“The Job’s Just Not That Into You”

One of my favorite movies, “He’s Just Not That Into You”, inspired by the book that was inspired by the line in episode 78 of Sex and the City, “Pick-A-Little, Talk-A-Little” has never spoken to me more than it has this passed month.

I was lucky in love, was never really rejected and had that whole “love at first sight” thing when I met Andrew, so I could only sympathize with the movie through experiences I had heard through my friends, but now I understand it all completely.

Looking for a job is a lot like looking for love. My resume is a lot like a love profile. Commitment is “permanent” instead of “looking for a serious relationship” and a good match would be “something with a nice 401 K and benefits” instead of “a guy who wants to start a family.” I write up my cover letters to catch employers’ eyes, just as a girl might exaggerate how much she loves watching football on a Sunday afternoon to get that muscular brunette’s attention that was in her top ten matches.

After my resume is all set up, I start to “apply to jobs”, just as I might approach a guy at a bar, or message them through EHarmony, and then I wait. And wait, and wait. Every time I catch the little green light in the upper right hand corner of my droid blinking, I grab at it, hoping a job has E-mailed me back, like a lovesick teenager wondering if the head quarterback sent me a text, my heart pounding and my palms sweating, only to find Fossil is telling me what new watches they’re coming out with for Fall 2011. Every time my phone rings with an unfamiliar number I get so excited I can’t quite remember how to swish the screen unlock with my finger only to put it up to my ear to hear silence, and then a recorded telemarketer’s voice. I feel so very much like when Gigi is waiting by her adorable old fashioned powder pink phone hoping that Alex will call.

When you finally do get the date, or as I call it, the interview, you still spend all day picking out the right outfit to wear, which accessories, you sort of practice what you’re going to say to the other person and you experience those same butterflies in the stomach. You give yourself one last glance in the mirror, and you’re on your way.

Much like a blind date, you’re left in some space sitting alone all dressed up, where lots of other people are milling about and when someone catches the corner of your peripheral your breathing gets a little more strained, wondering if that is finally your guy/your interviewer. And it isn’t. Eventually they do come over, and you shake their hand with your now sweaty one, and the game has begun. Just like a first date, you leave it thinking you did amazingly, that you charmed their pants off, and that there isn’t any way possible that they won’t call you, or ask you on a second date/interview.

Then a day goes by, then two, and then it has been a whole week, and you want to call, but the dating game/interview etiquette dictates that if you do make the call that it will ruin any and all chances you ever had at getting the guy/getting the job. Your mind starts racing; “I was totally qualified for that job/totally hot and funny, why won’t they call?!” You start to realize/make up out of being crazed, all the things you may have said to make them think you weren’t right for the position/scare them off, and now the interview/date feels like a total disaster, and you want to hide in your room and cry forever. Or sometimes even the job/the guy pretends to be something they are not. I had an interview for a Merchandiser that turned into a reception job. Even the jobs sometimes tell little white lies about who they are just like a person might.

But, just like a date, the success of the interview isn’t really your fault, and even though you did everything right and tried so hard to get the job/girl, like Conor with Anna, sometimes the job/the girl just isn’t that into you, and someone fits their heart/the job a little better.

It is heartbreaking, and  nerve-wracking and one of the hardest things that you’ll ever do in your life, but when it happens, you will be so glad that you didn’t give up. Wish me luck in my job-finding endeavors and I wish you all just as well in whatever you are looking for, whether it be love, or that career you’ve been dreaming of landing. And hopefully we can all be that exception to some job/someone.