A New Chapter

Last Friday, I did something I hadn’t done since October of 2015. I woke up knowing I wouldn’t be scouring the job sites for an opportunity.

Yes, you read that right – I have been looking daily for a job since late October two years ago, when I suddenly found myself looking for steady employment while attempting to relearn how to walk again. I managed to get my legs back much sooner than I was able to get back into the PR industry as a full-time employee.

Many of you know I created my own public relations and marketing company in an attempt to market myself for projects while I continued to rehabilitate my legs and back. Some months were better than others, but I learned quickly that I would need more than just the income from my business. So I became a substitute teacher. I became a freelance writer. I became a credit consultant. I became a babysitter. I became a food delivery driver.

I networked. I attempted to take advantage of knowing a lot of people in the business. I became a member of the Public Relations Society of America. None of it led to anything.

I applied for hundreds of jobs – possibly even thousands – and participated in dozens upon dozens of job interviews. I drove to Tulsa several times for interviews. I flew to Dallas for an interview at the airport and flew back an hour later. I interviewed with the same companies several times with the same results.

It was a frustrating period of time. Companies would sometimes ask for me to do work for them and then ignore my followups. Some required personality assessment tests. Worthless. Many asked for a resume and then an application that required me to repeat the same information from my resume. It was a waste of time.

Each and every rejection stung. Even when I was never told I didn't get the job, I would eventually realize I hadn't heard from them in awhile. At least the rejection emails and letters put an end to the process.

I was told several times I was overqualified. I assumed that sometimes I was underqualified, although they would never admit that was the case. It was usually a standard “we chose to go with a candidate that more closely fit our needs” line in an email. But, again, it was still better than those who chose not to communicate with me at all.

Some rejections were tougher to take than others. I missed out on a job with the Putnam City Schools Foundation that I strongly believed I was going to get. I was a perfect fit and a graduate of Putnam City High School. I thought I was an exact match for a job with the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. I wasn’t. I was recommended for a position with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections prior to the job being announced. After an early meeting with the person who would have been my boss, I never heard back from anyone despite reaching out multiple times. The person who was hired lacked a resume anywhere close to what I offered.

One job in particular really shocked me. To this day, I have the voice mail in which the recruiter for a job at Petra said I was pretty much a lock for the job. He said they were going to check references and that was the last step before making an offer. Despite calls and emails to follow up with him, I never heard back. It was a very curious ending to an otherwise normal hiring process.

With nearly three years of success working at a PR agency, I thought I would have a relatively easy time getting a job with one of the PR agencies in the metro area. For the most part, I couldn’t even get interviews with them. In one case, the owner of the agency said she and I had almost identical paths and that she would want me to do freelance work for them if I didn’t get the job. I never heard from her again. Some of the agencies where I applied for jobs are run by people I know personally. I never got an interview with any of them, which certainly sent a message to me.

I was particularly distressed with my inability to get a job in higher education given the time I spent at Langston University. I applied at the University of Oklahoma – where I attended college for a year and where I had legacy established – at least a dozen times and probably closer to a couple of dozen times. Not one interview. I applied several times at my alma mater – University of Central Oklahoma – and only managed to get a pair of interviews a couple of months ago. Not one offer, however.

I applied a few times at Oklahoma State University with low expectations and actually received interviews for three separate jobs there. And for those of you who don’t know already, that is where I have ended up as the Publications Coordinator in the Office of the Registrar.

Yes, that means I will be commuting to Stillwater each day. Yes, that means I will be in a position to promote OSU to potential students. Yes, I will give it my full effort and do great work for them.

For all those companies who didn’t recognize me as someone who would have been a great fit for them, I intend to make sure they realize what they missed. I am more motivated than ever to be the best employee possible and I am looking forward to the next chapter of my career. Finally!