Please hire me.

‘Twas the night before Career Fair, when all through my apartment all my roommates were stirring, even our pesky mouse. Even with the immense amount of resume tuning, company researching, and elevator pitch practicing, I couldn’t help but walk around the Career Fair last week like a lost child. My organized plan from the night before became the game of “which company has the shortest line” and my elevator pitches focused on why I need a job rather than what skills I actually have to perform it. Many interactions led me to scream internally for four hours. As much as I can admit that Stevens has prepared me for the fateful day, I left the Career Fair feeling rather lost on how to actually get one of these jobs and in a state of denial that I don’t actually know how to”adult”.

I’m personally not picky in terms of what jobs I’m applying to. Anything that has the word “chemical” and/or “engineer” in the description prompts me to hit the apply button. For all I know, I could be potentially shipping myself to Antarctica, but so long as I am getting paid, I’m so down. But in all seriousness, I really don’t know what I want to do with my career, and that’s okay. As much as every single movie or TV show made it seem like college students are supposed to figure out and know every detail about their life, I’m completely accepting the fact that I have no idea what I want to do and rolling with it. I haven’t really had the work experience to say “I like this” or “I hate that” to really prevent myself from applying for a position. It might be risky that I’m, for the most part, blindly applying to places but no risk warrants no reward, especially for the full-time recruiting season.

Now the actual part of getting the job, that’s been the hard part. To paraphrase any member of the Career Development Office, really have to put yourself out there to get a position. I can easily say that putting in for jobs only posted on Castle Point Careers has been “putting myself out there” but it definitely has not been enough. Though really disheartening to receive rejection emails after spending so much time typing in work experience for the billionth time, there are more jobs to chug along and apply for. By the 5th email in a row of “I’m sorry but…”, I thought I reached a dead end. As I dry cleaned my suit and pressed my blouse I thought I was fully prepared to do the “adult things”, but perhaps there is more to it that I have yet to encounter or even begin to understand.

Fortunately there is always a glimmer of hope that will turn things around. For me, that glimmer of hope was when I received my first email for a job interview. By the way I reacted, one would’ve thought I was a caveman discovering fire for the first time. To quote the greatest fictional character, Albus Dumbledore, “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” This email was that light in a time that was rather dark. Granted, I’m still getting 10000 rejection emails and a limited amount of positive emails, it was that little push that kept me going and still on track to find a job.

For any senior, or even internship aspiring underclassmen starting their job hunt, who have been nodding in agreement this entire time, do not fret. Without being super cliche, your perfect opportunity isn’t quite here yet, but there is no doubt it’ll be around the corner. For any employer who is looking for a graduating chemical engineering senior, please hire me.