Hire me. Please?

July 30, 2007 3:08 PM

DC-Resident wonders: Is the job market this bad, or is it really me?

I just got another, "Don't call us, we'll call you" rejection-lite e-mail, and I'm at my wit's end. I'm approaching my fourth year in the DC area (recently moved to Silver Spring) and, a year out from attaining the graduate degree (MFA in Writing) I came here to get, I'm hitting the wall over and over regarding my job search.

Here's my history: worked part time on-campus (Ended up as Editor-In-Chief of the Lit Mag, Academic Support Center, Writing Center, etc) and off campus (childcare, mostly) while in gradschool. My second summer in the area I worked for a private Educational company that teaches reading classes to people of all ages (pre-K through adults). After graduating, I worked there again, this time as a "Head Teacher" (read: Roving substitute/Administrative Assistant). I graduated top of my class with both of my degrees, if it matters, any more than the wishywashiness of the degree itself. I don't want to pursue a doctorate right now; my partner is in law school and I'd like to make some money for awhile.

I left last August for a position in a local DC charter school, which I left two months later for my mental health. I looked for a job for two months, to no avail. This does not appear on my resume. Then I came back to Educational Company in the capacity of "Teacher Recruiter" (Administrave Assistant/Recruiter/Interviewer/Teacher Trainer/Teacher), and have been here for almost eight months. I like the people I work with and the job, I make good money but have no benefits, work crazy hours, and no real permenance at all.

Though I have no formal training, I have experience in computers and web-coding--I know my way around the stuff. I have Editing experience, Educational experience, Recruitment experience, the Trainer experience, the AA experience. I have a Master's degree. I'm a quick learner, driven, passionate, and a good worker. I've mostly applied for jobs with Editor/Communications in the title: Online Editor, Content Editor, Communications Assistant, Editorial Assistant, etc, etc, etc. I've applied to be a photographer (interested in pursuing a personal passion.) I've applied for a Career Center position (leading to the most recent rejection). All have lead to either no calls back, or no lead interview. The few bites I've gotten, either the pay would be too low (even with benefits), or I don't want the job. My partner tells me I'm the one being choosy, too, but come on. There has to be a middle ground.

Alternately, there's the option to pursue a job with the company I've worked for, now, going on two years +: Teacher Manager, complete with benefits, an awesome salary, and a not-overestimating-it 60/70 hour work week. This place has a work-until-you-drop work ethic; everyone is good people, but the job is time-consuming and stressful and emotionally draining (Has drained the life-force out of the two I work with in the office currently.) It'd be great pay, but I'd be commiting myself over to a sort of Dark Side. I DO want regular work hours, so I can have a life outside of work.

I know I should apply for the Teacher Manager job either way, but how serious should I be considering it -- knowing, on the one hand, it's such a distinct possibility, and on the other, that it would be so draining and consuming? Why am I having such a hard time finding a job? Am I looking in the right places (Craigslist, Indeed, WashPost, Idealist, Government & University sites, backAskMefis) Do I really lack that much experience? Should I be sticking to entry-level jobs only? What keywords should I be using? Is DC really that hard a nut to crack? My resume and cover letters are fine-tooth-combed, I interview well, and gosh darnit, I'm likeable. So what now?

posted by atayah to Work & Money (14 answers total)

I know little about that particular career field, but my gut feeling is that it is DC. I'd imagine there's a tremendous amount of competition for any job, maybe more so than anywhere else. Maybe someone else with a better feel for this can elaborate.
posted by rolypolyman at 3:26 PM on July 30, 2007

The few bites I've gotten, either the pay would be too low (even with benefits), or I don't want the job. My partner tells me I'm the one being choosy, too, but come on. There has to be a middle ground.
[..]
It'd be great pay, but I'd be commiting myself over to a sort of Dark Side. I DO want regular work hours, so I can have a life outside of work.

You're the problem here.

Your partner is right - you have to start somewhere and with the combination of crowded market and a nebulous skillset, you need to get a realistic view of what you are qualified for. If you didn't want some of those jobs, why did you interview for it in the first place?

Start low, work your way up to those great jobs. Patience.
posted by unixrat at 3:33 PM on July 30, 2007

What do you want to do for a career? Could it be that your mixed feelings about applying for jobs where you are working yet giving up your life is somehow apparent in your interviews? Maybe all the closed doors means its time for a different field.

I don't know the area, so it could be that, yet I'm of the mindset that there are always possibilities (at minimum, in the way you view a situation, even if you can't do anything to change the situation itself).

Perhaps apply for the job at where you work, and have strong boundaries, say no to working those extra hours. Or telecommuting, doing web work online, then it's not area specific. Good luck. Keep believing in yourself.
posted by healthyliving at 3:47 PM on July 30, 2007

I think it's your skillset and possibly how you're positioning yourself because, generally speaking, the job market in the area is outstanding and every place I've worked in the past few years has had a terrible time recruiting and keeping people.
posted by wildeepdotorg at 4:00 PM on July 30, 2007

Online Editor, Content Editor, Communications Assistant, Editorial Assistant

This is the kind of job I have. You want my job? (Hahaha, only kidding.. for now)

Are you writing specific, targeted letters when you apply for jobs? Looking at the keywords in their job description and then matching them to bullet points in your resume and/or cover letter? If your're applying for that wide a range it sounds like you don't know what kind of job you want and I can't imagine you have time to tailor your application specifically to the job in question, which in my view is absolute key to getting called back. (I was in a MA program before getting my job too, and had very little direct experience..)

I think the DC job market is pretty good actually, though a lot of nonprofits don't pay people what they're worth, which is lame..
posted by citron at 4:02 PM on July 30, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. I am tailoring my cover letters to each job I find, to the best of my ability, in a "I meet this requirement in this way" sort of way, though not as clunkily phrased. And yes, I'm very sure it IS me, is the fact I've only been out of school for a year, etc, etc. Perhaps I exaggerated how many bites I've actually had; it's probably more in the vein of the filtering I do when searching for a job, because though I have a general sense of what I'd like to do and what I have the experience to do, versus what I'd eventually like to do, I'm not sure what point I enter the field.
posted by atayah at 4:09 PM on July 30, 2007

There is a lot of competition for the types of jobs you list, because there are a lot of people in DC with those types of skills. It's the kind of skills that people who started as interns on the Hill have in abundance. [Or at least that's what they claim, although my experience would lead me to say otherwise.] At first glance, it also seems that you may not obviously have the types of writing/editing experience that is most in demand - business letter and proposal writing/think tank analysis writing/PR firm ad writing.

It is possible that it's the education background and experience that is throwing people off, at least if they reject you in the pre-interview stage. How many different resumes do you have? You should have one tailored to each of the specific types of jobs you are going for.

The one thing I didn't see you address is what you are doing for networking? We do our hiring primarily from a pool of applicants recommended by the companies/think tanks we work with, and that is the same for pretty much all of DC. It is the number one way of getting a job here, and a ton of jobs are never even put on the market - or if they are, they are often filled even before they appear in the paper or online.

Alternatively, you will have to start somewhere at the bottom as a program assistant or something, and then show off your skills to work your way up to where you want to be. [My husband started in sales support, for example, and was promoted four times within the span of a year.] There are so many opportunities here that I don't think you are doomed or anything. Perhaps take the non-ideal job as a temporary fix, then keep looking. Don't count out the think tanks/non profits either, they are often in the market for good writers.
posted by gemmy at 4:29 PM on July 30, 2007

simplyhired + indeed. It worked for me.
posted by brownpau at 4:51 PM on July 30, 2007 [6 favorites]

So am I reading the original question and your follow-up to mean that you're just not finding opportunities that fit? And the ones that do don't pay enough? If nothing out there seems to be right, and the ones that are don't pay enough, that might merit a re-adjusting of your mindset.

Get thee to the AU career center. They'll have listings/connections and can probably sit down with you to determine if it's your paperwork (resume/cover letter) that isn't getting you the bites you want, or something else. I'm pretty sure they'll help alums. Attend MFA-related events and network. Talk to your professors to see if they have any contacts or advice.

I always thought the DC job market was pretty good and had great successes with it. However, it is competitive, particularly the closer you are to entry-level. Over 800 people applied for a position that I was eventually hired for, for example. I asked my boss why she hired me and she said that I was one of the first applications to arrive (after 200 or so, she stopped looking at them, that's the kind of response she got from WashingtonPost.com). She also said that my cover letter really spoke to the position and what she was looking for, so citron's advice is spot-on.

I do, however, think that things slow down considerably in the DC job market (and DC in general) in July and August. That might be part of what you're seeing. Good luck to you, I'm in a search right now too - it's tough to keep high spirits! :)
posted by ml98tu at 5:15 PM on July 30, 2007

A couple possible job routes 1) Medical editing or 2) Teaching at a private high school.

I suggest medical editing because you can earn more money than other editing fields (I could be wrong, but with medical writing this is the case), you can get benefits, and from observation - there are entry level positions/our company hires students straight out of college.

Other ways to find the jobs - I actually used a few recruiters/headhunters (the company will pay them) - look through the job ads and pick one or two. These individuals will also circulate your resume. I also posted my resume on jobsites careerbuilder, monster, and got calls /invites for interviews from employers.

Other ideas - hopefully there is a more appropriate organization, but American Medical Writers Association has classes, a conference, and local meetings. You may want to attend to try to make connections with people in the industry.

Finally, you may want to try cold e-mailing people that are currently employed as (insert desired job) with your background. I did this in NYC and people were very responsive. Some people told me other ways to enter the field, showed me samples, and a few reviewed my CV (pointing out things to highlight etc/pop terms for your field).

Teaching at a private high school - I'll admit I hated that job, but with your education background and a Masters degree, you may be able to get a job. I used a placement service, landed a job pretty quickly. If you want the name of the placement organization I can place that info.

Good luck.
posted by Wolfster at 5:25 PM on July 30, 2007

There's already been a lot of good advice up-thread, but if you take a realistic look at your skills, and can live getting in on the ground floor and working your way up, you can always try the GS route.

http://www.usajobs.gov
posted by zap rowsdower at 5:30 PM on July 30, 2007

I can't really help you much with the job, but if you need a break drop me an e-mail and perhaps all of us can finally have the long-awaited Silver Spring meetup people have been too lazy to plan. Welcome to the neighborhood! Now get a job.

(i kid i kid!)
posted by arco at 6:41 PM on July 30, 2007

Some possibly helpful resources that you didn't mention, linking them here just in case:

Washington Independent Writers
Society for Technical Communication
Association of Writers & Writing Programs
Chronicle of Higher Education/Careers
posted by gnomeloaf at 7:16 PM on July 30, 2007

I was somewhat surprised, given our current unemployment levels, to read "Is the job market this bad."

The second I read "I left last August for a position in a local DC charter school, which I left two months later for my mental health." I suspected you were the problem.

By the time I got to the end of your post I was sure of it.

Here's the fact: you're young and very early in your career. After spending a lot of time, money, and effort getting a master's you maybe don't feel that way, but it's the case. You're also someone with a liberal arts education in a town with a ton of other people with that flavor of education. So when it comes to finding a job you are a special, delicate, and unique flower, just like everyone else. So you can expect that for the foreseeable future you're a low-priced commodity.

As someone who has made hiring decisions at various times in my life, based on your resume as you have presented it to us, the impressions I get are "newbie" (see above) and unfocused and/or desperate (childcare & teaching experience applying for photographer position).

As others have indicated above you need to be targeting your cover letters and resume. It's vitally important you massage that resume to give the least impression of being a jump-around dilettante with an over-inflated opinion your your own worth and unrealistic expectation of how hard you will have to work in a position and where you are in your career.

As I mentioned above, you've got a common skillset and educational history. Given that, to be paid as something more than a commodity you need to be an exceptional example of that commodity. The unfortunate reality of jobs is that your personality or quick-wit isn't going to be how you manage that. It's just too hard to quantify that in an applicant rather than someone you've worked with. You might work your way up internally with those qualities but you're not getting in the door with them. So you need to build a quality history, both in terms of duration in a position and by doing notable things. There's no indication from what you have said here that you have either.

Normally I try to be understanding and gentle in an AskMe answer but I think you might benefit here from an unfiltered view of someone's reaction to your description. If it's giving me this impression there's the very serious possibility that's what's happening in your job search.
posted by phearlez at 9:21 AM on July 31, 2007 [1 favorite]