Welcome to the sixth edition of Sunday Top Ten, a list of completely random and undoubtedly self-indulgent things that may or may not be published on a Sunday or number “ten.” This feature is a continuation of the Sunday Top Tens I used to write for my earth-shattering personal blog Autowin, where I talked about myself pretty much constantly from 2006-2008.
When people ask me why I started Autostraddle I tell them that I always wanted to be the editor of a magazine, but since nobody would hire me to be the editor of their magazine, I decided to make my own magazine. There’s a much longer version of that story but that’s a quickie and it’s pretty true.
In our recent Grown-Up Reader Survey, a lot of readers expressed dissatisfaction with their jobs and unrest regarding their career paths. Even in our thirties and forties, we’re still figuring it out, you know? It takes time but we get there — my Mom, for example, did a major career switch in her forties from nutritionist to social worker. And a lot of us take 10+ years to finally find a job we can keep! For me, that meant inventing my own job.
Magazine editorships were really the tip of the iceberg w/r/t things people did not want to hire me to do. Like probably 99.9% of the human beings reading this, I’ve applied for and was ignored or rejected for hundreds of positions with hundreds of employers. I’ve been thwarted in my attempts to become so many things: a writer, administrative assistant, office manager, blogger, waitress, nanny, sex toy reviewer, temp, tutor, bookkeeper, cashier, after-school program coordinator, bartender — you name it, I’ve been told I can’t do it. I spent my first post-college summer in New York getting hired and fired like crazy. Eventually, I made it through my twenties with a mixture of jobs that are too illegal to mention here and some random internships, freelancing and copywriting.
I also poured so much brilliance into so many cover letters, but now that I’m a person who reads other people’s cover letters I realize how many unpredictable unknowable elements go into hiring (or not hiring) a person. The key to making it through is not taking anything personally. There are employers who only post new positions as a formality despite them being already-filled in house, there are employers who accept the first qualified applicant they receive without reading other cover letters. (We don’t do that, but I’ve worked places where that was done!)
Here are some of my most relevant rejections.
1. JANE Magazine Internship, 1999
Wouldn’t you want to hire this winner
I was 18 years old. With help from the Sarah Lawrence Career Counseling Office, I’d secured an interview for an internship at my favorite magazine, JANE. I was thrilled. I’d recently had a minor mental breakdown and decided to take a semester off (which eventually turned into me leaving Sarah Lawrence for good and moving back to Michigan), and an internship like this one would be JUST THE THING to enable a strong sense of self-worth despite, you know, having just dropped out of college.
It was my first interview for a job that didn’t involve pasta salad or folding t-shirts and I lacked nice shoes, so I borrowed a friend’s shoes but they were too small and by the time I arrived at The Conde Nast building my feet were blistered and bleeding. Furthermore, I’d realized that morning when I woke up in a friend’s NYU dorm that people brought resumes to interviews and I hadn’t brought one with me to the city. Luckily, a rogue resume turned up, folded between pages of a notebook I had in my bag, but somehow, by the time I sat down for the interview after limping across the office, the ragged resume had gotten stuck with gum to a flier about an anti-KKK rally I’d recently attended. When I handed the sticky resume and flier to “Bill,” my interviewer, he was visibly repelled. I think I tried acid for the first time that night.
I went on to snag a full-time position at The Olive Garden.
2. BUST Magazine Internship, 2001
Heeeyeyyy girrrrrlll
I was a sophomore at the University of Michigan planning to spend the summer in New York with my best friend who, like all of her friends and everybody I knew from the New York tri-state area, had internships with magazines or agencies that summer that they’d garnered through family connections. I refused to believe that connections were all that mattered, even when my BFF frankly informed me that most internships were filled with the daughters of Dads who knew people. Unfortunately my Dad was dead and G-d and His various Angels in Heaven were not hiring summer interns. Neither was Bust, but I figured nobody’s Dad had connections there and so I applied anyhow, despite my concern that working for a feminist magazine might prevent me from finding a boyfriend (I hadn’t exactly “come out to myself” yet). Why did I feel that way? Because I was the worst, reader. BECAUSE I WAS THE WORST. I was not worthy of the internship, ultimately. I hope they read my Diaryland though.
The good news is that I still did manage to sign up for a writing class at Columbia AND secure a full-time summer position at The Olive Garden!
3. Rolling Stone Receptionist, 2004
I imagined it would go something like this
WHO COULD SAY NO TO A COVER LETTER WITH AN OPENING PARAGRAPH LIKE THIS
“I want to be your receptionist. I want to send your faxes, copy your papers, address your envelopes, ‘traffic” your phone calls and smile at your guests. Although my resume will indicate that I have no experience whatsoever with these tasks, I am hoping you could overlook that small fact and grant me the pleasure of working—in any capacity — for a magazine which has consistently served as a vehicle for the most prolific, creative and groundbreaking feature writing in all of journalism. I admit that the only reason I am applying for this job is because I, like many other aspiring journalists, cling to the cinematic dream that, as I am nonchalantly Xeroxing, the editor of Rolling Stone will saunter up beside me, say he’s always noticed the writing talent I display in my memos, and request that I compose 30 words about Johnny Cash for possible insertion in the lower-left-hand sidebar of a feature story that someone else wrote. Before long, I will be holding the Dictaphone for Jay-Z’s interview or fact-checking The College Edition.”
I’ll tell you who: a smart HR department that wanted an actual receptionist.
4. Jane Magazine Writer, 2005
Really I thought opening my cover letter with a hilarious anecdote about that time I interviewed for an internship with my resume stuck to an anti-KKK Rally flier would really speak to the JANE Magazine demographic and definitely at least get me an interview. ALAS, motherfuckers, ALAS. Stay tuned for It Happened To Me: Nobody Would Hire Me To Work Here.
5. Untitled Web Project With Prominent NYC-Based Magazine Publisher, 2007
Once upon a time if you lived in New York and had a good personal blog, you got seen — or, rather, you got linked on gawker and then you got seen: by publishers, by magazine editors. I got seen by the Executive Web Editor at [Largest magazine publishing company in the universe basically], who wanted me and my snarky-but-kind-and-honest voice for a new women’s site they were developing. FINALLY I WAS BEING SEEN FOR THE HOT YOUNG TALENT THAT I WAS. The focus was, obtusely, celebrity news, but nice and servicey. I sent ideas and wrote test columns on topics including Anna Nicole Smith’s weight loss supplement and Britney Spears’ overall situation. In my first face-to-face meeting, I was told my style and ideas were great but I really needed to read Strunk & White cover-to-cover and re-evaluate my casual dismissal of the proper usage of “its” vs. “it’s.” At some point, she decided I’d be better as a columnist and proposed I write a daily blog about what it’s like to effortlessly be so damn skinny called “Skinny Bitch.” Then she went off the grid for a week and came back to say she wasn’t sure I was capable of writing something new about being skinny every single day. To be fair, she was right. As far as I know, the project never got off the ground anyhow.
Although it was devastating at the time, I’m not devastated in retrospect. I learned an important lesson: I’d passed the age at which my incredible writing skills could overshadow shitty grammar. Sure, I was a published writer, I had an English degree with honors… but somehow, despite all that, I still didn’t take some very simple things seriously enough. Now that I have my own business and read heaps of cover letters myself, I wonder just how many jobs I lost over using the wrong form of “its.”
Also midway through edits on my Anna Nicole Smith article, Anna Nicole Smith died. So.
6. Chris Meloni’s Assistant, 2006
Honestly, I just wanted to touch Mariska Hargitay’s hair. Unsure why I wasn’t picked for this one as I am very detail-oriented and would’ve really enjoyed $35 dollars an hour.
7. Executive Assistant to Patent Law Lawyers, 2007
Once upon a time I was best friends with a girl who turned out to be a huge liar. When I talk about her I call her Olive, so that’s what I’m gonna do now. It’s a story that comes up a lot ’cause it’s quite a doozy, but one memorable element of the story is this: aware that I’d been struggling to find employment, Olive’s lawyer father’s assistant reached out to me about working for his firm. We went back and forth about the position and what it entailed and Olive regaled me with stories about free Blackberries and closets full of Starbucks cards. I was eager to get started when the day before my first day, Olive informed me that the baby son her father had recently sired with his 26-year-old wife had been dropped on its head by the nanny and died. The mother was a mess and they’d gone immediately to some tropical island somewhere.
Suddenly everything was in limbo, and I was tasked with getting rid of an extensive list of expensive baby furniture, apparel and accessories they no longer needed. They didn’t want the money for it, I could keep that, they just needed everything gone, and his assistant Jeff was to be my point man for shipping the materials once I’d facilitated the sale of enough furniture to pay my rent and then found mothers in need to send everything else to for free. I did that, but when it came time to ship stuff, I couldn’t get ahold of anybody. Every single one of them was ignoring every e-mail I sent, and I didn’t have a phone number.
A few days later, I finally heard from the man himself, saying he was unsure why I’d not already received my letter of termination. He’d apparently seen my blog and was appalled, saying that he didn’t know why his daughter “thought it would be acceptable for you to represent me and my name” considering that I am someone who “openly discusses drug use, illegal activities, their sexual experiences and encounters, and everything else you write about, working for me.”
I’d been so hopeful, and I was so crushed.
Olive sent me money to refund the eBay sellers and, as I recall, did buy a new stroller for one of the moms-in-need I’d found. But it’d be another seven months before I’d find out that I’d never emailed with Olive’s father, let alone his assistants. All those e-mails had been sent by Olive herself, playing different characters. There’d never been a job at his law firm or baby furniture. “I always thought it was sketchy, that story about the nanny dropping a baby on its head,” said a helpful friend.
8. Pop-culture-lifestyle-
I sent these folks a really charming cover letter and really made what I thought was a strong case for hiring me. Then I received the following in return: “Great! Test article! What makes the best kitty litter! Need quotes and discuss various litters available! What is the best kitty litter!”
9. AfterEllen Writer, 2007 and 2008
I’d applied to be a writer in 2007, but never heard back. Then I met the editor at the NewNowNext Awards in 2008, and emailed the next day about writing for the site, but never heard back. This seems funny in retrospect.
10. Editor for Major Media Women’s Pop Culture Site, October 2008
Y’all. You know that one job listing you see that sends you into a near-panic-attack because it is everything you’ve ever wanted in life? This was that for me. This position came to me in a dream, this position was given to me at birth by the hands of fate, this position screamed my name from an expansive canyon. I fit the bill for just about everything this position wanted in a person: I was a well-known blogger and established freelance writer, I had experience in publishing (I’d worked at a literary agency) and in online magazines (I’d interned at nerve), I had lots of good ideas and vision and I wanted to be a leader. I applied with optimism but never heard back. I still wonder sometimes what the website was that I was applying for.
I think not getting that job was a turning point for me, which’s why I included it here — I realized that I probably wasn’t considered for the spot ’cause despite all my blogging and freelancing, I didn’t have any experience as a paid 9-to-5 staff member of a magazine or newspaper … and lots of other applicants did. Moreover, I didn’t want to be a staff writer at a magazine or work my way up. I wanted to be in charge from day one, something that had become crystal-clear to me when I started fantasizing about getting that job.
So I had to strike out on my own. And literally every single job I had gotten — some of which were definitely not my first choice — taught me skills I use in this job, from handling customer service e-mails (which I did for MoveOn) to accounting on Quickbooks (which I did at the literary agency) to writing job ads (which I did as an HR copywriter for a company in Australia). I learned so much interning for Nerve (which was my first choice, and I freaked out with delight when I got it, finally feeling seen), even, and I don’t think I could’ve done this if I hadn’t done that.
Every tiny disappointment was tough at the time, but I’m glad it played out how it did. Otherwise we wouldn’t all be here, right? Plus I’ve got many more decades of life ahead of me in which I plan to write a lot of books. There’s still time. That was the hardest thing to understand, swallow and digest: even here, even now, even approaching my mid-thirties, there is still so much time.
I felt very inspired by the end of this article.
Also: What the hell, Olive???
After reading this, I started trying to figure out how many jobs I’ve successfully obtained– because I don’t know how to do exponents, so I can’t figure out the reject total– and I’m not really sure. I do know I got my first one when I was 14 (technically illegal, but I was paid under the table). I’ve been looking over my 2002-2010 blog lately, and the documented (the things I was willing to admit publicly) things I’ve done in the workplace is kind of alarming, so I’m feeling you on the KKK fliers (as in: I once pretended to exorcise a group of unruly patrons with a Roman Rite I found on eBay, a bottle of “holy water,” and a rosary– that was my interpretation of “circulation manager,” apparently).
But, as a liberal-arts type person with the corresponding credentials, what I’m always frustrated by is feeling like I have to prove I have X skill, even if I never actually took a course that corresponded to it. The most common reaction to my resume is to acknowledge that yep, there’s stuff on it– but none of it matches these boxes we need to check off. (end gripe provoked by current job search, sorry]
Of course, as my mother once said of my college degree, “at least you’ll be interesting to talk to in the unemployment line.”
Anyway, main point, I agree with you: the best skills are the ones you pick up, magpie-style. Is there even such a thing as a job where you learn 100% of the things you’d need to land The Perfect Job? To be that perfect candidate? If there is, I’m pretty sure you’d burn out learning all that stuff at once and be so wiped out by the time the dream job rolled around that you’d be too tired to fill out an application. So, fingers crossed.
Excellent article.
” Is there even such a thing as a job where you learn 100% of the things you’d need to land The Perfect Job? To be that perfect candidate?”
Exactly, and NOPE. I mean, we hire people here based mainly on their writing style and whether or not they can fill certain holes in our overall diversity or subjects we need people to write about, and often whether or not it works out comes down to personality moreso than any given skill set or experience. We also end up not hiring a bunch of really awesome people because we already have somebody else who can do what they can also do.The most important thing in an applicant is whether or not they’re willing to work hard, figure things out for themselves, pay attention to detail and take initiative. It’s hard to know if somebody can actually do that until you throw them in the ring, because everybody says they can.
I was so surprised when the lit agency was like, here, we’re gonna teach you to be an accountant! It seemed like such an extraneous skill, but it was a way for them to get me more hours and a more official title (Office Manager). There was nothing on my resume that indicated I’d be any good at it, they just knew me and liked me and knew I was a hard worker so they threw me in and I swam. So now we do that to people here all the time!
Pretty much everything you said in the second paragraph is what so many places that are hiring fail to articulate (or, if they can’t be explicit about it, candidates fail to understand– overall diversity/personality/overlap/and the work hard etc. things that you can often get a sense of in an interview). And, as a candidate (um, like myself, at the moment), you sometimes just plain don’t know where you stand in that regard, so you bite your nails and stare at the phone. It can be maddening, but in all fairness, you don’t know the company (or whatever), but whoever is hiring does.
I know about the throwing in the deep end, too. It’s terrifying at the moment (“oh, I start making the website . . . today?”), but once you actually don’t drown, it turns out to be a good thing. I really do think it is good management to push or maybe even better do a little gentle shoving and just see what happens. My least favorite supervisory experiences have involved someone hanging over my shoulder and proofreading every letter as I went along.
“And literally every single job I had gotten — some of which were definitely not my first choice — taught me skills I use in this job, from handling customer service e-mails (which I did for MoveOn) to accounting on Quickbooks (which I did at the literary agency).”
Same! My coworkers always make fun of me because of the tips I’ve learned from previous jobs or leadership positions. It’s a running joke now.
Yeah you seriously never know what’s gonna turn out to be hella useful! Honestly I think I was better prepared to run this website by having a bunch of random jobs in different fields than I would’ve been by just working at a lot of other magazines.
You really are a goddamn hero, and I mean that so sincerely from the deepest places of my heartspace.
I LOVE YOU HEATHER
but no, heather. YOU ARE THE HERO. YOU MADE THE BEST PHOTOSHOPPED PHOTO IN ALL THE LAND in which when my girlfriend and me were on the couch just now watching Law and Order SVU and I was reading her daily article I screamed “IS THIS REAL?!? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU HAVE STOOD NEXT TO DETECTIVE OLIVIA BENSON?!”
a true hero.
The lesson here is that if you don’t hire Riese she just wait a few years and then steal your best talent.
Did this win a best comment award? I hope so…
This is so real. All of the wrong things lead to the right thing, thus making it SO MUCH SWEETER.
+1 because homegirl is now EMPLOYED
omg, I interned at bust magazine! I have no idea how I got it, because I have zero connections. they just plucked me randomly, somehow. it was cool that lots of my writing was published on their blog (without compensation). I did learn a lot from them, and will hopefully take my skills with me to another job.
now I’m unemployed and don’t know what I’m doing! yay!
I was also a BUST intern! I learned more there in four months than in four years of undergrad and the staff was really rad.
Maybe there should be a new group here: “unemployed and don’t know what I’m doing! yay!”
I kind of feel the “yay!” is crucial.
Two things:
1) this is incredibly inspiring and incredibly hilarious
2) I think I would buy and read an entire book of your cover letters
ONLY if the cover of the book had the student ID photo. Because it’s the greatest.
I needed this encouragement today – thank you! Overall I’m pretty happy with my weird-ass life trajectory. But, in the middle of making big changes, and had a hard day today. This was a little salve.
And I 100+% agree with the fact that you never know what skills you gain from one job that you will use in the future. I have a list of many random tips, talents, and bits of knowledge that I’ve picked up along the way and then used in a key ways later.
“I’ve got many more decades of life ahead of me in which I plan to write a lot of books. There’s still time. That was the hardest thing to understand, swallow and digest: even here, even now, even approaching my mid-thirties, there is still so much time.”
I was so excited seeing these words in my Facebook feed that I swore to my girlfriend this was written in response to all that oversharing I did in the survey.
Also, Olive beats my Single White Female ex friend Sage.
OLIVE IS A JERK
I have done lots of courses. Whenever I lost a job I would do another course. Now I work with kids and I can swing it that all my past experiences and even hobbies benefit my job… Graphic design, admin shiz, guitar, being a computer wizz, animal enthudiast and general big kid myself.
It has taken me a long time to get here and I have been in a bunch of jobs where I felt like I was just waiting to be fired because I didn’t fit any kind of mould.
I think the best part for me is that I can go with my hair gelled up and big plugs in and essentially choose my own uniform. Feels so good compared to being forced to qear makeup and feminine clothes by family when i was younger because otherwise people wouldn’t wanna hire me. (their words, of course.)
If it feels wrong, keep looking and keep learning.
P.s olive sucks
I bet she even lied about being a human and was just a fermented olive
Or an Olive Garden operative in disguise . . .
Ooooooooo yes, perhaps a plot to keep Riese forever as an Olive Garden employee because reasons?
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE.
With surprisingly good costume skills
The student ID photo wins.
This article is great / funny / very relevant to my interests as I sit in my apartment trying to teach myself how to do things for this coffee roasting company that I started that nobody in their right mind would hire me to do (see, accounting.)
ILL COME WORK 4 U PAPI
I don’t think I understood how much I needed to see this until it was unraveling on my screen. This is an incredibly inspiring piece and it makes me want to keep writing, no matter what! Thank you for Autostraddle. <3
“That was the hardest thing to understand, swallow and digest: even here, even now, even approaching my mid-thirties, there is still so much time.”
Okay. Phew.
Currently a late-20s college dropout, but planning to go back now that I actually have a reason to be there (with extremely mixed feelings about college in general!). Won’t be done until my early 30s or so? Sometimes I feel weird about it but am kind of finally at a point where I’m realizing that everyone’s journey is different, and as long as you’re being the best human (or humanoid robot) you can be along the way…no reason to beat yourself up about not following some made-up predetermined path.
Also I’ve worked SO many jobs and “jobs” as an adult…it’s always nice to see that there are other people in the same boat. One day I need to sit down and see if I can even remember them all.
This is nice to hear (and gives me hope) as I’m currently in the process of getting ignored for all the jobs that I want…
this was such an article i needed after numerous rejection letters.
This reminds me of that time you worked for me, which also seems kind of funny in retrospect. You were so enthusiastic and highly motived, a real proactive go-getter with an eye for detail. I knew that you were destined for bigger things.
Are you hiring? I hear some of your former employees have gone on to great things.
Thank you Crystal. You were an excellent boss, I was impressed with your ability to coordinate multiple tasks, communicate effectively with key stakeholders, and, OF COURSE, deliver deliverables
Thank you! I fucking loooove delivering on deliverables.
“Stay tuned for It Happened To Me: Nobody Would Hire Me To Work Here.”
sorry was there stuff written after this because i read it, died laughing, and came back as a ghost to tell you
This was really funny, insightful and inspirational. I really fucking hope i can look back ‘n’ laugh about all the job rejections in 10 years time.
Bless this article. Bless you Riese. <3
“There’s still time.” This is so real! It took me a year out of college to realize it was FINE that I was working my old customer service job and at a restaurant. Nobody is keeping score. I’ve got years and years and years ahead of me with nothing to do except keep myself alive and figure out what I want to do.
Once I relaxed about the fact that everything wasn’t laid out before me anymore, I was able to just start trying stuff. Among other things, I started reaching out to the real-life adult connections I had and asking them to help me find something more challenging and up-my-alley. Suddenly, based on a single personal recommendation, I got hired full-time for a thing that I absolutely was not qualified for, followed by that company liking me and shifting me into another position I absolutely was not qualified for. Now it’s been nearly a year and they still like me, and as the company is merging with another… the plan is to shift me into yet another position I’m absolutely not qualified for, but this time something that I actually am excited about doing. I think.
I’m twenty-three, have no clue what the long-run of my future career(s) will look like, and do not mind. I do not mind because I’m learning all kinds of useful stuff, I’m incredibly lucky to be paid enough to make a life, and because I know I have the tenacity and patience to survive and and work my way into things I love.
TLDR: be bold and try stuff.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING THESE STORIES, RIESE! I have an interview today for a job which I would really like to actually get, but reading these puts things into perspective, so I’m going to try really hard not to freak out and get an upset stomach over my ridiculous nerves!
i hope your interview went well!
Thanks! It was kind of made for extroverts, but I did okay.
This article and have given me hope this week.
Please someone tell me what skills I am learning from babysitting now that I didn’t already develop in the last 29 years.
Clearly HTML is not going on my CV.
This speaks so closely to my post-college blues of a few years ago and current, what am I doing with my life conundrum?
The times I have had the best luck with jobs was when I was the most authentically me. Nothing came out of these but I still got contacted:
– The time I proposed hiring. A box with a will you hire me? sticker on the inside with I believe a button. (Like actually proposing to someone but not to wed)
– Then the time I Rick Rolled a company to hire me. (Never going to give you up, let you down, mess around and hurt you, make you cry, say goodbye) I believe those are all really good things for work, don’t you agree? The company tweeted about it so I thought I was really winning at life.
So basically, when I am all of my weird self it normally draws people in. Like sure I got rejected but when the CEO of a major company contacts you, you know you’re bound for something big. I just need to keep on keeping on and not let a few rejections get in the way of what I can really offer.
This makes me feel weirdly great about the fact that I’m currently going through this exact process, and also reminds me to keep perspective on the breaks I appear to be getting, because shit can unravel real fast. But that’s okay, because you never make it til you do, right?
I think it’s ironically awesome that you interviewed for Afterellen. I still like that site for sure.
But, I know I can always count on Autostraddle to have smart, insightful articles about…well, really interesting things (for lack of better phrasing.)
I’m really glad that this website exists. I also wish that Julie & Brandy’s movie reviews would come back. Those were funny!!!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1335851532/geek-loves-punk-comedy-about-a-lesbian-geek-and-he
…as one of the “adults” out here who recently filled in a survey, I’d just like to say to all you struggling young ‘uns out there that I’m in my *ahem* early 40’s and am onto my arguably what, 3rd? 4th career? depending on how you define it… and this latest is one I’ve completely invented for myself cause I just wasn’t happy doing those other things – even though at the time they seemed like great things & dream jobs… and yeah, it’s a total struggle and takes mountains of initiative and stick-to-itness to make it happen, and at times it really can be stressful but its also exciting and makes me happy and seems now finally to be taking off *knock wood*…
so yeah- from my perspective way over here on this end of experience I’d say: take it easy on yourselves. there’s a lot of time ahead and you should do lots of different things with your days. I couldn’t do what I’m doing now if I hadn’t done all those things before… and I just keep putting it out there and some things stick and many don’t and you just keep trying!
ok, now realizing this has morphed into more of a pep talk than it was intended to be so ill shut up… anyway, another voice from the wilderness…
I held off on reading this until I had time to appreciate it because I knew it was going to be great. And it was even better than I expected!
I couldn’t have read this blog at the right moment in my life.
On January 22, 2015, I turned 30 years old and I was at a job I really hated. It was tough. My boss didn’t like me. My co-workers were great for the most part. But the higher ups kept giving me more and more responsibility that one person should not have been expected to do. I was there for 3 years, had perfect evaluations, got an award in December 2014 to acknowledge my hard word and then all of a sudden I got a new boss and that was the end. She made it known loud and clear that I was sinking and she was not going to send me a floating device. In fact, she sent me some metaphorical great white sharks.
So I resigned my job of several years to find something else that would make me happy. I left without another concrete job. I left because I felt like no one should work at a place that makes them physically sick or that they have to put up with gender issues or racism or homophobia in the work place. Unfortunately, the place was toxic and in order to be happy, I couldn’t have stayed there.
I have a goal of applying for 5 jobs a day. I’ve received a few phone calls for interviews but I haven’t had an offer. This one interview recently was the best interview of my life! They took down the posting of the job today. I think the job is mine but this waiting game is ridiculous.
So this was nice to know that it isn’t just me who doesn’t get a call back and there is reasons that I spent 30 plus minutes on cover letters and fixing my resume for each applications and sometimes they don’t even read it.
You just gave me hope! :)
Thank you!!!
Mel
I feel like I could write a very similar list, and with even some of the same players I think and maybe even a similar timeline. And then I kind of got my “dream job” as the Editor-in-Chief for a local LGBT publication but it was hardly the “dream” I envisioned. Firstly it was contract with a percentage of ad sales instead of salary, even though I had no say in the hiring of our sales manager, and secondly the suburban gay dad publishers and I butted heads CONSTANTLY. So when it went under less than a year later even though I was incredibly sad, and wished they would have at least published our fully laid out travel issue, I was also kind of relieved. But it was weird not to be writing about the local queer community, which I had been doing for like 8 years…