Mar
28
It’s Not Us, It’s You.
But, I wrote you a cover love letter telling you that I love you.
The roller coaster is coming to an end. The ups, the downs, the loopty loop. In this part of the roller coaster, you look to your left, you look to your right, and you see JOBS JOBS JOBS JOBS… but none of them are yours. Yet.
You go to the company presentations. You do some soul searching. You do some creative thinking. Hours and hours of anxiety after you hit the “Send” button.
But do they “like me”? or “like like me?”
You are armed with a bullet-proof sense of courage, a CV (that you’ve spell-checked 47 times) and a cover letter that should be called a “love letter”, all targeted to the company that you imagine yourself working at.
Close your eyes.
Do you see yourself working there? Going to work every morning? Making some friends at work? Delivering high quality work that would make your parents, alumni, and self proud? You see that? You got that picture in your mind. Crystal clear.
Wait for it.
DING.
That’s right.
“Dear APPLICANT (we swear we write each one of these by hand),
Thank you for your application. At this time, we have decided that we do not in fact like you in the same way that you like us. I can’t even explain to you why this isn’t going to work out.
Regards,
SOMEONE WHO IS LUCKY ENOUGH TO WORK AT THIS TOTALLY AWESOME COMPANY YOU WANTED TO WORK AT”
At least twenty people in the last few days have told me about their DING letters. This article is for those people, and all future receivers of DING-letters. To all of those people out there, let me share with you what MY letter to you would say:
“Hey man,
Look, you’re in there. You’re making a go of it. And you know what I like the most about what you’re going through right now? You’re trying, and I love you for it. Keep trying. Sometimes though, it’s not going to work out. Keep trying man. You might need to make some modifications, and sometimes you might just not be right for that company that sent you the response letter.
You are accomplished. You are eager. You are a fighter. I’m going to share with you a quote that I like.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt.
Take some time. Dust yourself off. Get back in there. You got a great team in your corner who believes you are a champion.
That other company doesn’t know who they just lost.
Much love,
MPD”
