Sigh. I’ve written before about applying for what seems like the perfect gig and not getting it. I’ve wallowed in self pity and frustration, but I’m not going to do that today — or at least try not to.
You put yourself forward as an ideal candidate and you get kicked to the curb. That’s just the reality of the creative marketplace.
But the jobs that come on the wayback to haunt you pack a pretty good wallop. The ones where you submit a resume and get a “thanks but nope” letter a week later… that’s cool. Over and done. But for the jobs applied for and then days/weeks/months pass and nothing happens and you either forget about them entirely like it feels they did you, or at best they become dimly lit recollections in the recesses of your memory…? It smarts when they come back on the scene with a smackdown.
Such as it was with About.com. I believe my New York-based friend Timothy Hughes forwarded the job description to me back in a waning January and I agreed with him when he said it sounded something for which I was tailor-made. It’s been so long I can’t even completely remember the specifics of the assignment other than it being something about wanting a contributing writer/editor capable of scribing about the ins, ups, downs and outs of Los Angeles. The slam and the glam and the gritty and the nitty.
And I thought daaaaamn but I could do that. I could do that with a bullet wound to the arm and my hair on fire. A chance to cover my native land like a blanket? That’s for me.
So I meticulously followed their submission instructions and custom-built a crisp application package that by an elaborate process of elimination included a clip of a past L.A. story of mine that I felt captured both my senses of writing style and of the city. I sent it off, they received it and told me to hang tight no tighter and they’d be in touch.
So January ends and February begins and ends and so does March and by the time April hits the beach and starts marching inland, patience isn’t an issue; recall is.
So About.com obliged me by finally reaching across close to a quarter of a year to sucker punch me in my stomach reminding me today of what I’d long forgotten:
William,
Thank you for your interest in becoming a Guide at About.com. We appreciate the hard work and effort put forth in your application. However, we have not accepted your application for entry into prep. Common reasons for not being accepted are:* We were looking for someone with different qualifications
* The writing sample was not exactly what we were looking forAgain, thank you for taking the time to apply and we wish you luck with any future endeavors.
Thank you,
About.com Editorial Team
Oh yeah… a Guide. That was it.
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