Poor deluded fool

Someone else just called in, wanting to know whether they could apply for an internship here for the next session. And once again, I have to tell them that the deadline was over a month ago. On one hand, I can understand where the applicants are coming from, because god knows I was such a slacker I never applied for an internship until maybe a week or two before the quarter started. On the other hand, we have dozens of people who manage to get their acts in gear and apply by the deadline, so I'm not too sympathetic.

....Dammit, my top intern choice just called and rejected the offer. Someone got to him first. Wow. Once again, karma comes around to bite me in the ass.

At any rate, it definitely is interesting being on the other side of the desk. You'd be surprised by how hostile some applicants get: someone wrote in just to mock the amount of money we pay. Also unexpected was how many people send in incoherent, badly-written cover letters. I can understand a typo here or there, but when someone is applying for a job that requires a lot of writing, they probably should be able to string a few sentences together fairly well. Someone wrote me the most condescending email once, "explaining" to me how to use Word. Thanks buddy. I'm going to remember *your* name and I'll bide my time... Finally, the thing that really jumps out at me is how many applicants go on about what a great opportunity this internship would be for them. That's super. Glad to hear it. But companies generally don't hire people to make them feel validated but because they have something to offer. A lot of the applicants don't seem to get that.

To be fair, I don't know if I would've gotten that at their age either. In cleaning up my paperwork at home recently, I found a bunch of cover letters that made me cringe. The only thing more painful to read is my personal statement for grad school. I hope that some day I can look back at it and laugh, because, jesus, right now it's too hokey for words.