Your Job Search: It's About "Time"

It seems like each week, as we get closer and closer to the end of the semester, I get handed on a silver platter yet another blog topic.

Stress-based meltdowns are underway across campus, both at Curry College where I teach undergraduate courses in communication (primarily public relations) and at Regis College where I teach graduate communication courses.

Professors are realizing that there is no earthly way they will be able to cover all the wonderful material they had hoped; students are convinced that the professors are out to exact vengeance for some infraction incurred somewhere back in the semester by piling on yet one more written assignment!

But I got a response to an emailed question I had sent to one of my student-advisees that once again reminded me of the importance of priorities.

This particular student is one of my superstars of whom I expect and demand 110% effort and dedication, and she usually delivers. But last week was different.

She and I had been chatting about an interview she had scheduled for a possible summer job, and she asked me what I knew about the company. My response after looking at the company's website was guarded. My reading of the company's job posting was that this was not going to be a great learning experience although it had the potential to be a good earning experience.

Her comeback was what threw me: "I don't think I'll go through with the interview. I don't have time for something like that."

Let's see if I have this straight. You need a summer job to earn some money so that you can come back in the fall and continue with your studies.

This interview is with a company that, on the surface, isn't exactly what you want, but it could turn into a paying summer job that meets your immediate need.

And you might actually learn something about yourself in the process. But you're not going to know at all unless you go through with the interview. Hmmmm.

Yes, we are studying...and studying hard...to gain some valuable knowledge and learn some useful skills. And we think of ourselves as young, somewhat experienced adults.

But we don't have time to go on a job interview where, at worst, we'll learn how to identify businesses where we don't want to work?

Here's a shocker for you. Not every job is the perfect job. Trust me...I know!

Life is a learning process. You make mistakes. You hit homeruns. You do everything in between. And you're a better person for all those experiences.

So get your priorities straight. Take the time...to try new things...to make new friends...and to go on interviews.

Who knows? You might actually learn something in the process!