Job hunting

In less than a month I will be done with teaching. I won't graduate, as my thesis isn't finished, but I will be available to go back to work. As such, I have started job hunting, posting my resume at various internet job sites (i.e. Monster, Career Builder, Hot Jobs), and have applied for a few positions.

It's been more than two years since I've seriously job hunted and I have forgotten what a humiliating and frustrating process it is. For example, this morning I was on my computer and received an email entitled "Agency Position." I got excited and wondered which PR agency it was. I opened the email to see that it was some mass marketing template to work for an insurance company -- you know, become an agent and have your own agency franchise.

I took a few minutes to visit the various job sites to renew my resume. One trick is to renew/refresh your resume at least weekly, to keep it at the top of the pile. While doing this, I was able to see how many folks have clicked on my resume -- not good. In two weeks my resume on Monster has only been viewed three times.

Occasionally I receive a call or email saying someone has viewed my resume and thinks I will be a perfect fit for a job in their company. What is the job? Sales. I'm not sure where on my resume it says that I have done sales. I have done marketing, I have done PR. I give great account service and I can get on the phone and pitch a reporter, but please, don't have me cold call some schlocky product. That is not me. I don't enjoy sales. I want to do communications, that is what I enjoy.

Now, a few people have asked me why don't I stay teaching. As of right now, that's not an option and not the direction I want to go. Ideally, I would like to work full time in the field and then teach a class or two at night. I have discussed the possibility with various folks about being an adjunct, and get told they are keeping me in mind. The issue is that right now there are no evening PR classes scheduled (mainly because no one has ever wanted to teach at night), and that we are hiring a new director for the school of journalism and mass communications. No one wants to make any decisions until the new director comes on board. Of course, that will be late summer, assuming that one of the current candidates gets the job.

I know that most likely my job will not come from want ads, and I am starting to work my network. Still, it's frustrating and a slow process and not one I enjoy. Every unanswered resume submission, every interview where you aren't hired, you wonder what it is about you, where you went wrong, why you aren't worthy. You ask people you've known for years if they know of any job openings in the field and the answer is no.

However trying the process is, it's still what one has to go through in job hunting. Maybe the difficulty is what will make the job worth it.