You can’t go wrong starting your blog post with a play on a John Green title.  (Well… maybe you can. I’m hoping I’m not, though.)

Today marks the 30th day since I graduated from college. This can also be translated into the 30th day since I was welcomed with a parade, a cake, and open arms into the real world. And by the real world, I mean the world where I’m joining the thousands of other Class of 2014-ers in the job search. (side note: there wasn’t a parade, but my mom gave me a hug after graduation, so that counts for open arms, right?)

It’s been great.

A month isn’t that long to go without finding a job, I know this. I’ve read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times articles (and countless other papers, too) enough to know that this is a process, and it can be a very long one at that. And before all two of you dear readers (welcome back, by the way. I’ve missed you!) think I’m being a spoiled brat and banging my fists on the ground demanding a job, I’m not. I’ve been very diligently signing my name on the bottom of a plethora of customized cover letters, and my eyes are patiently straining under the glow of my laptop screen, searching for opportunity after opportunity. I’m being patient, but I’m also applying to so many jobs that they’re starting to blend together…

…which might be my problem, especially when (on rare and exciting occasions) a hiring manager gets back to me. While this isn’t a problem, it is a problem when I can’t remember which Ashley belongs to which company. Three of the companies I applied to had someone named Ashley responding to my application. And all of these companies provide the exact same services and do the same things, one of which includes posting misleading job posts, posts that only include generic job descriptions. (I mean, the public/media relations and marketing position I applied for didn’t sound like I would be working 6 days a week selling Internet/cable to people at Menards… but we won’t go there.) Still, it’s a little awkward when the line on the other end is silent as I’m smacking my palm to my forehead trying to remember which Ashley was part of the company selling Internet services and which Ashley was selling beauty products. Maybe I should be making a list of the jobs I’m applying for?

This has nothing to do with my feelings toward the name Ashley (I have family and friends named Ashley and I love them and their names dearly!), and if the name had been Erin instead, I’d feel the same way (and I’d probably be in the process of changing my name, too). It’s just that the repetition of same name coming up three different times for three different companies seems like a metaphor for the job process in general. A cycle that repeats itself over and over again (resume, cover letter, apply, rejection, rinse and repeat) until hopefully one day, inevitably you end up employed. Because the cycle will break at some point– it has to.

At least, that’s what I choose to believe. I refuse to be anything other than optimistic– the alternative is to become bitter and I’m too young to think that way.  And it’s only been a month. It’s all good.

So, when will that cycle end for me and my fellow 2014 grads? A month from now? A year from now? Soon?

Yeah… we’ll go with that. Soon. 🙂

-e