Rejection 101-How Packing My Resume Made Me a Renaissance Man

Rejection 101-How Packing My Resume Made Me a Renaissance Man

Nothing like sleeping in to make your morning feel so unproductive. But after riding up to the coffee shop on a trusty Lime scooter with no front brakes (there's gotta be an analogy there, right?) and ordering a cup of drip coffee because rent's due and the dollar saved not getting a latte is what will get it paid. But hey, there are some positives too. I made a new friend and submitted yet another job application, this time with a portfolio of work, which is an absolute first. Submitting an email showcasing my talents in casual writing, video, and photo editing, and storytelling made me realize something rather hilarious. I didn't learn any of these in college

Sorry, you don't have enough PRACTICAL experience… I heard this over and over again in the early days of my job hunt. Where's the internship? Where are the jobs? Where's the value? Back in 2024, with a freshly printed master's degree in one hand and a surprisingly sparse resume in the other, I set out to find meaningful full-time employment. And here we are two years later: the degree still looks brand new, since it lives in a box in my closet, and the resume, even without any full-time jobs, looks pretty darn full and diverse. So how the hell did that happen?

For one, I acquired some hobbies, comedy and graphic design mainly. It's amazing how I spent the whole first year doing diddly squat, but now I have a schedule stuffed like the Thanksgiving turkey, and only about 20 percent of that has anything to do with my paying jobs. From that, I've gained a dozen new marketable skills from a certain point of view. Performing and booking shows? No, that's negotiation, business planning, and practical marketing experience. Getting my friends together to brainstorm a new show? Meeting planning and strategy execution. As long as you are out spending time with people and practicing your passions, youre not wasting valuable time; you're creating your own valuable experience.

So Mykels' fun monologue aside, how does any of this relate to dealing with rejection or bettering yourself in the eyes of employers? It's quite simple, really. Every job wants an absurd level of experience right off the bat, and not all of us are blessed with familial connections or internship opportunities that give us extra years of experience to pad our resumes. So what can be done…you have to make your own experience. Whether that comes from following a passion and learning how to grow your standing within it, or volunteering and growing with an organization you are passionate about. Everything we do can be crafted into experience and skills if we let it. So my advice to you is to remember your passions and bring them back, even if you've been told it's a waste of time. Because even something as simple as telling a few jokes can grow into something beautiful if you let it.

Now wasn't that heartwarming? Follow your dreams, and they will come true. Not to rain on my own parade, but it's not that simple. Much like the job hunt we know and loathe, there's a lot more at play. You will have failures and painful rejections. Things will not go right, and you will get discouraged. The big difference is who you are doing it for. The job hunt requires you to impress and wow potential employers. With your personal passion projects, the only person you need to impress is you.

I hope this provided some food for thought or coffee for contemplation. If you had told me all these things right after graduation, I would have scoffed. Education is the most important thing, I would say, while preening about how far my degree would take me. Oh, how the mighty do fall. Now, the academic has become a scholar in the school of hard knocks. The most practical lessons can be the hardest to learn.

Class Dismissed