Rejections

I've been applying for post-college jobs. I have no choice, you see, because my current job is tied directly to my status as a college student. Once I graduate, I'm unemployed.

I'm going to be honest. I'm not used to rejections on a professional level. I've gotten hired for every position I've applied for in the past (minus one), and all three colleges I applied to accepted me (not that I was aiming incredibly high). Hell; I even got engaged-to-be-married in the first serious relationship I entered into. So this weekend when I got my first two rejection letters from places I applied for, it was a breath of fresh air.
I know, you were expecting me to say that it was a surprise. It wasn't, I'm no fool. I'm also aware that the other places I've applied for haven't contacted me back in any way, which likely means I'm rejected from them as well. In my defense, some of the places I applied for required experience that I just don't have. Sure I made my résumé look really nice and imply that I've already got what it takes for these jobs, but the fact is that I don't have any professional experience in writing or advertising.

Though I hoped that my skill in general writing would mean there would be a lot more job options available to me, it turns out most of the ones available are technical writing jobs for technical things of which I have little-to-no knowledge of. With graduation fast approaching, I've got to start keeping an open mind about what kind of jobs I can apply for.

One such technical writing job that I'm actually qualified for required me to be able to work in an environment full of raw meat. I have no idea why I need to be okay being surrounded with raw meat, but I am okay with that, so I applied. Of course, I haven't heard back from that place yet.

As for advertising jobs, most (if not all) of them require or prefer prior experience even if they're for semi-entry-level positions, and even if they don't "require" experience, somebody with experience is probably going to be more preferable over me; the guy with nothing but a fancy college degree that everyone told me I needed at a time like this.

All I can do, aside from apply for full-time positions at grocery stores, is work on my portfolio and keep applying until some place sees me as the potential golden nugget that I feel like I can be, and keep the mentality that I've been rejected not because I'm not going to be a great worker in my future career, but because I haven't applied to the right place yet; the one that wants a guy just like me.

Applying for jobs is like dating; you may be good at dating, but that doesn't mean you're dating the right person. I need to find and apply to the job that is the right fit for me. The one that's excited to have me.

I know it's out there. It's just going to take some time to find it.

-Ryan

The College Forty: Part 2

Let me get straight to the point: I didn't meet my goal by my birthday.
But the good news is that I've been eating healthier in general (aside from the delicious homemade cake-type desserts that I'm obligated to consume every night to prevent spoilage) and have been consistently eating less and healthier for lunch than the dinner-sized portions of unhealthy crap that I used to.
Instead of my weight hovering around 173, it now hovers around 170. I wouldn't be so quick to say that I've lost three pounds since a person's weight can fluctuate around two pounds a day, but the way I'm looking at it is that I stopped gaining weight and perhaps lost a minimal amount as well.

What I haven't been doing is exercising. Let's face it, it's winter and I just want to stay warm inside all day (also I had a nasty cold for a week or so). It's just harder to convince myself to get out to the fitness room when it's freezing outside and the pathway to the fitness room is covered in snow and ice.
Yes I could be doing exercises inside as well. Unfortunately it turns out I'm quite lazy.

My plan for the future is simple: keep working at it and trying new things until I find what sticks and what works.

I take full responsibility for this, I really do. I just like to look on the bright side of things.
-Ryan

Advertising Myself

The future is fast approaching, and it is still a completely blank canvas.

I've got less than a semester left of college before I graduate. This is the first time in my life that I've seen a dramatic change in my life approaching and had absolutely no clue what it will look like. I loose my job when I graduate (it's an on-campus job for students) and I've got to find a new and affordable place to live somewhere around my hometown.
I finally started working on my résumé, and I've been encouraged by a professor to use it not as a professional document that informs the reader of my background, but instead as a platform for which I can advertise myself, thus showing off my advertising skills.
It's incredibly fun to bend the facts and claim that my job flipping burgers has everything to do with preparing me for the world of advertising, and it feels good that a person who knows the industry like the back of her hand is assuring me that it's a great way to stand out.
But still it's hard to get my hopes up knowing that, even if I managed to get an interview lined up, I don't have a portfolio ready to present. I'm taking a portfolio-building class this semester, but the fact is that I need my portfolio to be finished and fantastic right now, not at the end of the semester when I'll need a job already secured.

Luckily, as you all know, advertising/copywriting is simply a subcategory of my larger interest and skill: writing. I've created a second résumé, a more serious one, that I can use to apply for jobs in the field of writing. It also feels good to know that I can, in a sense, fall back on my minor of writing for other jobs, but I never want my advertising major to go to waste, either.

It's complicated.

I'm both worried and reassured. I'm both excited and nervous.
All I can do is my best. All I can do is work hard to make this happen. To make my life happen.

Please, give me a job.
-Ryan