Posted by steelmagnolia25 on September 22, 2004, at 7:06:57
or the lack thereof. I'm going to graduate from grad school in Dec and I MUST find a job. Unfortunately, this job hunting process is crushing my ego. I don't know what hurts more - being refused an interview or interviewing and feeling like I have to "justify" my poor grades, my choice of summer jobs, etc. I went to an interview yesterday for a great job and overall it went SO well. But at one point the interviewer said to me, "so can you explain to me why you graduated at the top of your class in college and yet your grades in grad school have been so poor?" I had no way of answering this question w/o making excuses or revealing extremely private information. The thing is, he'd spoken to a few of my references so he already knew about some of the circumstances I've been battling.
So I thought, does he want me to tell him about it as if he doesn't know? Does he want to hear more, as if what I'm dealing with isn't enough? I left with the impression of the latter because after I struggled to get through the answer (mentioning along the way that I have a toddler at home) he shared his own story about how he would get up at 4:00 a.m. when he was in grad school and had a child. I felt he was saying - you could do better if you cared to like I did. My point of view is that I'm lucky to be alive and sane right now, regardless of my grades!
My nerves and my ego are so sensitive right now. I don't think I can take much more of this. But how can I get a job unless I subject myself to this cruel evaluation? Please offer any advice you have...
poster:steelmagnolia25
thread:393581
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040914/msgs/393581.html