends, family, and even acquaintances and let them know you are unemployed. Even if they can't connect you to the fairy HR godmother or your dream job, at least you know you have someone to call when all else fails.

Thank you parents, siblings, aunts & uncles, cousins, and friends. Without you, my job search would have been painful and slow. Instead, I enjoyed 5 weeks of encouragement, support, and love followed by a lifetime of the same. God will give you the tools you need to follow his will - just call on him.

R.I.P. Wilbur
Beloved Pet & Friend

Interviews for Beggars

After 3 weeks of hearing nothing I finally started getting calls. Not one call came in for the magical dream job I had always hoped for, but they were calls none the less and I was grateful for them. I took every single interview opportunity (with the exception of the Macy's cosmetic counter as previously mentioned). People might say I wasted time, gas money, lowered my standards, gave up on my dream job, but those people didn't owe two months worth of rent.

Beyond just needing money, taking every single interview was an opportunity to work and a chance to practice in case the dream job interview finally did come along. The reason for the title "Interviews for Beggars" is because when you start looking for a job your mindset should reflect that of a beggar, not a chooser. If you decide to be a chooser you might end up at your dream job, but you might also end up living with your parents well into your late twenties. There's nothing wrong with that, but I love working and I would not be okay with sitting at home for more than a month knowing there are opportunities out there to be taken. 

Take as many interviews as you can. Practice, practice, practice. Learn the commonly asked questions and refine your answers. Then, in a few weeks when you've been through your X amount of interviews and you have Y amount of offers on the table you become the chooser without having to wait 6 months. 

God is faithful so hang in there and don't give up. Always be trying new approaches and eventually something will work out. 

I have so much more to say so tune in because its about to get interesting... you have no idea! Feel free to comment, send me questions, or even your own post-grad/entry-level stories. Don't forget to check out my new resources tab!

Full-time Unemployment

Being unemployed is difficult. To all of you still in school--do whatever you can to get the job offer before you leave school. I love working, contributing, and being busy all the time, so five weeks of unemployment almost killed me. It brought things out of me that I had never seen before. Beyond the emotional toll it took on me, the work it takes to find a job is mentally and physically exhausting. But the saying is really true: what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger.

Since no one was planning on hiring until after the 1st of the year and I graduated on the 15th of December, I had plenty of time to apply for jobs. Not hearing anything for so long was very discouraging. You start to question who you are as a person and that is the best and worst thing a person can go through. I suggest a healthy balance of humility and confident self-talk to get you through.

I loved my time at Azusa Pacific, but my last semester I had grown to believe that I was awesome, deserved awesomeness, and would ultimately end up with an awesome job. Professors and speakers try their best to keep things in perspective, but everyone enjoys success stories far above those of unemployment and failure.   The three weeks following graduation I had to deflate my big head and realize I needed a job first, a career second. I started to sprinkle in some part-time jobs, retail positions, and temp work applications into my plethora of full time applications. The first call I received for an interview came three weeks after graduation and it came from the Macy's cosmetic counter. I had never been more excited about a part time job in my entire life.

The other side of the coin is confident self-talk. Too much humility might cause an unreasonable amount of deflation in confidence, something you'll need in an interview to get you the job you want. Every time I felt myself questioning my capabilities as a worker or even as a person I would read through my resume and remind myself of the things I had accomplished. Talk to some of the people you've worked with in the past and let them know where you are in your search. Encouragement by people who know what you're capable of can help boost your confidence.

I ended up canceling the Macy's interview because I received 3 more calls shortly after for full-time interviews on the same day. I may not have had to take a part time job in the end, but I knew I had the strength to do what it took to make my dreams happen. God is faithful when you put your trust in him.

Pre-Entry-Level

Once upon a time I was a normal college student headed down an unknown path to an unknown destination. I spent three and a half glorious years at Azusa Pacific University. I joyfully pursued my degree in Marketing, the prefect mix of business and creativity. I spent the bulk of my spare time in Scholar's for Business Achievement, a fancy way of saying the event planning team for the School of Business and Management. My summers were filled with fantastic internships at an online company and with the AT&T Premier Client Group on the most fantastic sales team I've ever encountered.

All this added up to a very big assumption that I deserved and was owed a job. I did all the right things and got all the right grades. Then, quite suddenly I was facing graduation day with no job, no prospects, and no idea what I was going to do next. I knew people, I had applied to some jobs, but nothing was going my way in the form of a job offer. Somehow I still made it through my last few weeks taking in all the joys of college life without being bothered by my looming fate. Most of my friends called it denial.

Luckily, I had enough savings to make it two months in California otherwise I would have to go home to freezing cold Wisconsin. Talk about motivation. So between December 14th and January 22nd I searched. I passed up Christmas and New Years with family to focus on my job search and save some money. Those five weeks changed me and opened my eyes to who I was, both good and bad. It showed me the power of hope and the pain of failure.

In the next few weeks I'll unwrap what it means to really look for a job and some of the things I learned professionally and personally along the way.