Patience and Perseverence

By Shikole Struber

Landing a job is not about sending out applications. Or interviewing. It's about having patience with the process and persevering through it.

My best friend in college was a year ahead of me. The only advice she had to share that last semester was to not wait until graduation to find a job. She didn't want me to end up signed into a five year contract like she was because she got desperate.

So i started searching in February. To no avail. I was sending out an average of 5 application a week and getting no responses. In March I stopped for a bit to focus on midterms. In April I stepped it up to 5 applications a day. I got an interview or two, but nothing came of it.

When May rolled around, and graduation was a mere 9 days away I started to panic. I had been searching for months. Diligently. I redid my resume 3 times to amp up the content. I wrote several killer cover letters. I researched each and every organization I was applying to so I could contribute in an interview. And nothing happened. After 3 months.

Finally I decided I was going to apply to everything, not just my dream jobs. I stopped looking for interesting jobs in my field and started looking for ANYTHING. Some of my friends said that I was selling out, but those friends didn't have $12.73 in their bank account and rent due in 3 weeks.

One day the Friday before graduation I saw a post on my school's website. It was titled "About to graduate and need a job?" It's like it was speaking to me. I clicked on the post and continued to read.

Are you good at multitasking? YES

Can you thrive in a fast paced environment? YES

Are you organized? YES. Well, no, but I can be.

I applied for the job. Had a phone interview the Monday after graduation. In person interview that Thursday. I was offered a second interview on the spot. I began working full time for The Solutions Group, an IT consulting firm, 2 weeks after graduation. After searching for 3.5 months.

Keep in mind I have a degree in Political Science...but a job is a job.