Opportunity is A-Knockin'

I've sent out hundreds of cover letters and resumes over the past year. I usually accompany them with only a few professional sentences along the lines of, "please let me know if you require any additional information in regards to my skills and qualifications for this position."

Now, that took several e-mail attempts to polish that one sentence up. I am a writer, and always felt like I had the right word for most situations. Somehow, though, I wasn't standing out among the crowd.

Then on one cold January night, I was browsing the Internet for publishing firms in Austin. I loved to edit and might like the publishing industry, I thought. I had worked for a magazine and my college newspaper, so I thought, "why not,"!

I played with keywords in the search engine until I came across one that caught my eye. On their site, I found a video about what it was like to work for their company and was floored. Everyone looked really nice, it seemed to be a fun work environment and they all worked very hard. "That's it," I thought! It was like something resonated with me.

I immediately located the owner and started, well, writing. I did something I had tried in the past but never with much success: expressed my sincerest interest in a position--any position--for the company.

That was six months ago. A month after my e-mail, I received a response from the owner. He said he would let me know if anything came up. Over five months have passed, and guess what? I have a telephone interview tomorrow.

Looking for a job? My advice: pour your heart out. Someone will listen and understand your passion.