Thank you for your interest…
This is usually how the dreaded email from a potential employer who is politely letting you know that they do not want to work with you begins.
The same email I just received about 30 minutes ago.
I am fresh out of college. I didn’t graduate at the top of my class, I didn’t join 15 clubs, I wasn’t in a sorority, and I procrastinated getting work done most of the time. It’s safe to assume that I could have applied myself more. It is also safe to assume that now that it’s all over, I wish I would have applied myself more. Apparently graduating ‘mediocre’ from a top public university doesn’t guarantee the ‘American Dream’ anymore. I currently can’t gain employment through an entry-level job. Am I that mediocre that I can’t be trusted to travel around the country to sandwich shops to basically be a hands-on manager for a week?
I put my Facebook and Twitter links on my resume. Why, you ask? Because it is bullshit for me to feel as if I have to hide who I really am from an employer for them to want to hire me. My entire life almost is recorded online in some way. Not because I’m lazy, or because I have nothing better to do with my time. It’s because I genuinely enjoy it. I’m the person at family get-togethers who gets made fun of for being on Facebook all of the time at all hours of the day. But who do you think is reading my posts not even 20 minutes later?
I’m interesting, I have an opinion, I don’t look like every other woman my age, I don’t act like every other woman my age; I’m unique in every definition of the word. I also don’t care to hide that I think those things of myself. Therefore if a company is expecting me to have my Facebook deactivated or to have my name misspelled to lead them away from my online trail, then I probably don’t want to work for them anyway.
I believe our society is too caught up on censoring everything anyway, why in the world would I want to censor myself to follow suit?
The American education system failed me. That’s a another blog post saved for a strong opinion. At the beginning of college I was eager to learn, eager to blossom into the perfect student. In the beginning I succeeded at that. Then I eventually became unmotivated and that non-motivation became a habit. I loved to learn, still do to this day. But I wasn’t actually learning anything. I wasn’t being asked to apply myself. I was told to cram as much information into my brain as I could and then regurgitate onto a paper or electronic exam. I honestly couldn’t tell you a single communication theory I learned and communication is supposed to be my forte. I’m completely ashamed of that fact. But I don’t believe it was my fault. That isn’t just Attribution Theory in progress either. And yes I did have to look up the name of that theory.
I’ve heard many times that persistence is what gets you somewhere in life. Danny Devito once went through 1,000 interviews and got denied in every single one. So he went to 1,000 more. In the very last interview the person gave him a chance. And that’s all it took, just one chance from one person. (That is at least how the story was told to me by a great colleague of mine.) But shoot I’ll be honest, not being accepted for an entry-level position that I personally feel I would be over qualified for is a bit disheartening.
Nonetheless, if persistence is what it takes, persistence is what I will have. I may not have been motivated in school but my mediocre grades will not define who I am as a potential employee. The desire to learn and grow still burns inside me.
I’m also beginning to have serving nightmares due to working too much at a great local place in Lafayette where I live. If that isn’t motivation enough to be the best potential employee I can be, nothing will be.
One Day.. 
A talented young woman such as yourself should not be looking to others to create your own value. You are creative, thus, start your own business or venture. Yes, persistence, the success bug, is the main ingredient combined with a whole lot of desire.
And, you are always welcome to come work “with” me, and create your own fan base, that will follow you the rest of your life. You got fooled once, (college), so don’t get fooled again.
What happens when you work for someone else and get that $10,000 idea? Do you get a $10,000 raise? Hardly. Get out there and choose yourself. You don’t need a resume or piece of paper telling you that you are smart when you know you got it.
Thank you John.
Today I applied for numerous positions across the country as well as attended a career fair at Purdue. 3 of the companies I applied for this morning called me while I was walking to the career fair. What I found at the career fair was that I not only towered over everyone there, I exemplified a kind of confidence that I don’t feel often enough.
I conversed with a few companies, and handed them my resume not caring whether or not they were impressed. I then realized that my confidence was coming from the fact that I didn’t actually want to be there. I didn’t want to work for any of those companies. I want to model and be in social media, that’s who I am!
I’m a fellow Boilermaker, working on my graduate degree now at a different university. It’s a tough market. I’m currently unemployed, but was working for a couple years. I believe what got me in the door was an internship that I never would have gotten if I hadn’t started working on my MBA just a few months before.
Keep pressing on. Keep selling yourself in interviews. Keep being you. My hunch is when you find the right opportunity, you’re going to love it because you were true to yourself during the job hunt.
Know that in this economy, even once you’re in the door, it’s hard to stay there. We young members of society looking for work have a difficult time of it in this environment. But I do believe it will get better.
Good luck! I put in 150+ applications and only got interviews for 2. All it takes is a foot in the door! When you feel disheartened watch the 100 days of rejection. It was a Ted talk and it completely made getting the job rejection easier.