The Dreaded Job Search

I don’t know if there is anything more demoralizing than searching for a new job.  If there is a better way to discover the entire myriad of things a person is unqualified to do I have yet to find it.  I will admit that I have yet to settle on a career.  Like all high school and college students I was urged to choose a trajectory at a young age, but the path I have taken has been a bit more meandering.  This makes me barely or slightly under qualified for many things and very qualified for practically nothing.  Last week I had two job interviews.  On the way to the first it dawned on me that I hadn’t been through a real job interview in a couple of years.  Gulp.  I stumbled awkwardly through a long list of standard interview questions I should have been more prepared for and left feeling discouraged.  (The first thing that came to mind when asked, “Where do you see yourself professionally in five years?” was “Oh!  I’d like to have chickens and goats!”)  The second interview went more smoothly after the practice of the first, but the whole process has a way of making a person feel about two inches tall.  I went to both interviews clutching a resume that has my entire adult life boiled down to one page.  I look at the odd collection of jobs I’ve had and I don’t see the straight line, marked with accomplishments, of someone pursuing a profession.  It’s easy to let this rattle my self-confidence, especially when having to explain it to strangers, under the microscope in an interview setting, when I only have 30 minutes to make an impression, to prove my worth.  However, when I look at my resume again, when I really look at it, I see an odd collection, not of jobs, but of life experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything.  I see dear friends, a million lessons learned, a billion belly laughs, many character-building situations, trips and adventures, and the invaluable and inevitable joys that come from being willing to try something new.  Someday I might finally settle on a career.  Or I might not.  But I will always be willing to work hard and be open to learning.  I have to believe there is greater value in building character, relationships, me as a person, than in building a resume.  So, to all of my fellow current and future job-searchers take heart and keep an open mind.  And if you have to take that job as a potato-sorter to see you through (yes, this summer I dabbled in potato-sorting) give me a call.  I will be here to commiserate.