"How much of human life is lost in waiting?"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
This is a very good question, Mr. Emerson. It seems like a lot of my life is spent waiting for something. Waiting for Jason to come home, waiting to find out where we're moving next, waiting for a doctor's appointment. Right now, it's all about waiting for an interview.
I have applied at 10 different school districts this summer, for multiple positions. And so far I have gotten
zero interviews. It's frustrating. And the school districts don't even notify you when you are no longer being considered. Which means you have to call them. Here's how a typical phone call goes:
Me: Hello, I applied for the ____ grade position and I was wondering if you had selected candidates for interviews yet?
Secretary: Oh, no, not yet. We have had so many applicants. It will take us a while to go through all of them. We aren't really sure how we're going to do this. So you can just keep checking back.
Me: Ok, thanks.
After 3-5 similar phone calls over a month's time....
Me: Hello, I applied for the ____ grade position and I was wondering if you had selected candidates for interviews yet?
Secretary: Oh, we filled that position yesterday.
Me: Thank you. Click.
[
Note: Yes, multiple school districts have told me that they are unsure how interviews will work. Have they never hired anyone before? Do they not have a set procedure for such things??And why does no one send out rejection letters?! I WANT A REJECTION LETTER!!!]
Anywho, all this waiting for jobs that I don't even get interviews for is getting old. But I really want to work in a "real" school. So I'll keep trying. In fact, I just applied for a job on Friday...
In the morning, I called the school (where the superintendent works because the towns around here are so small that the district office is often just in the school) to make sure someone will be there for me to hand my resume to. After the secretary assures me she'll be there until 3:30, I get everything together and jump in my car to drive out to the school. I was pleased that I found the place easily (you wouldn't believe where some of these schools are hidden) but as I drove through the parking lot I was unsure about where to go. This is the problem with these small districts...there isn't just a central district office where you go in the main door to the counter. Instead, you have to try to find the office of a school which is closed for the summer. Luckily, this school had a big sign on the office, which was in a small building adjacent to the school itself.
I approached the building, carrying my resume, debating what door to go to (there were four choices). I walked up to one with a sign that read "Office". Good choice, huh? But when I pulled on the handle, the door appeared to be locked. Ok. Walk to the next door and repeat the procedure. Locked. Go to the back of the building. The doors have signs saying to use the front door. I head back to the first door, and try it yet again. No luck. I thought about leaving, but I remembered that the secretary promised she would be there, and I knocked loudly on the door.
After a second, I can see a woman coming towards the door, mouthing that it was unlocked and I just needed to press down on the button with my thumb while I opened it. (Well, duh, what did she think I had been doing all this time??) She opened the door for me, and explained all that again. (Maybe I just have incredibly weak thumbs? But I am telling you, that door was
not budging and I
did understand how to operate it!)
Anyway, I handed her my resume and she recognized me from the phone call to the office earlier. She promised to get my application to the superintendent on Monday and then asked me to be patient because it would take him a while to sort through all the resumes. Great!
And then I headed home. This is how these things go for me. (Although I can usually open the door myself.) I really hope she didn't think I was a total ding-dong.
"Uh, Mr. Superintendent, we can't hire this one. She couldn't even figure out how to open the door! She just needed to push that button..."Or maybe that will make me stand out. You never know! And if I get an interview, I'll make a joke about it. If I can open it successfully by myself that is...
So, here I am, waiting to hear something.
