Yesterday, I was supposed to have an interview for an Assistant Editor position in Philly. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the email Wednesday when I was about to leave Atlantic City. It was the first time in at least two years that I heard from a job in my field and I was beyond excited. Nervous, but excited.
So you can imagine my surprise when I received another email from the same woman the next day stating some last minute changes came up with their client and they are no longer hiring. I was shocked, a little bummed out, but not completely discouraged.
I am a strong believer that everything happens for a reason and I knew that if I got this job, it would force me to put my dream of moving to New York on the back burner. Now I wasn’t going to be foolish enough to turn it down, but I had to face facts that I would have to make a sacrifice. And hearing the news almost makes me think that it was meant to happen that way.
In my heart, I believe that a new opportunity is coming my way. But I would be lying if I said some days, I don’t wonder if I am just saying that so that I can have something to believe in because I have said it so much.
One of my friends quickly set me straight when I told her about the situation. She was just as surprised to see the words across her g-chat screen and quickly began sending me links to internships.
As grateful as I was that she would take time to look to do that for me, I couldn’t help but begin to feel tense at the thought that all I could get, after consistently working in my field for multiple news outlets, was an internship. That can’t be right.
Her reasoning was that it would be a great way to see if I like the company and maybe it is just what I need to get me where I want to be. She explained that all it takes is the right opportunity. She was right.
It’s one of those moments when I realized I have to stop being proud and look outside of the box because I can be a bit bull-headed. And sometimes you can’t have things the way you want to have them. You have to go with the flow and prepare for any opportunity that comes your way.
A while back, a guy that was interviewing me for a sales position told me “proper preparation prevents poor performance.” That statement probably said a lot about my performance on the interview, but I didn’t care about that. I liked the phrase and I think about it often when I am faced with new opportunities.
Are you preparing yourself for a new opportunity? If so, how?
