My Experience With the Job Search: Report A Hire

This is the third in a series of posts about my quest to find post-graduate employment. For the previous two posts in the series, please go here and here.


The Monday before the two-week deadline, I received an email from an HR Coordinator in Washington DC, where the company is headquartered, asking me to send her a list of references. That whole day was spent sending a barrage of emails to potential references, and I was thrilled (and lucky) to receive quick and willing responses. After collecting the email addresses and phone numbers of 6 or so references (and double-checking their accuracy a zillion times), I emailed the list by the end of the day.

It was only after completing the frantic exercise of reference-collecting that I could sit back and ask: what does this all mean? I had never been asked to share references for an internship or job opportunity before (apart for the occasional academic program), and I had no idea what this signified in the vein of job-applying. Do employers reference all of the top contenders? Are references used to make decisions between candidates? Or is it the last step before an offer? Everyone seemed to have a different answer. My ever-optimistic dad was convinced it was the latter option; meanwhile, my pragmatic mom said it was a good sign, but that I shouldn’t get my hopes up quite yet. My go-to friends on Google search also had different answers (as well as incredibly entertaining stories. One especially enraged man, for instance, decided it would be a good idea to threaten every employer who didn’t offer him the job).

The week that followed was an oscillating sea-saw of emotions. I was an irritable, antsy, and sleep-deprived mess. As my references contacted me to tell me about their glowing reviews, I felt incredibly hopeful, imagining myself receiving the offer in no-time. This exuberant optimism slowly dissipated as the two-week deadline came and went. As friends, family, and Career Services reinforced, the hold-up could be anything, from a busy schedule in the HR office to a sluggish administrative process. There were also other less-than-promising possibilities: that HR was simultaneously checking other candidates. Or that they had made another offer and were waiting on the response.

By Friday, I was tired of waiting and thinking, of forming quasi-absurd scenarios in my head. I accepted that the “no-news” wasn’t exactly good-news, and that I shouldn’t count on this position. I planned to follow up with the firm on Monday and, in the meantime, urged myself to start considering other options (obviously easier said than done).

Friday afternoon, I was distracted by the series of interviews I conducted alongside Shimrit for the ambassador position. By the end, I’d half-forgotten about the unsettling piece of unheard news; that is, until I checked my phone. I saw that I had missed a call from an unknown number with a 202-area code. My heart slammed against my chest. Flushing, I grabbed my cell-phone and ran outside the offices, frantically dialing my voicemail. The voicemail was from a HR coordinator in Washington DC, asking me to call her back immediately.

I looked like a frantic, disheveled mess as I made that phone call; my fingers were uncontrollable, dialing all the wrong numbers and shaking as they managed to find the right ones. My bag and coat were sprawled in a mess right next to me, most certainly blocking the passage of the gaggles of students and tour-groups exploring Dowling. The person that picked up the phone, of course, was not the woman who had called me, and I had to admit that no, I did not remember her last name (I could not begin to process it), but can I please be put on the phone with a Michelle? I think?

That was when I was offered the position. It was shocking and thrilling and weird and mind-boggling and every single emotion at once. I wanted to shout yes, yes, yes, but she told me that I shouldn’t give her an answer yet, and that we would arrange another time to speak the following week. Then, in a well-intended explanation that felt way longer than it was, she laid out my compensation and benefits, which she promised to send via email. It all sounded fabulous, at least what I processed. When I hung up the phone, I ran in to tell the very people that, in all their support and wisdom and selfless guidance, helped make it all happen. Being at Career Services when I first heard the news felt oddly symbolic; it was if my experiences at the office felt really complete, as if everything had come full-circle.

Back at my dorm a few days later, I at last clicked the button on TuftsCareerConnect I had been so eager to press: Report a Hire. Entering basic information for the office database---including company name, address, position, and hours---made the whole job thing feel uncannily real. (I’ll be working hours per/week? And be receiving a salary?).

What I learned from this whole process? Probably too much to put into a small wrap-up paragraph. But I can say this: the ultimate thrill of snatching a job comes at a different time for everyone, but it does come. It’s so hard not to (I mean, look at me), but try not to overanalyze every missed deadline, every email wording, or every step of the process. Simply go with the flow; remain confident that you’ve put forth your best effort, and that you are a fantastic job candidate in your own right. Continue to be proactive, open-minded, and optimistic. And continue to be yourself---in every email exchange, phone call, and interview. Stay true to your skills and passions and what it is that you genuinely love to do.

Well, it’s been a lot of writing, so I guess I’ll end here. Good luck to you all---no matter what stage you’re at in the job process. And in the meantime, enjoy the remainder of this year! We have the rest of our lives to be serious real-world-people, so let’s take in the time at Tufts that we have left.