Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Work is My New Lover, I am on Hiatus

Since graduating from college, the parallels between finding the right career and finding true love have increased dramatically. The metaphor has helped me make many career and love decisions. It was perhaps most striking when I quit my job, and the feeling could be compared to a somewhat uncomfortable but necessary break up. My resignation letter could basically be summed up as "It's not you, it's me", and the response from my bosses "We're sorry to see you go, but follow your heart".

The comparisons continue, as I've tried to both apply the career advice 'just try something, even if you don't know you want to do it forever' to my love life and the love advice 'you're too young to settle' to my career.

And so this week, when I returned to New Orleans, single [unemployed], I found that like relationships, no matter how much I anticipated the relaxing into my job search I was fully on the rebound. Scanning craigslist the way sad lovers lurk in bars damp with liquor, I saw my standards slip away as I frantically constructed resumes tailored just so. How could I tweak myself to make me more appealing to these nameless hiring managers?

But today, like magic, I got picked from the multitudes. And it was loveatfirstsight: the movie business. And like all good love affairs I've signed my life away in an instant and will be working 60 hour weeks for 2.5 months. I say it's nothing serious, just something to do in the interim, but I have a feeling I could be all wrong, and it's a good one. So these posts might slow down, but I hope you'll bear with me, and thanks so much for reading...:)

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