2010: A G-Dubs Jobyssey Part 2

To whom it may concern:

Thank you for taking the time to speak to me today regarding employment with your agency. Our conversation was enlightening; I laughed, I cried, it was even better than Casablanca. I was especially interested to hear about the work you have done making America a better-ventilated place. As per our discussion at the career fair, I am submitting my application for employment, along with my resume and a brief writing sample representative of my academic writing.

Should I be able to assist you with any questions related to my application, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you again, and I look forward to hearing from you soon,

Adam S. Humayun

---

So, the above is a skill they call "following up", which I didn't know existed until about two weeks ago. So, props to the Career Center people for swooping in with that info when I greeted their question about follow-ups with a blank stare and a slack jaw. The GW Career Center, in all seriousness, is a good service we have here for students across all majors (though Business majors have their own separate Career Center as well), and I wish I'd discovered it sooner. The staff's professional, informed, but friendly, and their system for dealing with people is quite efficient.

I would consider myself a job-search neanderthal, liable to be edged out into extinction at any point by the better equipped pre-hominids waving their House of Representatives intern ID cards around everywhere. But enough self-pity and facetious resentment; let's move on to... moving on.

What I got out of the Fall Career and Internship Fair, held last Tuesday in GW's newly-face-lifted Smith Center (an athletic facility reserved for varsity sports use most days) was a number of great meetings, contacts and pointers about where to go next. I also discovered the conundrum that might well be the crux of my job search: experience.


(Scene: Smith Center Last Tuesday. I talk with recruiters among crowds of overly well-dressed students in thousand-dollar suits.)
Recruiter: So, what experience do you have?
Me: Well, I've been working for the last two years at GW's Office of Undergraduate Admissions. My tasks have included interacting with customers in person and over the phone, as well as staffing events and entering data.
Recruiter: Oh, ok. Thanks, nice meeting you and good luck!
Me: Wait, you're just sending me off like that? What about my GPA and writing skills?!
Recruiter: Nah, bro. Why would we hire someone for an internship at a research institution who has no experience interning at a research institution?
Me: How am I supposed to get any experience if you won't hire me?!

Disclaimer: This conversation didn't happen, at all. However, it could have. And isn't that just as important?
(The answer, of course, is "nah, bro.")

The point is, I have to find some way to boost my resume and prove that I have the chops to make it in the rough-and-tumble world of unpaid think-tank interns.

Next time on "2010: A G-Dubs Jobyssey": my five-month plan to bolster my resume.

Questions? Comments? Counter-resentment to throw at my class resentment? E-mail me at ash1290@gwmail.gwu.edu.
--Adam