This past week I got to take a road trip out to the western U.S. It was wild, and beautiful, and I even got to see a bear! It was a long trip, filled with exhaustion, reading, and Subway Surfers. So much Subway Surfers.
Driving through the mountains also has a tendency to cut off cell service, which was embarrassingly painful to endure. Cell service was on and off for several days.
When I finally did get service, I found I had a voicemail from a vaguely familiar number.
It was the manager of a women’s activewear store I had applied to back in January. The assistant manager position I had interviewed for way back then had opened up again, and the manager wanted to know if I would be interested in it.
Now, back in the winter and fall of last year, I had a long and unsuccessful job hunt. At the end of it all, as a final effort to join the adults-with-full-time-jobs club, I applied for this one. I was reasonably qualified, but definitely did not have direct assistant manager experience. I applied knowing I probably wouldn’t get it, but decided it was worth a shot. I was honored to even be called in for an interview. And even more honored to be called back for a second one.
As you may have guessed, I didn’t end up getting the job.
As soon as I got this voicemail last week, my heart started pounding. You see, in January, I had really really wanted this job. The manager was amazing, the store was the perfect size, and it was working with activewear clothing - which is what I loved and had experience selling. I knew I needed to call her back as soon as I could. But the trouble was... I didn’t know what to tell her. Because part of me still would really really like to have that job.
Heart still pounding, I called her back.
“Thank you so much for thinking of me, after all these months, but I am currently pursuing another opportunity.”
I was blown away by what she told me.
“You’ve always been in the back of my mind. You were my first choice back in January. But you know, these things aren’t really up to me in the end.”
I still don’t entirely know what to make of this, but after shaking off the shock of that flattering statement, this was my thought process:
If the manager had gotten her way, and I had been offered the job in January, I would have without a doubt taken it.
January was when I was first starting to work on my GoCorps application.
I know without a doubt that I would have loved that job, and would have loved being in the adults-with-full-time-jobs club, and that ultimately I would not have done GoCorps. I probably wouldn’t have even finished my application.
But truthfully, I’ve thought a lot about that job over the past half year. Somehow it stood out from all the other “we went with someone with more experience” rejections.
Having lived eight months of life since then, and having learned more about faith during that time than I have in the past several years combined, I’m ready to say that not getting that job was a good thing. But I don’t know why she called me after over eight months. What made her think of me after all this time?
I don’t know what purpose that phone call had, or if it had one at all. But I know that hearing her say those words to me was one of the biggest confidence boosts I’ve ever had. A reassurance of my value, somehow. And if that’s all that phone call is good for, then I think I can say I’m glad she called me.
I may not be a traditional member of the adults-with-full-time-jobs club, but I’m pretty sure doing GoCorps is so much better.