Otherwise, I have another bit of good news! I have an interview on Monday at 2:30 for the tutor position at the Writing Center. I am so excited and nervous. I haven't had a job interview in like 12 years, but I'm really happy to have the opportunity now. Unfortunately, I came off a bit dumb yesterday in the letter I sent the director of the Writing Center. She sent me an email asking if I'd be available. The confirmation email I sent her was short and said:
I am available and am looking forward to meeting with you and Mr. Sword. I'll see you Monday afternoon, many thank you for the opportunity!
What it should say is:
I am available and am looking forward to meeting with you and Mr. Sword. I'll see you Monday afternoon, thank you for the opportunity!
See the problem? The job is for a writing tutor and yet the email I sent her had a pretty ridiculous typo. Since last night, when I discovered my error, I've been obsessing about what to do about it. I actually woke up thinking about it this morning. I thought that maybe I should send her another email with the correction, but that didn't seem right. I asked Matt what to do, he said I should just leave it alone. The only thing that's making me able to do what he suggests is that this is not the first email I've sent her and the others have always been fine (I think). Also, I don't know how I would fix it if I wanted to, which is keeping me from doing anything at all. I just keep thinking that anything I could do to fix it could just make it worse, or make me look nuts, neither of which is conductive to getting the job. I think my nervousness about it is making me worry over things I might otherwise have just chalked up to an opps and moved on from. What do you think?
Truthfully, I'm at least a little bit comforted by the fact that I am qualified for the job. I have a BA in English and am an English graduate student. That helps. Still, I'm worried that the typo in that email is going to make me look like I don't proof-read adequately or like I can't form a coherent sentence, either thing would make me an inadequate person for the tutor job, and I'm not the only candidate for the position. Also, neither thing is true. The more I look at it, the more apparent it is to me that the word "many" is extraneous and should have been deleted. I only hope I'm not seeing that because I know it's the case, but rather because it's obviously so. I keep checking my email and worrying that she's going to change her mind about interviewing me because of it. I'm so paranoid! Anyway, wish me luck as I prepare for the interview which, again, is Monday afternoon.
Speaking of which, I'm going this afternoon to get a haircut!! I desperately need one, so I made a 5pm appointment at the Bijou. My hair is getting out of control and with an interview on Monday, I want to look my best. I'm going to get it cut in a V-shape in the back, to keep my length without keeping my length, if that makes any sense at all. I'm getting my layers touched up, and maybe a few layers added, and am getting my bangs cut in such a way so that they sweep to the side, rather than hang straight down. I've never cut may hair this way before, I but I need something new in a serious way. If if comes out good, and I have no reason to believe it won't since when I got my hair cut there before it was fantastic, there'll be pictures. I took a few pictures of myself with my new camera yesterday and promptly deleted them all. With my hair the way it is, I looked horrible in the shots, not to mention that the camera takes really crisp pictures which made me feel/look old. Ugh. So yeah, new haircut, new pictures!
Since it's only 8:15am, I'm off to try to get some things done while Matt's in class. It's nice to have a bit of time to myself, even if I have to get up at 7:30am to get it, and I may use it to get some writing done... or maybe I'll just turn the TV off and read. Choices, choices!
Need pictures of the haircut!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on surviving your first week of grad school! As for the typo, I wouldn't worry about it too much. If this was an error on your job application, vitae, letter of intent...etc., that would be a cause for concern. However, this was just a quick, casual email. I believe there is a general understanding that emails tend to be written in a rush. I don't think it will reflect on your competence for the position. The problem is, if you send another email to correct the first one, you may just be drawing attention to the typo. Chances are, they read your email quickly, and have not even noticed your mistake.
ReplyDeleteMatt's right about the typo, Kristyn. I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to writing even e-mails, so if I make a mistake, I'll send a quick follow-up e-mail correcting my mistake in a light-hearted way (i.e. "By the way, that should have said _________, NOT ___________. My bad!" But the problem is too much time has elasped, so now if you send an e-mail correcting your mistake, you will not only call unnecessary attention to an insignificant typo that was probably overlooked, but you also risk making yourself look a little overly obsessive. So just ignore it. Trust me, this woman is way too busy to care about that little extra word (which, by the way, actually blended pretty good for a typo--at least everything was spelled correctly). Relax! :-)
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I get a minute alone, I'll try and snap some pictures. Matt always looks at me weird when he sees me taking pics of myself. lol
ReplyDeleteI sure hope she didn't notice it, my fingers are crossed. I doubt she'll mention it and when I said something to my friend today she said that Ms. N is human and she probably just smiled if she noticed it. She also brought up that they have my application and three writing samples, so that should speak to my competence. I'm just filled with all sorts of nervous energy about this. Thanks, Shannon!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I really wish I'd noticed it earlier. I didn't even notice it until like 10 hours after I sent the letter, so trying to send a correction would just seem wrong. I worry that it makes me look obsessive, too. So, I'm just letting it go the best I can. :D
ReplyDeleteYour hair looks great! Now I want a haircut, but my gal is much faster than yours. I don't have the patience for a 2 hour haircut!!
ReplyDeleteThanks!! I really like it. Truthfully, I'd never gone to that gal before, but I'll definitely go back. She did a fantastic job and she was really nice! :)
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