Category Archives: Karyn

On Being soaked to the bone by random downpours, Interviews, and Networking

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Today, it rained nearly an inch and a half.  Most of that was between 8 am and 10 am, aka: my morning bicycle commute.  Everything I was wearing was soaked through, and as I was heading over the Hawthorne Bridge…the bridge went up, leaving me to wait, shivering in the downpour, for a boat to pass underneath.

The point of this story is mostly to emphasize that Portland, while lovely during the summer and apparently a magnet for recent graduates, has some staggeringly un-picturesque weather.

In other, more job-related news, my report on meeting with the Alum:

The alum was, as expected, very nice.  I ended up going along on a dinner she was having with one of my friends who happens to be in the region temporarily, and it was a very pleasant meal.  We talked Claremont, and Development, and I made it fairly clear that I’m organized and have a love affair with Excel (one which Mallory appears to be paralleling) to the extent that the Alum made a joke about me tracking something with Excel later that evening.  She also offered to send my resume to people she knows, which is a very generous offer.  I followed up with a thank you email (my resume attached) and have a thank you card that will probably go out this week.

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On Interviews

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I have an interview at a museum in Portland!  I was in the middle of assembling ingredients for Vegan Cupcakes when I got a call from an unfamiliar Portland-area number.  I thought it might be the pub from the 5C Happy Hour I organized calling to ask more questions (they were very good at follow-up), but it was someone from Human Resources at the Museum telling me they wanted to interview me to be the Development Assistant.

I applied right before I left for my latest excursion to the east coast (it was an awesome trip.  I love my friends on the east coast, and I spent time with the best baby in the world).   I fumbled a little in the call because I was so excited when scheduling the interview, but what I learned while working for Phonathon came in handy in keeping me on subject and friendly-sounding.  Beyond remembering to speak at a pace people can actually understand, remember to smile when you’re talking.  It sounds super cheesy, but it works.

Anyhow, I’m headed into work a little early on Monday, leaving at lunch to catch a bus to the museum, having my interview (the person who called me said I should plan on an hour!) and walking back to my internship and finishing the afternoon in the office.  I know they know I’m looking for a paying job, but I think I’ll feel a little bad if they only get a few weeks of work out of me.  I’d probably end up volunteering more to feel better about it, especially since my friend, G, works there.

The museum requested no calls, and their website says that “Candidates whose backgrounds most closely match the requirements of each position will be contacted by Human Resources,”  which is something of an ego boost: this means that they thought my qualifications were actually good, and not being superficially polite in a rejection email.

In any case, I’m preparing for the interview by researching the museum in more depth than I did for my cover letter.

Valinda advised me to put together a “story bank,” which are stories that demonstrate all the skills they want.  Luckily for me, that’s basically what I do when I’m writing cover letters already, so I already have a story bank.  I’ll report back on the interview, and how my meeting with the alum went, later on.

In Which Valinda Points Out The Obvious

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This is important: remember your resources.  Talking to Valinda and having a bit of a whine and cheese party, I stumbled upon a really obvious point: I’m going to be in the same town as a Board of Trustees member for a few days, and I should really try to take advantage of that.  Beyond the fact that I was a student rep on the BOT last year, I am aware of her existence because I worked really closely with Advancement and the Annual Fund for four years, so she’s always peripherally existed for me.

At one of these meetings, I should have introduced myself rather directly to this Scripps Board member. At the time, I found this alum formidable (in the best way possible): she’s razor-sharp intelligent and exceptionally good at her job.  She is executive staff member in Development at a college I’m making a social call to in the coming weeks, and, as Valinda gently pointed out, would be a truly excellent resource if she was both inclined and available.

So I drafted an email, and Valinda is kindly looking over it, and also very politely not teasing me about missing the obvious. Continue reading →

On Impatience, Language, and Desktop Hygiene

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I have to admit that I’m becoming incredibly impatient with emails that assure me that my resume and qualifications are very impressive, despite the fact that the organization was clearly unimpressed enough that I didn’t receive a call or a request for references.  I appreciate politeness, but only when it’s not polite nonsense.  Language and expression matter, and the way I’m told something matters as much to me as the concrete facts communicated.  Which is why this email in particular irritated me: it was the job-search equivalent to “It’s not you, it’s me.”

I found an unpaid internship in development at a political advocacy organization.  I was researching information for a (paid) job application, and I found a posting for an unpaid Development Intern at a non-profit that a friend has a (paid) job at.  G was my ambulatory verbal resume, and I met with their Development Director, who was very excited at the prospect of having an intern who actually knew what all the Development administrative stuff means, and has plenty of experience (and, in a better economy, would probably be a paid development worker somewhere).

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On a lack of response

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A few days ago I sent off another application by email, and I have not yet heard anything in response.  The first time I received no response from a non-profit, it was for the understandable reason that they had already hired someone.  That particular assumption seems fairly safe, considering that they took down the job posting the next morning and didn’t respond to my email application.

Since the remaining non-profits still have their job postings up on their websites and idealist.org, I’m left wondering what it means that I have not yet received a response to my application.  It could mean they filled the position and simply haven’t taken the posting down.  Or it could mean they are in the middle of going through the applications they have received and haven’t taken down the posting because of institutional policy (as far as I know, it isn’t uncommon to leave a posting up as long as the post is technically open.)

Then there are the slightly more nerve-wracking possibilities, including the possibility that they decided my skills don’t fit their needs (horror!) or that my application got lost in the shuffle of day-to-day business at the non-profit.  I don’t know which unsettles me more, but it is probably unhelpful to speculate on the possibilities without talking to them. Continue reading →