Oh So Boring…

So. Got rejected for two jobs in the last couple weeks.  Feelin’ good.

First up, there was AAAS. I had previously blogged about how one day I saw in their system that I was “Not Selected” and then reclassified as “Eligible”.  I contacted them about this and they said “Oh, just a mistake.”  Well, turns out, even if they say that was a mistake…not a mistake.  It was a longshot, I know, which is probably why it doesn’t sting too bad.  Plus, well, I already went through my five stages of grief with that one a while back.

However, I was also rejected today by Boston University.  This one does kinda hurt.  Not too much since it’s been about 3 months since I interviewed.  Not a good sign, uno.  And about a month since I contacted them to see what was going on.  Not a good sign, deux.  So, yeah, it was expected.

The sting comes from the fact that I was pretty damn perfect for this job.  Maybe I was overqualified, I don’t know…that depends on seeing who actually got the job.  It was for a Manager of Computation Resources for the Chemistry Department.  I’m a chemist whose used chemical computing for 10 years.  I’ve also spent most of that time administering my own workstations, worked on clusters, &c., &c.

So, I guess what’s in my mind is that I couldn’t even land a job I was pretty much made for.  What does that say about my future chances for a job?

Sigh.

Ah well, another day, another rejection, another application.

Round and round we go…

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Welp, I got an email from the AAAS people today informing me I haven’t been rejected yet.  Yay!

The story behind this starts a few days ago when I went back to AAAS because…I dunno, I’m a masochist?  While there, I noticed that my status had changed from “Not Selected” to “Eligible”.  Thus: confusion.

So, heeding the words of my friends in regards to the job search, I decided to be aggressive (for me) and write and ask them what was going on.

Turns out the system apparently marked a few applications “Not Selected” inadvertently.  Mine happened to be one of them.  It’s “good” to know that without my job OCD, I might have avoided all those fun emotions.

Oh, and I have decided to squelch that voice inside me that is saying “There is a reason only a few apps, including yours, got marked that way, Matt.”  I have promised her, my love, that this week I am positive.  So, I will be positive for her.

I know it’s not unique–especially nowadays–to be rejected from a job, but it still hurts.

I decided to look at AAAS’ site to see how my application was going for an AAAS Science and Technology Postdoctoral Fellowship, namely a Diplomacy Fellowship.  Sure, I knew I didn’t exactly have a shot at it.  I have no real experience with diplomacy, and my political experience is that of an interested hobbyist.  But, stranger things have happened.

So I go to the site, and I see:

Didn’t even make it past the first round of reviews…

It was at this point I experienced that special blend of “pissed off” and “crushing sadness” that a job search can so easily produce.

I worked hard on that application…maybe not hard enough? Sigh.

Well, now it’s time to send off thank you letters to those people who were kind enough to write letters of reference for me.  Sorry I wasted their time and tested their patience with this.