Staying Positive

By: Teri Grimes

By the time I’m finished with my job search, I’m absolutely certain I’ll have enough rejection letters to wallpaper the entire insides of my apartment. I frequently have my inbox fill up with rejection letters from companies I don’t even remember applying to. I’ve applied for positions where I’m the 84^th applicant THAT DAY. Once, I got denied for a position I was perfectly qualified for exactly three minutes after I sent my resume. What keeps me positive during my job search in this kind of situation, you ask? The fact that I know it only takes one. It only takes one company to take a chance on me, to actually review my qualifications, to interview me. Even though there are hundreds of companies out there telling me no, it only takes one person to say yes until I can tell people that I have a plan for after graduation in December.

Recently, I was lucky enough to actually get an interview for a job I applied to on LinkedIn. I had been feeling worse and worse about myself up until that point, when my outlook suddenly changed. Although I spend hours every day crafting cover letters and searching for suitable positions which feels like a huge chunk of my life, I realized that I had only really been applying for jobs for a couple of weeks and I already had an interview. Even if I continued to receive responses at this pace, that would still grant me several interviews before I graduated… one of which would hopefully result in a job.

The moral of the story: don’t get yourself down. If you keep trying hard enough, someone will eventually say yes. Even if you don’t land your dream job to begin with, you can keep looking. Just keep updating your career seeking skills, brushing up on cover letter and resume how-to’s, and looking for positions that fit your strengths!