Today, I wanted to talk about lines.
So, swimming pools of all kinds are a bit scarce in NYC. Even getting a nice large bathtub in a hotel is tricky.
As a result - any swimming pool you go to has a long, long line going out of the building in the summer. Even when you have paid a membership fee.
Yesterday, as I withstood a 45-min wait with two bored kids to get into the local pool for a one-and-a-half-hour swim session, it struck me how very similar the experience was to the job-finding situation for most people right now.
Why?
If you google “public pool”, you’ll get a zillion results easily.
Many of the results returned look idyllic.
But when you actually show up and check it out, you realize that most of what you thought was there was a total misrepresentation.
Maybe the open swim hours are 1-330pm on the third Tuesday of the month. Or maybe there are weird “gotcha” rules that no one told you - like you have to have a lock that is neither too big or too small or you’re not allowed to enter.
If you try to prepare ahead of time, the information you most need to know is buried six clicks deep in a website, if it’s there at all. Kind of like they don’t actually want you there.
People managing the line will “helpfully” encourage you to leave it, saying you can come back any time, but actually…you can’t.
The bathrooms outside the pool are sealed off so that if you have to pee while you’re waiting, you’ve got no choice but to leave the line.
At every step…your patience and dignity are tested.
Even worse, some people seem to be able to blow past all these barriers as if they weren’t there.
The only way to know for sure what you’re dealing with - is to show up and go through it a few times, and get knocked around, so you can get a sense of what kind of preparation makes sense.
Last time we went to the pool, we got kicked out 10 minutes after we came because there was a “session end” that they didn’t notify the members about. We were told we could “easily just get back in line and get in”. I almost didn’t bring my purse with me.
Instead, the reality was that we had to wait almost an hour, dripping wet, to get back in just to be able to get in to change our clothes.
If you’re frustrated by your job search…I get it.
-It’s full of waiting in lines.
-It’s full of weird little rules no one tells you about that feel ridiculous and unfair.
-The level of preparedness you feel you have to be at seems equivalent to showing up to an afternoon hike with a six-person tent and a whole turkey.
-A lot of jobs that are posted are not really available, or are actually spam disguised as a job advertisement, or seem like a total nightmare when you look under the hood.
But the ONLY way to get in the pool is to show up.
And then KEEP showing up, learning a bit more each time of what you need to do to prepare.
My pool experience might sound bad to you, but in truth:
-my membership fee is 5x less than the “private” places that are run out of various apartment buildings in the area.
-the pool is indoors so it’s sheltered from the sun
-it’s clean and bug-free, which is rare
-if I show up and wait in line long enough, I will* actually get to swim, which is a toss-up for everywhere else.
-the rest of the year, the line is quite short
So, don’t take yourself out of the running. You can't win if you don't play.
Success might not be perfect, just better. (And it will keep getting better, the more you adapt). You can do this!
XOXO,
Cathy