It’s really frustrating to hear nothing.  Not simply because it means they aren’t interested in hiring me (not awesome, but not that upsetting), but because they didn’t care enough to say “the position has been filled”.  I received a rejection postcard a couple weeks ago, which would seem weak, but is actually a physical acknowledgment.  The job I applied to last week had its posting taken down within a few hours of me emailing my application, and I haven’t heard a word from them—not even saying “Oh, the position has been filled”.

For some reason, that’s more disappointing.  I emailed my application to the department head directly; surely it isn’t too onerous to respond with a couple sentences explaining the situation?  As an applicant, I spent a goodly chunk of time putting together a cover letter for the position and tailoring my resume, so it is disheartening to not be afforded the courtesy of a two-sentence email.  Then again, it’s a hirer’s market, so anyone offering a job can more or less afford to not be 100% as nice as I would prefer.  I imagine its not the top priority for a nonprofit.

I suppose, if I had been more clear about my own interests to begin with, or at least willing to admit a broader range of possibilities, I would have been using idealist.org sooner and wouldn’t have caught some of these listings at the outside of their posting range, and might have had more of a chance with them.

Bah.

I called an organization yesterday to make sure the job was still available, and haven’t heard back from them.  Either I spoke too quickly when leaving a message, or the posting has been filled and they have more to do on Thursday than return calls that’ll disappoint potential applicants.

Well, I found a posting today that I think is right up my alley that was just put up yesterday, so I’ll work on that and mope later.  This is for another university, a school I’m already liking because of their dedication to “real-world experience”.  I loved my academic experiences at Scripps and they’re very important to me (I will always value my time as Tree-Girl in my last classes with Prof. Matz), but some of the most valuable experiences I had—especially in terms of becoming a functional adult—were from working, for DOS, Alumnae Relations, and Development.

On another note, I organized a regional 5C Happy Hour at one of PDX’s fine brewpubs.  So hey, that’s like professional development and craft-brews at the same time.  Yes, sometimes I do speak in italics.

I’m hoping to get at least one informal interview while I’m in Boston next week, so back to work on this application!

Oh, and here’s a link to a sample of the kind of pre-write matrix that I use before writing a cover letter.  Valinda told me that it’ll make interviewing (when it happens, anyways) easier, and I agree.  Or at least realized that was the case after Valinda pointed it out.  It does help me organize my thoughts and make notes about what things exemplify what skills, so at the very least its been useful.

Oh, and I’ve been learning more about loan forgiveness, and I’m definitely going to talk more about that later.