The Job Search: A Chronology

March 31, 2009 — I apply for a private housekeeping job. No reply.

April 1 — Visit to the bank prompts resolve to obtain employment as soon as possible.

April 7 — I apply for a job filling in for a church pianist, which was advertised on Craigslist. The pianist responds and gives me the telephone number of the pastor; I call him, and he invites me to come to the church on Good Friday or Easter Sunday to see the ropes. On Friday I duly go to the Good Friday service at a Methodist church, tucked away in a courtyard in a nice and curiously village-like part of Charlottenburg. Upon seeing the pianist in action it's fairly clear that I am not prepared for it, and I sense that I am much younger than the pianist and pastor expected. But I don't want to pusillanimously back out of it, so I merely leave things as they are and wait for another e-mail. None comes.

April ? — There is a florist's apprenticeship listed at Meinestadt.de. I want to go to the florist's shop first to see what it's like, especially as it's far out in southern Berlin where I've never been, so I look up the shop's telephone number. It is just before 6 p.m., and while I do reach a lady who gives me the number of the boss, this boss must have gone home already, because though I call twice there is no answer. After that I decide to let it go.

April 14 — In the Tip magazine listings I find and apply for an internship helping out at the offices of a magazine publishing company.

April 19 — I apply for a job as a tour guide, found on Craigslist. But I doubt that my talents lie in that direction, so I honestly list my deficiencies and leave it to the company to decide whether training would alleviate them. (If anything I'd most likely be good at giving tours of houses, where the echo would amplify my quiet voice; I'd still need training beforehand.) No reply.

April 20 — Somewhere I come across a job listing for a catering/restaurant chain which wants waiters and other service staff, and I apply. No reply.

ca. April 21 — The hope of finding work dwindles, and I spend a very dark and gloomy day. But I refuse to give up and try to keep busy until my mood improves; this works and I feel grimly proud.

April 22 — The publishing company unexpectedly calls, and I am invited to an interview.

April 24 — Of course I come late and there's no interview at all. For the rest of the day I mope, thoroughly.

April 25 — The moping is over. I plan to pick up the job search again after a day or two of rest.

ca. April 26 — The illusion vanishes, and I realize that for the present I have no motivation and no hope. My job-searching and email-checking feels like a pathological reflex at this point. But I keep on going, though less intensively. What does not help so much is that the internship job listing is still up on the website (as it will continue to be for another week or so), thumbing its nose at me, so to speak.

May ? — A doctor's practice in Potsdam wants someone to help tend the building's gardens, as I find out on Meinestadt.de. I telephone the number, and then twice try adding area codes, but no iteration is valid.

May 17 — In Tip magazine I see and respond to a listing for an editorial internship at a different publishing company. No reply.

May 24 — Through Meinestadt.de I find that Rossmann, a retail chain, is looking for sales helpers. I fill out a detailed online application, attach a photo, cover letter, c.v., and university transcript in the most elaborate action to date. This morning I find a very kindly framed (form) e-mail reply telling me that the position has been filled; I am, above all, extremely grateful that this has cut short the suspense, waiting, etc., so that I can get on with the job search.

To summarize, this whole process has been a protracted pain in the posterior, but at least I've learned that I do have sufficient strength of mind now to pull myself out of bad moods, even in the absence of exterior distractions. And I am also happy that I've gone about the job-searching in a straightforward and fair way. So it's been worth it. Of course it would be even more worth it if I actually had a nice job now. (c: