The Big Send Off

I just, not but two minutes ago, applied for an internship. My fingers are still shaking, my lungs have just resumed pumping air, and my head hurts from scrutinizing every little detail of my stuff. But it is done. My email has shot into cyber space and into someone over at thunder::tech’s mailbox. There is nothing I can do now. My fingernails are gone from nerves, so I can’t chew on them. As much as I’d like to continuously check my email for a response, I don’t want to seem desperate. So what’s a girl to do?

Wait.

It’s the hard painful truth. Once you have done all that you can do in terms of sending out a strong cover letter and a strong resume (assuming mine and your’s are of course strong, which they will be if you come to our CDC) (Yes I know that was a shameless plug), you just have to wait. Now there are a few things you can do in the meantime. Make sure you make a follow up call. About one and a half to two weeks after you sent in your information, it is alright to call to see if the company received your materials, and to check if they need anything else. Unfortunately, that still means you are waiting for one to two weeks. I have been waiting for 5 minutes, and already I want to call and say, “Hey! Did you get my information? Do you have a position for me?” but that’s not really an option.

So we wait. We work on more cover letters, more resumes, and more homework, and we wait for the big kid world to tap us on the shoulder and put us in the game.

The truth is, it’s hard to send something that you have spent so many hours perfecting to a stranger. How do you know if they will love and appreciate it like you have? Will they catch the imperfections you didn’t? Well, you can’t think about that anymore. You just have to realize you did the best you could, and it is up to the company now. But before you send anything make sure you have done these three things:

1. Make sure you have used the right company’s name in your resume and cover letter. You won’t get the job if you can’t remember which company you are applying for.
2. Have a friend proof read your materials. Even if you never make it into the CDC (which you should) have a roommate or a BFF look for spelling errors and sentences that don’t make sense. Encourage their honesty; this is no time for flattery.
3. Take a moment before your mouse hits the send key, or you drop that envelope into the mailbox to congratulate yourself, say you’ve done what you can do, and send it off with wishes. Sitting there fretting will accomplish nothing. It’s done until the follow up call. Just don’t forget the follow up call if you told them in your cover letter that it was coming.

It is getting close to crunch time and employers may soon stop accepting applications for summer internship programs. So if you haven’t started to work on a resume, you might want to. More importantly remember that job fairs are coming up, as Carrie mentioned before. There is a huge one in Columbus this Friday, February 6. Call (419) 289-5064 for more information. Stick with me.