Many will play, few will win
The title comes from a phrase you often hear in tv commercials when they discuss some kind of a contest. Everything sounds great: $1000 dollars, a trip to Hollywood, the chance to meet the celebrities at a movie premiere. Then at the end of the commercial, in the fine print, they tell you what’s up: many will play, few will win.
I was thinking today that the job market right now is very much like that concept. For every available job, many apply. Many cross their fingers, open up a new word document, and begin a cover letter: “To Whom It May Concern: I would like to express my interest in your open ________ position.” But few people get the job. Generally, it’s only one person for the five hundred people who apply. It’s a frustrating time, especially because people who have been working their entire lives and are great employees have been laid off, and people who have just begun to work have a lot less opportunity. We’re all getting a lot of rejection letters and hoping that when the interviewer says, “We’ll call you”, they really mean it.
I had an interview today, my first serious one. Don’t misunderstand: I’ve had jobs before. Formal, paying jobs. But it was mostly working in the summer…something I knew would end in August. Or unpaid internships. Or working for my university and making money on 13 hours every two weeks when really I was putting in more like 30 hours every week. This job interview was with a really great company. It wasn’t on the phone. It wasn’t with someone my age, or another college student. It also wasn’t like my last supposedly formal interview, where I went in, filled out paperwork, and sat down, and the guy told me the position had been filled.
“THEN WHY THE %^%$ DID YOU BRING ME IN HERE?!?!?!?!?!?”
*Ahem*
Anyway, this was my first interview with someone who was a professional and not a clown. I was nervous. Pterodactyls were flying around in my stomach. I changed my outfit several times, looking in the mirror and thinking to myself, “Hi, I’m Ashley, your new human resources coordinator.” I changed my clothes until I looked like a professional young woman and not like a frumpy librarian (sorry, frumpy librarians).
The interview went exceptionally well. She asked me a lot of questions and I think she was a bit surprised that I was interested in the job and committed to getting it since it’s a bit of a commute from where I live. Like 40 minutes…on a good day. But I really do want the job, and I feel like I’d be good at it. I made that clear. So clear, in fact, that she told me at the end of the interview to call her tomorrow and let her know if she should forward my name to the person who would be my boss at the Daytona office. After some thinking, I know I’m going to call her and tell her to do that. I want this position, and I think it’s my best opportunity right now.
We’ll see where it goes. Hopefully I’ll be a winner in the employment game very soon.
