Job Hunting, Book Publishing and the “Dear Johns”

I graduated recently with my Master of Arts in Communications and have been riding the roller coaster of job hunting. Each day, I look at LinkedIn, Monster, iHireBroadcasting and my dream companies to see if they have posted new jobs. I find the jobs I like and I apply, sending them my resume and my cover letter which you can see here. I get the customary, “application received” email or silence from said potential employer and sit. The wait has begun, and I begin to sweat… wondering will I get the opportunity.

Then I get the e-mails, either let’s set up a phone interview, which have in a couple of cases, turned to Facetime or Skype interviews or… “we won’t be proceeding with your application as we have found a candidate matching closer to our needs.” I’ve gotten more of those business “Dear Johns” than the former, let’s do a phone interview. Even with those phone/skype interviews, I’ve ended up getting the business “Dear John” letters.

Getting those business “Dear Johns” is like an author getting a rejection letter, disheartening at first, then funny, then finally… a swift kick in the ass to keep going forward. One could wonder how is it a kick in the ass? Simple, it makes one move. It makes one keep going even when people have said no. Eventually though, someone will say yes as pointed out in an article by Literary Rejections on best sellers who were rejected. In the article, the author lists quite a few authors like Rowling, Le Guin, London, who were rejected, yet eventually were published and did great things.

I keep the fighting knowing that, like those authors, eventually, someone will say “yes” followed by “when can you start?”

If you’re in the same boat, keep the faith and keep applying for those dream roles. Someone will say to us at some point… “yes!”

Thanks for reading! Take care and much love to you all!