Interviewing Really Sucks
Out of my four-month long search, I was offered two interviews. I went to one, felt really good about it, and, of course, was not chosen for the position.
I thought that I did really well. I was so happy to have any chance at getting a job that I practiced, read online review tips, and tried really, really hard to make sure that I appeared professional. I took out my nose stud, put on subtle makeup, make sure that my hair was perfect, ironed my suit, and made sure that I wore closed-toe shoes. I brought a copy of my resume in an official-looking folio. I asked questions, made myself seem interested in the position, and tried selling my proofreading skills.
I still didn't get it.
After this interview, an HR representative from a publishing company (publishing is my dream career) sent me an e-mail asking me for writing samples. I was so excited.
Nothing came out of that, either.
I'm really discouraged at this point. I'm tempted to go back to waitressing, just to occupy my time. I'm applying to jobs left and right, and it has gotten me nowhere. It's so frustrating when my peers are all employed - even more frustrating when their parents or friends of their parents are the ones that have gotten them these offers. I don't have connections like that, unfortunately. Doing the right things - like volunteering, getting internships, getting published - hasn't done anythign for me. I don't know what's next for me, yet. I guess I could always throw myself into sales.
You're right. Interviewing is the pits. All that stiff stuff, being unreal, trying to see past the facade in order to get down to the guts of what's really there. Wouldn't it be great to just stop in for a visit one day, take a look around and see what's what, then say thanks for the visit and follow that up with, "Say, I'd really like to work for you." In the alternative, wouldn't it be neat to hear from them after the visit by saying, "Boy, we enjoyed your visit so much that we'd like to have you come by more often. In fact, we'd like for you to make the visits regular. In fact, we'd like to hire you for blah-de-blah position. Will you accept it?"
Well, interviews are pretty much what the beginning of this layed out. They're a visit to see who and what and learn more, to evaluate whether this is what you really want and where you want to be. But just as when you're on a date and trying to hard to get the other person to like you, so it goes with the interview. You can practice the questions and rehearse the answers, but when you do that too much, the answers come off as stiff and rehearsed and, quite frankly, fake.
You've got writing samples. Take a good, critical look at them. Aside from the technicals of spelling and grammar, what are those samples like? Are they lively and engaging? Do they inform? Do they compare with the content the site / publication already uses or are they drastically different?
This is getting longer winded than it should be but I owe you the support you deserve. You're volunteering and doing interships and so on. That's good. But are you connecting with the people at the places where you're doing all of these things? If not, then do. Keep it business related but let these people be humans. If you're planning on attending the career development classes, we'll get into more details then.