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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Trying to find the bright side of rejection…

I suppose if I *had* gotten that fellowship, I’d have been working at the State Department.  Working at State means wearing a suit.

Fun fact: one of my few goals in life is to never have to wear a suit every day to work.  I truly think I would be happiest not in a suit.  Seeing my father change out of his suit about 3 milliseconds after he got home drove the fact that suits might not be super-comfortable.

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.