If you've been following my blog for a while, you may recall that on Day 5 of my trip to Oregon, I drove 3 hours to an informational interview that failed miserably. That day was a total waste, right?
Turns out, not exactly.
At the very end of that article, I mentioned that I stopped off at a community college and had a pleasant chat with someone. Let me give you a few more details of that event.
As you can imagine, my confidence was shaken after the failed interview. I don't like rejection, and I felt like just bagging the entire day, or the entire trip, and just going home. So I started driving up the freeway. After an hour of driving, I saw a sign for a community college in the next town. I thought that I didn't want the day to end so badly. I mean, if you are thrown from a horse, you get right back on, right? It's to keep you from being scared of horses for the rest of your life. At the same time, I thought another rejection really wouldn't be very fun at this point. So fighting against my insecurities, I decided to stop.
Once I arrived, I looked around to see if there was any sign of where to go. I found one building that advised first-generation college students. This is an area I was interested in, but didn't know much about, so it seemed like a good place to visit. But in the parking lot, I had another attack of insecurity. It took me 15 minutes, but I finally gathered the courage to get out of my car and head into the building. The people inside were nice and friendly, and I ended up having a lovely conversation with a very helpful individual. I learned a lot, and even better, left a business card, so my name was out there. I left, feeling better about the day and very grateful to that office for restoring my confidence in myself and my mission.
Skip forward 3 months. It turns out that I will be heading back to that campus, and that exact office, for a job interview on Monday!
About 3 weeks ago, a job was posted on the school's website for a position in that office. I applied, as I've done countless times before, but this time, they called me back and offered me an interview. Now, this community college is 2 hours from my parent's house, my home base during my trip to Oregon. I was only in the area because I was visiting the university. If it hadn't been for my failed interview, I wouldn't have been in the area, and if the interview at the university had gone well, I wouldn't have stopped at the community college on the way back. Because I did, however, I learned more about the community college, I met some nice people, and more importantly, I am more prepared for my interview on Monday.
Was it Fate? I'll be exploring that in an upcoming blog post.
