The other day Luke asked me to write an opinion article for the Column at Northwestern about being unemployed. I laughed at him and told him I don't write at all. The truth of it really was that I already feel crappy enough about being unemployed after being out of school for 3 months, that I didn't want the entire Northwestern world to know that. Let me tell you something...graduating and hunting for a job in the real world is not a simple task.
I have been handed almost every job I've had. I didn't really have to fill out applications and I certainly didn't interview. Being in the real world is SO different from that. I've filled out a bazillion applications and still don't feel like I've done enough.
It's not that I wasn't prepared for finding a real job. In Senior Seminar, I was given plenty of resources to use to find a job. As a matter of fact, I felt pretty prepared to find a job. I think I felt more prepared than most college grads because I wasn't actually looking for a job in my field. Instead, I was looking for some sort of administrative support position. You only have to have a high school diploma for those.
I was quickly humbled when I started receiving rejection letters for jobs. I learned that you don't want e-mails, you want phone calls. How do you make yourself stand out in a stack of over 500 applications? What is so special about me from the person next to me?
I'm still not sure. I know that I'm a pretty dedicated employee. I don't quit jobs because they're hard or not my favorite thing to do. I've worked some pretty unejoyable days at previous jobs. That's not a reason to quit and give up. I think that's the most important part to remember through the job hunt. Don't quit and give up.
I don't want to sit at home and be a couch potato for the rest of my life. I have dreams...things I want to personally accomplish. It's important to me to be an employee somewhere. I enjoy working surprisingly enough. I enjoy helping people and that's part of what you get to do at work. I'm excited for the phone call where I can hang up and feel good about myself because I am finally an employee somewhere. Patience isn't my strong point and I'm really beginning to see that. After sitting around for a little over 6 week, I'm antsy and getting really impatient. I keep saying that I wish going in for an interview was like scratch lotto. I just want to know when I walk out whether or not I have a job.
If I had to give my opinion on being unemployed, I'd say it sucks. However, I wouldn't trade the last 6 weeks of hanging out with my parents and learning new things about myself daily for anything. It's a special time...that I'd be more than happy to have end any day now!
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