Job Hunting

Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh!

The job hunting is not going well. Or maybe it is, but I just think it is not, only because I'm impatient for a job. I've been looking since mid-March and we are already in June now and I'm starting to get worried - I didn't think the job search would take so long.

That said, I have had plenty of interviews. The thing is, there are days when I get several calls, almost in a wave, of people requesting to meet with me, and then there are those stretches of days when nothing happens at all. This week (and last week) have been these kinds of long days.

I was getting worried, if only because I keep getting called for interviews, but nothing comes of it. Part of me thinks that people are just very curious about me and they just want to see what I look like, because:
1) the very first thing people ask when they meet me is "Do you have working papers?" or "Are you authorized to work in the US?" or "Do you need to be sponsored for a visa?". (This is when I explain, "No, I'm a US citizen and the other person either sighs with relief or looks at me all weird). This also furthers my suspicion that no reads the cover letter part of your email, since I have explained everything in my cover letter.
2) Then I always inevitably get the question about what it was like working with Super Cool Creative Director Who Came To The Company After I Left. I am thus obliged to answer, "Um, no, I was at the company before the Superstar Celebrity Creative Director arrived." (To which people always give a disappointed "oh..!")
3) People then ask me, "Wow, so, how was it, working at these haute couture houses?", then, "How did you get to work there?", then "Is is hard to work in France/Italy?", and finally, "Do people in Europe sponsor for a work visa?"

And then to top it all off, people end up telling me stuff like, "Wow, your portfolios are great, but your profile is too upscale/luxury/haute couture." Which is really, really annoying because I mean, they've SEEN my resume, and sometimes they have SEEN some jpegs of my work, and they MUST OBVIOUSLY KNOW what my profile is! I mean, I make it a point to always include rough sketches that go with the aesthetic of the company I am interviewing at, but it's like, all anyone really remembers is my professional portfolio (of published work) and nothing else. Grrrrrr! So frustrating!!!!! (Not to mention that I'm looking for ASSISTANT positions, so we all know that it's not like I'm ACTUALLY going to sit down and DESIGN the entire collection - everyone knows that I will be spending all my time doing boring stuff like updating line sheets and probably a bunch of flat sketches and sending stuff out via FedEx.)

Finally, a little anecdote: I interviewed at Super Cool/Trendy/Famous Fashion House here in NY, whose style is very minimalist, very deconstruction...you get the idea. So before I went in, I did a bunch of rough sketches that went with the whole minimalist, deconstruction idea. But the weird thing was, when I went in to interview with the two Creative Directors, they were behaving really oddly. They were like, "Come in, have a seat!" so I sat down and they sat down across from me, and it was like....complete silence....for 1 minute....before I said, "Well, let me show you my portfolios!" As they thumbed through my portfolios, there was....complete silence....which was very odd because most people ask me questions of some sort whilst thumbing through the pages. Except this time, it was literally.....complete...silence. I started to worry, so I figured I should maybe talk a little bit, so I kept saying stuff like, "Blah blah, this was my inspiration...blah blah...and here you can see I modernized it, while keeping the general silhouette....blah blah...and I used a lot of brocades and velvets, but softened it with some silk chiffon and lace....and I was really intrigued by the shape of the sleeves, so I did a few details like this on the cuffs...and then with the knits, you can see I went with a fine cashmere, because with this stitch it shows up better, but then with this other group, I went with a chunky knit but added some tulle with it...." and I was greeted with...complete and total SILENCE. Of course, after a good 10 minutes of chatter with no response whatsoever, I started to get nervous and thought, "Well, maybe they don't appreciate the chatter?" so I shut up. After that, one of the directors says, "Well, we've just started looking, so we'll be in touch," which was said in manner of "Thanks, but no thanks". I mean, WTF was that? They obviously made up their minds before I even showed up, and I almost would have preferred that they cancel the meeting instead of making me trek all the way out to almost 12th Avenue in heels and my giant bag of portfolios (and spending like, $12 on the cab out there).

Ugh. I know, I know, the economy is bad and I just need to be patient because something will come up soon, but it is just KILLING ME because I am SO IMPATIENT right now.