Time after high school did speed up for me. I always thought my mom was joking when she would say once you graduate high school time flies by. It feels like everything has changed so quickly while at the same time feeling like I just graduated from high school.
I majored in business administration to focus on being an administrative assistant in the future. During my last semester, I was given the opportunity to apply for a paid internship at a law firm. I was happy one of my professors recommended this position to me.
I had a phone interview and then I went to an in-person interview. The lady who interviewed me said she would call back within a week, but I never heard back. I’ve been patiently waiting to hear back since then. I sent out an email to ask about the status of my application and she responded.
She said her boss has been out of town for two weeks, which has put a hold on the position. I hope to hear back soon so I can start working somewhere. I’ve been extremely excited to finally get a job to become more independent. I hope I can get one soon so I can expand on my work experience. This is where I’m at right now for my career plans. If I don’t hear back I will start to apply to other jobs in my area.
I haven't been applying to job interviews all that much. I spent most of my life earning by either being in graduate school where I earn as a TA, or by being a postdoc. The only exception is last semester where I taught at a community college.
However, part of the reason I didn't spend a lot of time applying for jobs is precisely because of the issues you described. People tend to be flaky. I remember, back when I was much younger, I expected that people would respond, and was dwelling on every non-response sort of the way you did. But eventually I realize thats how people are, and I grew to even expect it. Yes, people promise all kinds of stuff, just to be polite or what not, and then they don't follow through. I was actually surprised I got a teaching job in a community college last fall. I thought I wouldn't hear from them (just like I never hear from anyone) and only filled out application just to tell myself "I tried".
But, speaking of community college job, I lost it in a manner that was just as surprising as getting it. As I got religious exemption from having COVID vaccine, I was supposed to test every week. I didn't get my first test on time because of the mailing delays, so I taught a lecture class by zoom and got substitute to teach a lab. They weren't happy about either. Then I finally got a test, just on time to teach a lab. But I was too disracted by this issue to get adequately prepare for the lab. They discovered it before I ever walked into the classroom, just by the way I talked about it, so they took the lab class away from me. I still kept the lecture class. My class was observed three times rather than once since they were already suspicious of me. First time I was well prepared but I taught on too high level. Second time I again taught on too high level and was unprepared as well. The third time I finally taught on a low level, but I again was unprepared. So they decided to never let me teach again. Now, after the semester was over, I got very positive student reviews. Well, if I were to teach the way I taught during the two observations I was unprepared, they wouldn't have been nearly so positive. So this basically confirms my piont that I just happened to have had bad days and it wasn't how I usually taught. But no: they stick to their decision that I shouldn't teach, because hte decision has already been made.
By the way, what I just described is what happened with my physics teaching. As far as math teaching, they didn't invite me on the interview on the first place (kind of like what you described is happening with you). So what I was thinking is "its not a big deal they didn't invite me for math, I didn't expect them to; but I feel so lucky I got invited for physics". But then, several months later, I was told something really interesting that basically shown me that I was a fool thinking that. In the context of the second report where I taught on too high level, they told me that this was the reason I wasn't invited for interview to teach math. In particular, my cover letter for the math application was way too long, and I kept talking about the way I won't teach it in a conventional manner -- and in particular that I wanted to add things that they interpretted as making the material more difficult for the students. Now, that was a surprise. Because I was thinking that my application just fell through the cracks and so I need to elaborate it to make it stand out. But no, it was the opposite to that. It didn't fall through the cracks. It very much drew attention to itself -- a negative one. So now I feel like I was fooled.
And here is another example of simplar phenomenon. When I write emails, most people don't respond to them. So I was thinking my emails just fall through cracks or what not. But my mom insists that I write them in a way thats not grammatical or what not (by HER standards not mine!) She likes to edit her own emails for hours. So one of those days she actually forced me to spend two hours with her editting my enail. And guess what: it got response right away. So here I was stupidly thinking that people "don't have time to pay attention". But actually they DO pay attention -- enough so as to make this 2 hour inspection that my mom is making (why else would they notice the changes my mom made?) So if they have time to inspect my email for 2 hours, why don't they have time to respond to it? Thats totally beyond me.
So basically what I am trying to tell you is
1) People are flaky. They make promises they don't keep
2) They led me to believe that they "don't have time to respond" while in reality they have plenty of time -- to be picky
I noticed this in dating. And I noticed this in job market, too.
