A tale of two timelines

Hey, friends.
Hoobaby, look at Becky with the Good Logo!

Like my new look? I'm having so much fun putting together swaggy new #entrylevelboss branding right now. And our new website, which will launch in just a couple of weeks. Momentum vibes, baby.

It's college graduation season, friends. And all l I can think about is how there's about to be a whole truckload of confused, stressed out new adults out there.

In a couple weeks, I'm opening enrollment for The #entrylevelboss Academy: a new two-week online program designed to bridge the gap between whatever the college career center told you and what it actually takes to get hired.

Consider it a step-by-step guide to becoming a professional--complete with daily, bite-sized homework assignments that make the job search life sooooo much easier.

I'm really excited about it, and will tell you more soon...

Now, speaking of the professional world (when am I not?), I want to touch on a thing today that seems to be causing a whole bunch of anxiety for a whole bunch of people.

I hear the same thing a lot:

- "I sent in my resume and didn't even get a response."
- "They just never even got back to me."
- "They finally got back to me.... five months later."
- "I did seven rounds of interviews in nine weeks and then they told me it was a no."

When you're looking for a job (or for a new job), every day feels crucial. Every day feels slow. You beat yourself up about not getting hired fast enough, and you resent the companies that make you wait a week for a response.

You want your new life, and you want it yesterday.

And yet, for some reason, these recruiters and managers seem like they're screwing with you on purpose. How hard could it possibly be to answer an email, right?

As a consultant in the startup world, I've seen the inside a lot of cool, trendy offices--and I've seen a *lot* of dysfunction when it comes to hiring.

I call it A Tale of Two Timelines.

Or, rather: The people who are recruiting you are on a completely different schedule to the one that you're on and you may, in fact, be on different time-space continuums entirely.

I find it frustrating to watch the recruitment process from the inside of an office, mostly due to my weird fetish for HR. And because I know how badly every single one of these applicants wants to get hired. To finally be happy with their professional life.

Hiring is a slow, inefficient sport--especially for the more junior-level positions. Coming out of school, you're used to deadlines. You turn in your paper on a Friday, you get to hear about your grades next week.

Your teachers don't randomly just decide to change the assignment, after you already applied, but then forget to tell you because they had to go to their cousin's wedding in Spain for ten days.

But that's what happens with recruiting, all the time. I don't have an answer for how to fix it yet. But just know that, on the bright side, it's really not you.

Companies are passing up on great applicants everyday. And, 98% of the time, it's just because they're incompetent at hiring.

I know. It sucks. At the end of the day, every office is made up of the same people: plain old humans.

Some of whom dislike their job as much as you dislike yours. Whether it's FedEX or the CIA, there's some guy named Todd who is killing time on Reddit and figuring out how to leave early on Friday.

Ain't that a trip.

Big love,
Alexa

PS: Do you know a college student who is about to graduate? Want to get them the most useful graduation gift of all time? Ask me about gifting The #entrylevelboss Academy to the new adult in your life! They'll thank you forever.