My Newest George Costanza Moment

So the good news is that my unemployment has finally kicked in. It's less than what I was making per week at my last job, but it's still enough to live on, and combined with what I have left over from my severance, I could potentially take the whole summer off, albeit I won't be living too comfortably.

And if I continue to fuck up the job search process like I may have this week, that's probably what I'm looking at.

I mentioned earlier this week that I was still waiting to hear back from two potential employers. One of the opportunities is with a company that I really would like to work for. They're a small upstart company that's doing really well, growing really fast, but also has a very relaxed and casual atmosphere. The position would allow me to get involved with a lot of projects that other positions I've applied for probably wouldn't allow. I last heard from them a week ago when the recruiter responded to my follow up email, letting me know they were still talking to other candidates and that they would follow up with me soon. Not the best sign, but not a decline either.

As an aside to the story, when I interviewed, I forgot to ask for a business card. I was so lured in by how casual the interview was that I left without thinking about it, so I didn't have a chance to get the manager's email to send him the requisite "Thank you" note. However, I did locate him via LinkedIn and sent a message to him that way. Now you're up to speed.

On Wednesday, I sent another follow up email to the recruiter to find out what was going on. I don't think it's unreasonable to send an email once a week to get an update. I also hadn't heard back from my email on LinkedIn, and when I checked the status, it said "In Progress" which I assumed meant it hadn't been delivered yet. So in the email to the recruiter, I gave a bogus claim that I had sent a "Thank You" note but it got bounce back to my email & asked him to confirm the email address for me so I could resend it. To me, it seemed like a reasonable situation.

Later that night, because I assumed that the LinkedIn email wasn't delivered, I tried to cancel it. Big mistake. When I canceled the email, it sent ANOTHER email to the manager stating that the original message was canceled & the reason (I used the default reason that "the timing of the request had changed".) I really don't want to know what their impression of me is now. It's not like any of this lessens my status as a qualified candidate, but if I'm on equal footing with another candidate, I'm sure they'd choose the one who doesn't bombard them with emails.

It doesn't help that I have all day to sit around and wait for responses. I like to think of myself as a patient person, and you would think I'm willing to be extremely patient since I'm getting compensated right now to not work, but beyond being patient, I hate uncertainty. I guess I just need to embrace this uncertainty for now & prepare myself for the "Summer of Matt" I originally thought I wanted. Because if I keep screwing myself with job opportunities, that's exactly what I'm going to get.