Day 55: Really? 55?

That seems like a lot of days...

Well, the bad news is that I got two turn-down notices today. The good news is that at least these places are bothering to let me know.

That's been just one more casualty of our societal slide the past decade or so... a lot of this is a downside of the wired world and "social" media. Really, it should be called "anti-social" media because the net (ooo, "net," clever!) effect has actually been to make us less connected. Now, we "connect" through the Web/e-mail/FB/Twitter et al... when was the last time you sent someone a hand-written letter? Writing a few lines in a card doesn't count.

I love the Internets, but for all the ways it allows us to interact, it also puts up some fences.

Professionally, and with the jobs situation being so dire, it's meant that job seekers carpet-bomb potential employers in a way that snail mail didn't. You can apply a lot more easily to the longshot job in Denver, LA, NY or wherever... you don't have the printing or shipping costs. Put a package together, hit send. Done.

So the recipients of this, who in snail mail might have gotten 90 percent local candidates, now get a lot more from beyond their immediate area. And whereas some people would not even bother to produce a physical application, now any and everyone can just e-mail a try. A lot of the bombarded HR people along the way have just been overwhelmed and so can't spend time sending personalized responses to candidates they pass over.

Some places send back an acknowledgment as soon as they get your application. A lot of that is automated, although yesterday for DreamJob I got a brief but direct response from (hopefully future boss). That's pretty rare.

The notices today, one was a form letter, the other was from a real person. Hey, the news wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I respect that they at least let me know.

A while back I had a series of interviews with GiantCorp. and I really felt like a contendah. Obviously I didn't get that but the process was without a doubt the most professional I had ever been involved with.

So.

These are headachey times. I think it's the heat and a little bit stress. One of my favorite sayings is to tell people to get out of their own heads... it's basically a variation of the idea of "walk in the other person's shoes." I think it's a good exercise to get some different perspective, but it isn't easy to sometimes completely change your worldview. In my case I need to not be too freaked out about the fact that it really is Day 55. It's not easy, but by thinking of it and putting too much weight on it it can really serve to amp up the fear. Not like we don't battle that enough as it is.

With that in mind, today's song submission. Give it a chance, it works...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU