Unemployable?!

As many of you know, I’m currently engaged in a rather unsuccessful job hunt on the east coast. Thus far the most response I’ve received from any potential employer is either “sorry, we’ve already filled the position” or “thank you for your interest Mr. Graves, we’ll be in contact.”

The “sorry, we’ve already filled the position” thing…that I can handle. I mean if you found someone better, great. I’m happy for you. I don’t have a lot of experience in anything except being a library bitch, so I can understand that.

It’s the whole “we’ll be in contact” bullshit that’s really starting to twist my corkscrew. These people, these “professionals” if you will, give you this quick one liner that is supposed to give you a slightly elevated sense of hope and maybe even a quick shot of euphoria (which tastes just like a Scooby-Snack, by the way). However, when about a month has passed and you’ve found yourself making numerous additional inquiries with little to no feedback, the afformentioned hope and euphoria are replaced with negativity and self-loathing (which tastes a lot like dog piss, by the way).

During the four-plus months that I’ve been scrambling to find employment in Boston, I’ve received a total of ZERO…that’s right…none, zip, zilch, nada, not a single f’n call-back. Now this would seem logical if I’d simply sent of resumes and left it at that, but alas that is not the case.

In this four-plus month employment marathon, I’ve sent out nearly 100 different applications, resumes and/or cover letters. In addition to the paper work, I’ve called and/or emailed a majority of these potential employers and received the good ole “we’ll be in contact” line.

“We’ll be in contact.” It seems like such a simple little phrase. One that imply someone may contact you. In fact, it doesn’t just imply potential for contact. They don’t say “we might give you a call…or maybe not”…no, no…what they say is “we’ll be in contact.” Perhaps contractions are a bit more complicated on the east coast. Maybe we’ll isn’t actually the combination of WE and WILL. Maybe in Beantown we’ll actually means “there is no chance in hell that we will…” (insert: be in contact).

Roughly ten minutes ago I made a phone call to the Massachusetts Historical Society. I was applying for a job as a Library Assistant person or something…it doesn’t f’n matter. The point is…I called three times. I emailed twice. I sent out my resume and cover letter two days after the job opened. Finally, today…nearly three weeks later…I actually got through to a human being. Once on the phone she didn’t have the fortitude to actually tell me that I wasn’t getting the job. Instead she beat around the bush and told me that they had a lot of applicants and they usually hire people from the library school down the road. This was followed by a long, rather awkward silence. It was at this point that I figured out she was trying to tell me it was Game Over for this job…but she didn’t tell me. She just sat there and then gave me a quick “good luck…” and hung up, like she was scared. Very professional way to handle the situation.

I’d like to keep ranting, but I have to go back to work. The job I DO have…for at least another two days. *sigh*

Hopefully, this whole job thing takes a very positive turn soon…because this shizzle is really starting to drag a brother down.