Here’s a question for you: What’s the most desperate thing you’ve ever done to impress someone you’ve never met?
If you’ve ever applied for a job, you probably don’t need to think too hard.
There’s something bizarre about it, isn’t there? This whole ritual of shaping ourselves into a two-page document and sending it off into the ether, hoping someone on the other end finds it compelling. Or at least legible.
It’s like writing a love letter to a stranger, but without any poetry or charm. Just bullet points about your proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
The thing is, we don’t just do it because we want the job. Not really. Sure, the paycheck is important, but deep down, job applications are about something else. Approval. Validation. Proof that we’re worth something.
And that’s where it gets weird.
Because how do you prove your worth to someone you’ve never met? How do you convince them that your collection of carefully curated achievements is more valuable than someone else’s?
You don’t. Not really. You just hope.
And hope, as we all know, is a dangerous thing.
I remember the first time I applied for a job. I agonized over my resume. Spent hours tweaking the font, rearranging the bullet points, trying to figure out if “enthusiastic” made me sound too eager or just eager enough.
When I finally sent it off, I felt… accomplished. Like I’d done something important. I was in the running. Except, of course, I wasn’t.
Weeks went by. No response. Just silence.
Looking back, I’m not even sure they opened my application. For all I know, it got stuck in some spam folder, or worse, ended up in the virtual equivalent of the trash can.
But the funny thing is, I didn’t stop trying.
Because that’s what we do, isn’t it? We keep throwing ourselves into the void, hoping that this time, someone will notice. That this time, they’ll pick us.
The older I get, the more I think about what it means to be chosen.
It’s not just about jobs. It’s about everything. Relationships. Friendships. Opportunities. We spend so much of our lives trying to get picked, trying to stand out, that we forget to ask ourselves why it even matters.
Do I really want this job? Or do I just want someone to tell me I’m good enough?
Do I actually care about what they think? Or am I just afraid of what it says about me if they don’t?
It’s a messy, uncomfortable thought. But it’s one worth sitting with.
Because the truth is, we’re all just winging it. The people applying for jobs. The people hiring for jobs. The people making decisions about who gets to sit at the table. Nobody really knows what they’re doing.
And maybe that’s okay.
Here’s what I’ve learned: job applications aren’t about proving yourself. They’re about finding someone who sees you for what you are and thinks, “Yeah, I could work with that.”
It’s not about perfection. It’s about connection.
The same is true for everything else in life.
So the next time you send off an application, don’t think of it as a test. Think of it as an offering. A little piece of yourself that you’re willing to share.
And if they don’t take it? That’s on them.
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