Rejections and Affirmations

It's been more than a month since I started an account with oDesk and Remotestaff but I haven't landed a job yet.

I've received a few inquiries from employers at oDesk, but nothing has come out of any of it yet. Worse, at Remotestaff, my resume has not been viewed at all! Since Remotestaff's website shows a Chat function, I try to check what may be wrong with my application. But the chat page isn't working properly.(Sigh.)

I regularly receive notifications from oDesk regarding the status of my applications. So far, all of it are "Your application to the job ___ has been declined." Clicking further, the message reveals the reason for the thumbs down. It may be "cancelled - job posting expired" or "cancelled - project was cancelled" or "closed - job posting has been filled."

It's easy to get discouraged by these setbacks. But I must always be positive. And stay focused all the time. Applying online is just like applying offline. Try and try and try again, until you succeed.

I will let those little affirmations that come my way give me the strength to continue the search for that first job. Those initial inquiries from employers, while not ending in a hire, show a definite interest in my application. After all, how many applicants are there for one particular job? And I don't take rejections personally. I'd like to think that the employer-employee match isn't well-suited at that particular time, and that employer who is the best fit for me is somewhere near.

I received a bit of good news this morning. I got one gem of a comment from an oDesk employer and it totally made my day. Getting ready to go out of the house for the day's errands, I check my email and find this: "I've read through some of your blog posts and your English appears to be at a higher level than your US Basic English score of ___" ... "I believe you should be able to score higher."

And so I happily continue my search for my first paying online job.