The Application that Could

I am applying to quite a number of internship sites, all of them selected because I was drawn to some aspect of their training. Some of them are enhanced by having several great experiences, a superb location, or some other aspect. I chose sites from all over, across 8 states and Canada.

One of the Canadian sites is a college counseling center, and I had my application done in plenty of time. I did express mail anyway, with it guaranteed to be there within five days. But, um, don't forget Veteran's Day. Regardless, the latest that my application was guaranteed to arrive was on its due date, which was yesterday.

But my tracking showed all day yesterday that my application packet had "Cleared Canadian Customs" sometime on Wednesday. So, I emailed the director my predicament, along with my tracking number and the progress of the packet, to demonstrate that lack of planning was not why my application had not arrived and asking him to still consider it.

But, I didn't hear back from the director, so I sent another email. Some sites make interview decisions on the day right after the due date, and this site was adamant in their materials that your application be received by November 15th. This time I attached my cover letter, vita, and application with a promise to fax my recommendations, transcripts, part 2 of my application, and any other documents required by this site.

But, I had mailed my recommendation letters to the site with my application, so I had to scramble to get together some letters addressed to this site. That was an ordeal. Then, I went to send the fax. Well, halfway through the fax failed.

I shoved the sheaf of 18 pages into the arms of my husband who I sent to his workplace to try to fax it again on his way to meet some friends for a weekly "The Office" party, while I compiled digital copies of the fax into a pdf file that I could email.

But, the pdf turned out to be 10.03 MB, and that's too big for most email systems. So I was going to upload the document to a storage place I use online that provides links where you can share documents with others, without that person needing to sign in. But, that service is only free for files up to, you guessed it...10MB. So I pulled out the credit card to pay the 3 bucks to host the document. But the first card I pulled out, the stupid CVV security code was rubbed off. I pulled out another card, put in the info, got the document uploaded, got the link, and sent another email with the link.

About that time, I get a phone call. Some employee at the site working late to catch up on some paperwork was getting a fax...well, two faxes, the one I sent and the one my husband was now sending. And they have a small fax machine, and well, it was overwhelming.

This sweet dear woman offered to trash the extra fax and let that be our secret. God bless her. She also informed me that while they are highly selective, they aren't inhuman, and that my application would likely be considered because they weren't on a strict time deadline or experiencing a heavy time crunch. Whew.

And, tonight at 10pm, I received an email from the US Postal Service. My mailed application arrived at 7:30 am this morning. Meaning that all of that was likely unnecessary. And I've managed to appear irresponsible and obsessive compulsive in the same day with 3 emails, 2 faxes, and one phone call.

I'm hoping they're intrigued by my obvious desire to be considered at their site, and invite me for an interview if only to meet the weird girl who did all of that.