shuffle your deck.

About four months ago I started full-time job hunting, and I had a plan.
My plan was to:
*apply to my top 40 companies located in Chicago via Internet, 
*then choose my top 20 from that list, 
*then send a hard copy portfolio, resume, & cover letter to the top competitors,
*then call those 20 companies
*and reapply

Then wait until they all call me back and get many offers in which I could choose from.

This obviously did not work. 

Looking back, I should have shuffled my options. I put all my cards into one city, one major, and one type of company-the TOP 40 design firms in Chicago.

I am a huge card lover, Golf, Poker, Solitaire, BS, Blackjack, War...in almost all card games there are two options, you play it safe, or you are a risk taker. I take risks, I
throw all of my cards in one bet, I throw all of my money in with poker, I like to win it all
or loose it all. The problem is I used these same tactics job hunting as I did playing cards, but I lost all of my bets. You won't loose anything if you apply to a more broad spectrum, but you will loose the opportunities that you don't apply to. I was stubborn
and wanted my dream job downtown Chicago at my dream company with a huge salary
to support me.

Currently unemployed, I do not have any answers when it comes to finding a job, but I have a lot of advice and experience in failed efforts, so learn from my failures, and teach me how to better shuffle me deck.

-Hailey Schultz