The Waiting Game

Holla,

One of the most frustrating parts of life in the unemployment line is sitting around and waiting. You wait for emails, phone calls, text messages, and any other form of communication that you can find. I'm starting to wear the mouse button out from the number of times I hit refresh on my email accounts.

Each day, I try and send out at least a couple of emails to inquire about different positions or to send out my resume. This means that at any point in time, I have anywhere from five to twenty-five outstanding inquiries. After a while of living in the Line, you start to get used to the disappointment of not hearing back from the majority of your emails, even after you've spent a considerable amount of time putting together a heartfelt message, basically begging for an opportunity. You have to understand that these potential employers are most likely receiving hundreds of these messages each day, and that there has to be a large degree of luck in play to make your email stand out above the rest.

Although I have gotten over this initial stage of disappointment, I can't move past the second stage quite yet. I would estimate that for every ten emails that I send out, I might receive one response. Usually these responses are asking for further information or additional examples of my work. I can't tell you the excitement that this generates for me. The most typical reaction is a brief spat of dancing in the middle of my room. There is, at minimum, a fist pump.

If the email correspondence gets to the point that I actually meet with the employer, whether it's an interview or audition, I will start picturing myself in the role or position. The problem is that most of these interviews take a period of time before they get back to you. Sometimes it's a couple of days, sometimes a week or two. That waiting period makes me want to jump off large buildings or play real life frogger on El Cajon.

Many of these employers won't get back to you at all if you don't get the position. It's completely understandable. If I were giving interviews, I wouldn't want to see the people that I didn't hire ever again. I would feel so bad if I ran into them that I would probably offer to buy them lunch and pay off a portion of their debt. But that doesn't make the waiting any easier. Especially if I'm really excited about the job.

In the meantime, while I'm waiting to hear back from about four different gigs right now, I try and consume myself with other activities. Blogging for instance. Or making videos. Here is the latest video from Wiscondiego. Please enjoy



-More the come