Unemployed

Have you ever been late to a job interview, only to find out you showed up to the wrong company, and still landed the job? Yeah, me neither. 

Unfortunately, this happened to me last week. I scheduled this said interview the afternoon prior. All communication was done via text because apparently Millennials are trying really hard to appeal to us screen infatuated Gen Zers. But that wasn’t the main issue.

Things started spiraling when he told me what location to meet at. This threw me off my game since I specifically requested an eight a.m. interview slot because I thought the interview would be conducted at the location just two blocks away from my apartment, and I planned on walking.  

Fast forward to the morning of, I’m eating breakfast refreshing my memory on the company and developing key points or suggestions to bring forward. By 7:30 I’m out the door, ready to embark on my 20 minute drive, feeling confident in my 10 minutes of buffer time.

WRONG.

Now I’m not trying to blame Apple Maps here, but in a span of five minutes (mind you, I was religiously checking the directions to keep an eye on time), my 20 minute drive jumped to 31.  

I could have thrown up.  

If you should know anything about me, it’s that I hate being late. This probably stems from childhood trauma as both my mom and older brother liked to play chicken with time, and I was almost always left running to get from place to place, chasing back time. And here I was again, stomach churning, helpless at every red light, with miles of bumper to bumper traffic in front of me.  

I half-heartedly forgave my maps app when it reported there was a crash on the freeway, doubling the morning work traffic. I took a couple deep breaths and tried to work through my frustrations- including guilting myself into the fact that I should be thankful it wasn’t me in the accident.  

By the time I pulled up to the building I was seven minutes late. I still hadn’t decided if it would be better to apologize for my tardiness (and beg for mercy) upon entry or cross my fingers that maybe they wouldn’t even notice. I quickly learned that neither would be necessary as the front desk worker told me I wasn’t on the schedule. I informed her I was, that I had an interview at eight. She asked me who I had spoken to and in response to my reply she breathed, “ohhh.” Almost as if this has happened before... 

She gave me directions and sent me on my way. I hardly made it to my car before I started sobbing. The company was another two and a half miles down the road, another 20 minutes of driving with traffic.

I felt so embarrassed.

How could I not have double checked the name of the company, the directions to the new location, or even allotted myself extra buffer time?

I harnessed my embarrassment long enough to call the interviewer, to which I received a voicemail box and left my message. Then I drove home.  

Needless to say, I’m still on the job hunt as a recently unemployed 22-year-old college graduate. Whoever said earning a degree would make getting a job easier was seriously disturbed.  

Not only did I graduate with my Bachelor’s of Arts in Journalism and Media Studies, I graduated magna cum laude (3.8+), as a student athlete with a minor in Entrepreneurship.  

Now, I’m not trying to throw myself a pity party, although, that would be a fun event to plan-- I’m thinking squirrel themed? (If you know, you know.).

But in all seriousness, I wanted to document the reality of what it’s like trying to secure a decent paying job when all you have to show is a degree and approximately three years of sorta-kinda related experience.

That’s not all it takes.  

Editors Note 9/26: I never heard back from this employer… but I am now employed elsewhere!