The Job Search - It's Like Dating

I find myself looking at the phone, willing it to ring. I pick up the receiver and double check that there is a dial tone. Nope, no messages on the answering machine . . . . .
Wait a minute, I remember doing this years ago! Looking for a new job in this current economic climate is like dating all over again. I hated dating. No offense to anybody I may have dated that is reading this. I didn't hate YOU, it was just the process. Now there is this added compulsion to check my e-mail inbox many times a day as well. So many new ways to be rejected.
I did the traditional thing of looking in the paper. In our local paper the employment section is right next to the lonely hearts section. If you find a job/guy that looks promising, same interests/right qualifications (Non-smoker GSOH and have worked in the industry for eleven years) you send off your CV or resume. If you're serious about getting a job/date you'll sign up with an agency. Most large companies with head offices in much larger cities will not put ads in small town papers when recruiting. In my case, I have registered with a number of agencies that specialize in my field.

You'll get a few first interviews. Then it starts. You'll be nuts about them and they'll be lukewarm about you. Or you don't think they are that great, but you want the job/date anyway. The first interview went well but they never call again. What is worse is, you get a second interview that went okay too and you think, "This could be it! They could be The One!". Then they don't call you for days afterward. When they do finally call, you get the business version of "it's not you it's me".

I've been turned down for jobs for which I believed I was perfectly suited and qualified. It really saps ones confidence. You start looking at your application for gross errors like misspelling your home town and spinach between my teeth.

I've been to a couple of second interviews and been pipped at the post by somebody with more specific qualifications or experience. The last interview that I went on, I was told that there were over 100 people applied. 10 people were selected for interview and I was among them. Three were put forward for the second interview and I was there again. So I must be doing something right . . . but you wonder if you'll ever be in a relationship/job ever again.