Job Hunting

The toughest transition I have had to make since moving here is looking for a real job. It's been tough for Ryan too because he has to support me and all my crazy credit/medical/student loan bills.

I absolutely love my internship, don't get me wrong; it's been an amazing opportunity and I am thrilled to be learning so much! Politics was so unimportant to me until last month and now I think about my position on politics all of the time and the news actually matters! Unfortunately, my internship just does not pay the bills! My student loan bills alone are $550 a month!

I used March to settle us in to our new place and new life and then started applying for jobs like crazy in April. I have literally applied for 92 jobs between April 1st and August 12th. The toughest part about it has been not receiving a response after applying until this week, finally!

Yesterday, I had my first real hill interview. I interviewed for a Legislative Correspondent position on Senator Bob Casey's (Pennsylvania) staff. I was shocked to hear that over 200 people applied for the position and impressed to hear that I was 1 of 10 to be interviewed. They liked my writing sample, the simple resolution I wrote to honor the anniversary of StoryCorps and the contributions of the West African griot. It will be a few weeks before I know definitely because after the interviews they will choose the top 2 or 3 for a writing test (no problem!), and then, based on that, there will be a second meeting with the legislative director and another staffer. Surrounding the lengthy process is the fact that it's recess and everyone is on alternating vacations, including Ryan and me (in a week, for two weeks), so it really will take awhile. This was my first bite though, and I feel really good about it. It gave my confidence the boost it was craving. Ryan phrased it perfectly when he said I applied for 100 jobs and got a 1% chance, but that 1% turned into 10%. So, we'll see if I can get that to 33% or 50%, then 100%!

The more I learn about working on the hill, the more I want to be here. I love what I'm learning, and you all know I love to learn. Being part of the political process has been much more gratifying than I assumed it would be.

In addition, I desire the benefits: top notch medical and dental (especially after learning yesterday I will need a deep cleaning, 4 fillings, and 2 root canals), metro benefits (so I won't have to pay $4.05 each day each way to get to work), and help paying my student loans (up to $500 a month, depending on the office)!!

Time to go work on application 93...