[purpledaisy]

Just found out there is a job opening where I used to work.

I'm thinking of applying, but I'm really nervous about it.

It's a newspaper reporter position, and I loved working there. I left because I was in a state of aggitation, wasn't meeting deadlines, and I couldn't keep my mouth shut. I was bouncing off the walls in a small, tight-knit office, and driving my co-workers nuts.

I started out there in 2003 doing an internship for my college degree. They liked me, and when the internship was over I freelanced for them until there was a position for me on staff.

I was on staff for about a year-and-a-half before I quit. That's my usual length of employment.

Then I freelanced and wrote articles for them off and on through 2009.

Since around 2008, I have submitted my resume three times when I heard another reporter had left and they needed to find someone.

Three times.

And each time, the editor didn't say a word about it, didn't respond to my email, didn't ask me to interview, didn't tell me to jump into a lake.

It was humiliating, but I kept sending resumes. Three times.

I wish that, if they truly were not interested, they might have said something to let me know I was wasting my time.

Now there is a job opening again.

I went into my email account and pulled up the last resume that I sent to my former editor. When I read the letter I wrote back then, I thought, "Oh, man. No wonder he didn't bother with interviewing me. I sounded like a mess."

Should I risk humiliation a fourth time by tweaking my resume and sending it once again?

[Victoria'smom]

It's a job you love, send it! Call and check up in a week in a half. Please be persistent if it's something you love. Try not to look at it as humiliating if you do not get an interview. Keep trying you deserve a job you love.

I'd vote for applying. Your most recent resume isn't what you'd like it to be? (Go with me on that wording, ok? ) Yup, tweak it.
Honestly? I don't see any reason to feel humiliated.

People don't respond. It happens all the time. ESPECIALLY in the job market these days. I was astounded to get 2 form letter (well, email) responses that they had even received what I sent, let alone an actual response. It just doesn't seem to be the way things are done anymore. Even if they know you. Think of how common not RSVPing is -- and that is often by those considered near and dear(!)

It's too easy to take lack of response personally when it's not, and really, that's the main thing making you hesitant, isn't it? And there's an overwhelming likelihood that it isn't anything personal. I say go for it.

[unaluna]

have you done anything to make yourself look more attractive for the job, eg publish newer articles? if so, attach those. if not, then maybe don't apply this go-round - seems like this job keeps opening up, maybe for a reson? and really show them next time why they should consider you. if you really wanted to be a stringer, you would already be out there. are you just looking for them to reject you again?
ETA: I know it's really hard to judge this as a bp - everything always sounds like such a good idea at the time.

[purpledaisy]

Originally Posted by hankster

have you done anything to make yourself look more attractive for the job, eg publish newer articles? if so, attach those. if not, then maybe don't apply this go-round - seems like this job keeps opening up, maybe for a reson? and really show them next time why they should consider you. if you really wanted to be a stringer, you would already be out there. are you just looking for them to reject you again?
ETA: I know it's really hard to judge this as a bp - everything always sounds like such a good idea at the time.

Jobs don't open at this place very often, really.

No, I haven't done anything to improve myself or my skills as a journalist since I left.

I freelanced for publications for a while, including this one. I could have kept freelancing for this one, but with a full-time job it is impossible to interview people during the day and get the stories turned in by deadline.

If I were back to my old situation of working from home for myself with writing and editing clients, I would definitely get back to freelancing for them.

That's part of why I'm feeling like it's hopeless to apply. I haven't done anything to improve my skills or make them think I would be a better worker than I was back then.

[unaluna]

but if you're saying you're fulltime now? then that does look good. they like you better if they think they are taking you from someone else - they assume the other person / job has taste and judgment, they know they themselves don't. it's just like finding a 2nd boyfriend - or so they tell me... if you can do it without getting too depressed, then do it? but maybe i'm a bad person to advise. on the one hand, I needed to get off the merry-go-round; on the other hand, I could be doing more: idk, hard to say.

[hamster-bamster]

Just put your best foot forward and apply. Make your application look flawless this time around. Do not expect a reply though; if they do reply, it would be a pleasant surprise.

[purpledaisy]

It's all coming back to me.

Not long before I quit working there, I was reprimanded for not producing enough each week. I was missing deadlines. Can't miss deadlines at a newspaper. It throws off the entire production schedule.

I talked non-stop in close quarters with co-workers, to the point where they would tell me to hush so they could concentrate.

I would interview people on the phone, hang up, and then turn around and tell everyone about the interview rather than getting busy on writing the story.

Definitely not the best employee in the world.

But I was good enough at one time that they decided to hire me after I did my college internship there.