When I graduated college with my bachelor’s degree last year, I assumed a new job wouldn’t just fall in my lap. But I had no idea it would be as exhausting and mentally draining as it has been. I am almost a year into this new job hunt adventure. One I haven’t been on in quite a while. I’ve been with the same company for almost 17 years and in the same department for about 12 of those. I’ve pretty much gone through every major life event while working there. Marriage, having a child, divorce, graduating college, all the ups and downs that our 20’s and 30’s brings us.
Although I try not to live in the past, I can’t help but think if I had done things differently, maybe this job hunt journey wouldn’t be so difficult right now. Rejection after rejection, as if by now I haven’t experienced enough of that in my personal life. Now I’m having to accept it professionally, and man it stings just as bad. As of today, I have probably spent over 200 hours trying to learn about these new methods of networking, updating my resume numerous times, going through career coaching, resume building courses, creating numerous amounts of profiles, and applying for jobs.
I’m 36 and I have definitely been through some life stuff, as I mentioned above. But the one thing I never thought about, is how much all sorts of rejection can circle back and put me back in a rut. The feeling of not being chosen, can go back to elementary days of not being picked by a team. Knowing the answer for questions, but the teacher still picks someone else. Wanting to fit in with a certain crowd, but being overlooked and outcasted because maybe you didn’t dress like them or weren’t into getting into trouble. Do we ever get over those things? Maybe some of us do. But the truth is, just because one day we wake up and we’re in our 30’s with responsibilities, doesn’t mean that all those little events don’t still affect us. And it certainly doesn’t mean they stop happening.
Rejection is one of those things that just happens in life, right? This is what we hear, it’s just a part of growing up. And it is. BUT, what about after? How are we choosing to handle it? Where do we turn when the rejection doesn’t stop coming? I don’t have an answer, but I can honestly say that I have had some super low days, and some super high days. I have cried from frustration, feeling like over and over I keep hitting a wall. And then I have gotten a call for an interview and my hope is back up. But then not getting selected and months going by without any other callbacks and dozens and dozens of those infamous emails. “Thank you for your interest…. But we have chosen to pursue another candidate.” It never gets easier reading those emails.
I am just one in the millions of those that are trying just as hard as I am. And to those, I feel you, I get you, I know it sucks and feels like nothing is happening. Let’s do something in the waiting. I don’t know if this is the right thing to do, but this is what has helped me in every other aspect of my life. Waiting for answers, waiting for love, waiting for a break, waiting for a chance. There’s a reason why so much of our lives are about waiting. And what gets me through it, sometimes, is that God wants me to work on something in the waiting.
So, as I end this long overdue blog post, let’s ask ourselves, what can I do in the waiting? Even if its not the job hunt your waiting in, there is still something you can do while you wait. Maybe it’s disconnecting, tap into some hobbies, signing up for volunteer work, blessing someone else while you wait for your blessing, isn’t that an amazing thought? Something amazing is around the corner.
#waitinginhope
Marielis Unedited 