Hire Me, PLEASE!

I am currently waiting to hear back from a job. I have been waiting since last Friday. I hate the whole job acquiring process. First you apply for tons of jobs. Then a few call you for an interview. You get all dressed up, practice what you are going to say, and try to psyche yourself out. You get to the interview, you answer their questions while trying to sound sincere. Then you ask them a few questions, still trying to sound sincere. Then you ask when you will hear from them, they tell you, and you get in your car and drive home. Then you wait. The waiting part after the interview is worse than the interview itself. The first day after your interview you are optimistic. The second day, some doubts creep in, but there is still reason to hope for a call back. They could be checking your references. By the third day, you know that they won't call back, at least not to ask you if you want the job. In a few weeks you will receive a letter in the mail saying that they appreciated your interest in the position, but they decided to hire one of the other candidates. Or you receive a call back, and they tell you in person. Those are the worst. You answer the phone thinking, "Oh yes, they are calling, that's a good sign." But then you get past the first three words of the conversation and realize that they are rejecting you. If you've been through job interviews like I have, you know that the process I have described is really quite common. Sometime last fall, I realized that within the last two years of my life, I have applied for at least 120 jobs, and gotten over 20 interviews, and this year I have had two already. I am an interview pro. But not the kind of pro you want to get advice from. I am the kind of pro who goes to interviews, and repeatedly bombs them. Don't ask me for advice. I will lead you down a path you don't want to take. I can give you advice on how to get an interview, but not how to get a job.

The interview I am waiting to hear back from is a school in Zimmerman. Only four people applied for the job. I was one of them obviously. The principal said not to expect a call until tomorrow, the 20th, but for some reason, waiting this long has filled my heart with doubt. Even though there are only 4 applicants, I feel like I am not the one who will be chosen. It could be because I have had to wait so long for an answer, and it's the feeling I always get after days of waiting. I felt very positive about the job in the beginning. Directly after the interview. But as time goes by, the doubts creep in and tell you all of the things that you did wrong. I know that this time for the most part I did well. But there could be someone who did even better. I always try to remain optimistic, but for the third summer in a row I am looking for a teaching job. I did not see this coming. If it were any other job, I would have given up looking a long time ago, but I love teaching. Even when I don't love it, I love it. I hate the parents, the PTA more specifically. I hate the nit-picky requirements we have to fulfill, I hate conferences, I hate plenty of it, but I love the kids. I'm not ready to give up. But I am VERY tired of trying.