I never expected job hunting to be easy.

But then again, I never expected it to be this hard, either.

Put plainly, I came to age in a fruitful time. The first President Bush, the prosperous Clinton years. In the first two decades of my career, I never applied to multiple jobs at the same time. No need. I always landed the first one I applied to.

So when I re-entered the job rat race, I was not prepared for the reality bitch slap that awaited me. I applied for a position that was a step up, a logical career move. I was so sure I had it in the bag, I didn’t bother to apply for any other positions. One, two, three months went by. To this day, I never received a rejection letter, or even an acknowledgement that my resume was given a cursory glance. That was a year ago.

Needless to say, I have moved on, and I have radially changed my job-seeking approach.

Now, I cast a wide net. I send out several resumes a week. I will tell you that in the year I have been actively looking for a new job, I received the first call only three weeks ago. The contact, from a loan company, came as a relief. I was sure I had somehow typed “she’s a fucking flake” in the middle of my resume. Or had a glaring grammatical error on my cover letter.

Receiving that one call was cause for elation and relief. While it didn’t prove to be a love connection, the experience allowed me to dust off the cobwebs (I hadn’t interviewed in six years) and gave a much-needed boost to my ego.

It seems that one phone call has broke the dam, as I have been contacted by two more prospective employers. The game has switched modes, and I am now “in play.” I can feel the rules have changed, and I need to be flexible as I catch up. My future hangs in the balance.