I landed my dream job without even applying for it. Here's how I did it and my advice for other job seekers.
I've tried to launch my career during a hiring slowdown twice — first out of college, and again last year after 10 years at home raising my children.
The second time was worse — it took me over a year to get hired. But my journey ended with me landing my dream job.
Joining Teach for America taught me resilience
I graduated from Columbia College Chicago in May 2010, when the Great Recession had pushed the unemployment rate to nearly 10%. I had a marketing communications degree and hoped to land a role at an advertising agency. But the job market was tough, so I decided to pivot.
Teaching was completely out of my area of study, but I was looking for something that felt both purposeful and possible in a shrinking job market. Teach for America offered that: a paycheck, a mission, and structure during chaos. The summer after graduation, I moved to South Dakota to begin my placement as a 4th-grade teacher.
My placement was on a Native American reservation inSouth Dakota, where the closest Walmart was two hours away. Some of the kids were dealing with serious challenges at home, and it was hard to make them care about learning their multiplication tables. I had to get creative and develop real resilience.
I also learned to get over my ego. If you want to find out what your insecurities are, go into a classroom of middle schoolers.
Although TFA didn't directly further my marketing career, it helped me develop personally and as a leader. It gave me life experience and helped me build the resilience and adaptability I needed in future job searches.
We want to hear from job seekers and people who recently landed a job. If you're open to sharing your story, please fill out one or more of the linked Google Forms.
I became a stay-at-home mom when my kids were born
After finishing the program in 2012, I spent a year working at an international school in South Korea, where my then-boyfriend lived. We got engaged and moved to Chicago, and I found a full-time graphic design job.
But after getting married in 2013, I unexpectedly got pregnant right away. I worked through the pregnancy but left my job and became a stay-at-home mom after my child was born. I now have three kids, between the ages of six and 10.
From 2015 to 2020, I did some remote, part-time marketing work for a digital advertising company, but it was very minimal — and definitely not something that looked exciting on a résumé. The gig ended in early 2020, shortly before the pandemic-induced recession, after the company was sold abruptly.
I had just had my third kid and was struggling to juggle everything, so I felt it was, in some ways, good timing.
Taking a part-time seasonal job and then being let go was a hit to my ego
In 2021, we moved to Montgomery, Alabama, and about a year later, I found myself in a kind of sink-or-swim moment when my marriage ended. Overnight, I was navigating single parenthood, a sparse résumé, and the urgent need to rebuild my career from the ground up.
At the beginning of my renewed job search, I was hopeful. I got the kids to school, started on all the online job boards, and didn't wrap up until eight hours later when it was time to pick up the kids.
However, the results were extremely discouraging. I was applying constantly, managing full-time parenting, and facing rejection after rejection.
In 2023, I landed a part-time seasonal job at Hobby Lobby. That hurt my ego, but I needed to get some momentum, particularly because the job market was starting to take a turn for the worse. There were plans for me to stay on after the season ended, but in early 2024, they ended up letting me go. The idea that I couldn't even keep a part-time retail job was hard to stomach, but I tried to stay resilient, pick myself back up, and start applying again.
I found my dream job when I wasn't looking for it
In February 2024, I applied for a job as an administrative assistant at an accounting firm, even though I couldn't be less interested in accounting. I didn't get the job, but the third-party recruiter the company worked with said there was a part-time office support job at a luxury travel agency that he thought might be a good fit for me. I was skeptical, but agreed to the interview.
The morning of the interview, I sent a group text to some of my close friends, saying, "I'll let you know how the interview goes. Don't want it, so the odds are in my favor of getting it" — just being tongue-in-cheek. But when I walked into the office, it had a really good vibe. Everybody was quietly plugging away at their desks, and everyone I met was just so warm.
The interviewer started by asking me basic questions, but they kept asking about marketing, which I found a little confusing since I was interviewing for the office support role. Halfway through the interview, they slid a piece of paper across the table. It was a job description for a marketing creator and integrator role — exactly the kind of job I'd hoped to find since graduating from college, but hadn't been able to secure.
I literally looked around and thought, Is somebody filming this right now? Am I being pranked? It turned out, they'd been looking for a marketing person and felt I sounded like a great fit. I burst out laughing because I couldn't believe it.
It was amazing to walk into the interview not even wanting the role, and walk out thinking it could be my dream career.
My advice for others struggling with the job search process
I started working at the company in March 2024. My initial instincts about the company have proven correct — my co-workers have become like a second family, and the working environment is great.
Later on, I happened to meet the woman who had gotten the admin assistant job I didn't get at the accounting firm. She was another single mom with four boys who had been on the verge of losing her home when she landed the job. You don't often get to see what's on the other side of a job rejection; that full-circle moment has really stuck with me.
My biggest advice for people struggling to find work — whether you're a recent college graduate or have been in the workforce for decades — is to be open to different opportunities and stay engaged in the process. If you're going to do something, do it wholeheartedly.
While I wasn't interested in the job I thought I was interviewing for, I gave myself fully to the interview.
Even if it wasn't the right role, something better at the company could've opened up later. If you don't have your foot in the door anywhere, you can't move up from anywhere.
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