Applying to jobs kind of sucks
I am going to start keeping a counter on each post for how many jobs I apply to in 2012. I am up to 18 on the 11th of January so we'll see how high this number gets.
Still though, in my opinion it's better than doing what most of the people from my grad program do. The top options are A) join the State Department Foreign Service or B) move to Washington, DC or New York and try to get a job in those places. I've considered both and neither is remotely appealing.
Let's say that I pick option A. The service exam is extremely competitive (something like 10% of people make it) but I could do it if I wanted to. But then what? My prize would be to spend the rest of my professional life living in a different country every two years. I would have little input on where I was stationed if I wanted to actually have some sort of upward mobility in the Department and worse, I would have to serve my first few terms in places nobody really wants to be. So basically, I could go to Iraq for two years and maybe Afghanistan after that and then MAYBE some place that sucks-but-not-quite-as-much. You also are required to move every two years. Like the country that you're stationed in? Too bad.
Now let's look at option B. I can move to a place with a soul-crushing cost of living where I have to live with eight roommates to stay alive and I pursue a career track with few options outside of those big cities. IF I can land a job. And the job market there is even more competitive than it is here.
So option C, find something in the RDU area, doesn't seem so bad in comparison. I just need to remind myself that more often. If I was a cutthroat, career-driven, promotion-seeking fiend it would be one thing. But honestly, I want more in my life than a fancy title and recognition. I want to someday have a strong family in which I take an eager and active role in raising my children, unlike so many guys out there. I don't know how that would be possible in the Foreign Service and I don't think I could ask another person to sacrifice her life in support of my career; there is simply no way it is possible for a Foreign Service spouse to have a career of his or her own with the need to uproot every couple of years. And truthfully, I don't really want to live in a huge city either. I don't want to have to work my ass off all day making barely enough to survive only to have to take an hour long commute home where I can spend maybe a small portion of my children's evening with them.
I don't know what I'm going to do with my professional life but I do know two things- I won't sacrifice my family for it and I will be the best there is at whatever I do.
Someday though, hopefully sooner rather than later, that call or e-mail is going to come and I will be ready for it when it does.
Jobs applied count- 18
Still though, in my opinion it's better than doing what most of the people from my grad program do. The top options are A) join the State Department Foreign Service or B) move to Washington, DC or New York and try to get a job in those places. I've considered both and neither is remotely appealing.
Let's say that I pick option A. The service exam is extremely competitive (something like 10% of people make it) but I could do it if I wanted to. But then what? My prize would be to spend the rest of my professional life living in a different country every two years. I would have little input on where I was stationed if I wanted to actually have some sort of upward mobility in the Department and worse, I would have to serve my first few terms in places nobody really wants to be. So basically, I could go to Iraq for two years and maybe Afghanistan after that and then MAYBE some place that sucks-but-not-quite-as-much. You also are required to move every two years. Like the country that you're stationed in? Too bad.
Now let's look at option B. I can move to a place with a soul-crushing cost of living where I have to live with eight roommates to stay alive and I pursue a career track with few options outside of those big cities. IF I can land a job. And the job market there is even more competitive than it is here.
So option C, find something in the RDU area, doesn't seem so bad in comparison. I just need to remind myself that more often. If I was a cutthroat, career-driven, promotion-seeking fiend it would be one thing. But honestly, I want more in my life than a fancy title and recognition. I want to someday have a strong family in which I take an eager and active role in raising my children, unlike so many guys out there. I don't know how that would be possible in the Foreign Service and I don't think I could ask another person to sacrifice her life in support of my career; there is simply no way it is possible for a Foreign Service spouse to have a career of his or her own with the need to uproot every couple of years. And truthfully, I don't really want to live in a huge city either. I don't want to have to work my ass off all day making barely enough to survive only to have to take an hour long commute home where I can spend maybe a small portion of my children's evening with them.
I don't know what I'm going to do with my professional life but I do know two things- I won't sacrifice my family for it and I will be the best there is at whatever I do.
Someday though, hopefully sooner rather than later, that call or e-mail is going to come and I will be ready for it when it does.
Jobs applied count- 18