Knowledge Gained

Recently I applied for a position at the little local college, with the encouragement of the department chair. Even though I felt it might be a long shot for me to get an offer, it was something that I felt passionate about and believed I could have learned the apsects of the position that were not in my area of expertise. I had many of the qualifications that the position description listed as necessary.

On several occations, I visited the department chair's office, wanting to introduce myself and get a name with a face, but he was always out or in class. I did not get the offer, not even an interview.

Listed on my resume was my current employer, the college, as I work in food service there. The other day, while serving the Rotary Club their lunch, I saw that this department chair was in attendance and introduced myself to him. "Oh, I didn't know you worked here", he said.

This caused me to wonder if he had even read my resume or application. I learned later that they already had someone in mind for the position, and the listing was just a matter of formality, you know, to satisy those pesky human resources people.

I thought about all the time and energy I had put into this application process and was left feeling, well, sort of bummed out.

But then I remembered that I had learned so much from an on-line course I had taken - to gain some of that knowledge that I didn't have that was pertinant to the position - and I realized what a blessing the whole process had been. I brightened up and gave thanks for the experience and went outside to feed the squirrels.