Monday, May 21, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Jobs
So I applied for a job today. It's a fulltime staff job at my university, with the people that I worked with last year for my halftime TA job. I don't know what my chances are of getting it, and I won't be devastated if I don't get it, but I had some interesting thoughts as I prepared my cover letter and CV, so I thought I'd share.
Ten days ago I applied for a half-time student job with an organization that I've never done any work with at the university. I updated my CV and tweaked it for the position, and wrote a cover letter for that job. Since I don't know anyone there, and they don't know me, I felt like I really needed my CV and cover letter to represent the scope of what I have done and can do and will do for them. With today's application, though, it felt really different. I mean, these people know me! They worked with me for a whole school year and a summer, about 11 months total, and they know how my personality fits with the other staff, and they have a pretty good idea of how I would fulfill some of the job responsibilities (it's a brand new position, and some of the tasks are very close to the tasks I had as a TA there). And that doesn't mean that I don't want my CV and cover letter to still represent me (and yes, I did tweak my CV and write a new cover letter), but it means they are less important. Right?! ...or something...
If I don't get chosen for the parttime job, I can always say, "they just don't know me and what a great job I would do!" But with this staff position, I feel a bit more like I'm actually putting myself on the line - um, they DO know me, and my work, so if they don't pick me, what does that mean?? Man, I'm not even on the job market yet, and already I'm feeling like that must be an emotionally brutal process!
I feel a bit sheepish about this, given how low the stakes are for me right now. It's very possible that I'll look back on this at some future point when I AM on the job market and just laugh and laugh. But this is how I feel right now, so there you go.
And now to bed. I've had 2 events per night for so many nights now that it felt really refreshing tonight to just (skip tonight's second event - sorry S and V!- and) come right home after YW.
Ten days ago I applied for a half-time student job with an organization that I've never done any work with at the university. I updated my CV and tweaked it for the position, and wrote a cover letter for that job. Since I don't know anyone there, and they don't know me, I felt like I really needed my CV and cover letter to represent the scope of what I have done and can do and will do for them. With today's application, though, it felt really different. I mean, these people know me! They worked with me for a whole school year and a summer, about 11 months total, and they know how my personality fits with the other staff, and they have a pretty good idea of how I would fulfill some of the job responsibilities (it's a brand new position, and some of the tasks are very close to the tasks I had as a TA there). And that doesn't mean that I don't want my CV and cover letter to still represent me (and yes, I did tweak my CV and write a new cover letter), but it means they are less important. Right?! ...or something...
If I don't get chosen for the parttime job, I can always say, "they just don't know me and what a great job I would do!" But with this staff position, I feel a bit more like I'm actually putting myself on the line - um, they DO know me, and my work, so if they don't pick me, what does that mean?? Man, I'm not even on the job market yet, and already I'm feeling like that must be an emotionally brutal process!
I feel a bit sheepish about this, given how low the stakes are for me right now. It's very possible that I'll look back on this at some future point when I AM on the job market and just laugh and laugh. But this is how I feel right now, so there you go.
And now to bed. I've had 2 events per night for so many nights now that it felt really refreshing tonight to just (skip tonight's second event - sorry S and V!- and) come right home after YW.
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