February 23, 2007

Washington DC is kicking my ass

I am getting increasingly depressed about my joblessness. OK so I work part-time in a good firm that has offered me a job. But filling-out recruitment paperwork and ordering supplies from Staples really isn’t what I want to do.

This last week I have had a few interviews but people are ehming and ahing about offering me anything concrete. I don’t understand it. I mean, I:

-have shown to be very competent at work
-have work references that only say good things about me
-interview well, am polite but driven when talking to recruiters
-have pretty good hygiene (I wear deodorant, wash my hair, clip my nails and wear tasteful make-up)
-have 3 years work experience, including 2 years abroad
-am bilingual French/English
-graduated with good marks from Hopkins University
-am actively networking to make job connections.

Could it be that I am making people jealous? Is it pure bad luck? Do I have a piece of spinach stuck between my front teeth?

I just don’t know. But Washington DC is kicking my ass. Big time.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't be discouraged!!!!! Just because they haven't offered you the job yet doesn't mean they aren't going to!
We know you're the ideal candidate, you know it, the problem is that they don't know it yet. But they'll realize it soon enough!!!
Even though you have excellent recommendations and interview skills, they still hardly know you, so it's normal they don't want to be hasty. You shouldn't take it personally!
Courage!
-Ammo

John Gerard Sapodilla said...

strudel ha detto...
Listen Chick, you drop fishing for simpathy and making us feel guity. There are trillions of dolls looking for a better interesting job. Women were made to stay home, the world is not prepared to give them a room in front of the sea, a California-cherry desk, six telephones.
Anyway you need a change, a holiday. Should you choose Italy, here my comprehensive guide.

Rome, uhmm? Wear woollen confortable socks in Rome, you must walk to visit it properly. August the best month. In August Rome is half empty, no diplomats and businessmen around, no one working. It means no traffic, few
cars, cleaner air. And you can spend the warm night lazyly outside. Sun is hot in August, but it shouldn't be a problem for the girl from Baghdad. Else May or September.

Places usually tourists do not give a look, when they should.

1) Sculpture of the horse at the gate of Rai-tv head-quarters in viale Mazzini . viale = alley
2) Giardino degli Aranci (garden of orange-trees), Colle Oppio. You will notice the iron-gate and peep through the keyhole..... Colle =Hill
3) Protestant Church -Piazza Cavour - From time to time they throw a show inside the church. Yep, years ago I saw the ballet 'Slaves in Cuba', yummy
protestant belly dancers. (Piazza= Square).
3) The mean streets of Old Jew Ghetto.

-Want to see where Chinese immigrants do live in Rome? - Ask the taxi-man to drive you to Piazza Vittorio.
-Want to see where movie stars once lived ? Trip around Quartiere Parioli -
Quartiere- Borough
-Take Metro A, exit at Barberini-stop, walk and see.
-Where does the real rich people live? where the big politicians ?.... they
won't let you know.

Of course you will see the Vatican Museums and climb the Cupola. But you will skip the 15 euro Montezuma restaurants all included.

In half an hour by train you may reach one of the small towns on the hills, where the Popes went to drink wines. Spend a day and a night in the smallest one on the hills. Enjoy the quiet lazy people chatting near the fountain,
they will be glad to chat all afternoon and evening with you. (They will teach you their dialect of course). Enjoy their food . Night may be cold.

Back in Rome do not go on board of Bus 64, it's full of tourists, the Kingdom of Burglars. The boy in the street smiling at you, sometimes may be interested to your golden watch and to your camera, sometimes not.
My people is shy to admit they do not speak English, ask them a question and get the wrong reply. Better to speak Arab using your hands. Why did I say my
people? Because I was born in Rome.
Taxi drivers are regular cheaters. Always show them your map and say - I want to get from here to there.- They will reply -You cannot get from hiah to
theah - and cheat you same. Italian taxi drivers do not talk any language at all, reply them 'yes' to whatever.


I am presently living in the Italian Riviera. To visit it properly from Tuscany to France a race-bike plus train is the best choise. Cuisine is fairly good in the Riviera. The train along the sea would stop every ten minuts, you would visit the old center ot the town and catch the next train. The abhorigens are rich miser and don't like to chat so much, but they are pretty polite. Hoteliers and restaurants on the sea like to cheat tourists legally. Superb woods, few tourists know.

Prefer to see Palermo (main town of Sicily) ? I can introduce you to some English ladies down there and you may have a skipe or yahoo-chat with them.
.
Food and restaurants in Sicily are the best in the world, French Chefs may jump the lake.

Prefer something else? Let me know. No hurry.

John Gerard Sapodilla said...

Add details and dialogues to your -Diary of an ambitious young woman looking for a better job-. Send it to editors and publishers: less competition to front, hookers are too lazy and boring to write.

Carl said...

try the private sector.

Beaver said...

oh boy. Do you floss? Flossing helps.

Jokes aside, don't let this demean you. It's tough to find work in the development community anywhere. My father experienced it several times between our stays in BF and home.

Did you ever contact Bridget? That job I told you about in HIV/AIDS is still available - and they really want someone.

Big hugs to you. Of course you are smart and successful and beautiful. You will be fine. Just breathe in the meantime!

Zzzz said...

Usually it's the fact that you care that stops you from getting a job. Stop caring about the job, show no passion in the interview and undoubtedly, you'll get it. That's been my experience anyways. After the interview, the people who I end up working with tell me that I just seemed to know my business in the interview and wasn't trying to oversell them. Naturally this is tough if it's a job that you really want!