Law of Large Numbers

Stephen Strasburg strained a flexor tendon in his pitching arm; I strained my patience for writing cover letters. I am (sort of) attempting to go with Shaked's idea and let the law of large numbers work its magic. That is to say, if I apply to enough places one of them is bound to want me, right?? To glance at my resume and say "He is the one!" It's a rough job market out there, that's the one thought that keeps getting drilled into us. So while I do not take rejection as an ego blow, I can only hope that my persistence pays off. I do get bored of the endless cover letters, however (Exhibit A: this blog entry).
Of course, there are still some places I would actually prefer to work, and I am not at the stage of being completely un-picky just yet. Though that could change sometime soon.

Last night I was half-watching "Inglorious Bastards" at a pregame at Damien's house. It started out as a few guys watching, some of whom had never seen it before (myself included). More people came, and I was still trying to keep an eye on the movie. It was difficult for me because I didn't bring my glasses and I do not have best eye sight in the world, meanwhile there are a lot of subtitles. I remarked on this and a girl's response was "There aren't many subtitles in this movie." "Well, the last half an hour has been entirely subtitled because they are all speaking German, and they are subtitles on the screen right now...so, I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you," was my polite response.

There are a lot of things I just never learned about, like matting in picture frames. When was I supposed to learn about that?

Damien busted out matzah last night and gave me a piece to eat. That was probably the first time I have ever eaten matzah in August. What a random thing to have lying around the kitchen.

"Tour"

Today I had a lot of work to do at work. Which might help explain why they call it work. But I have a pretty pressing memo to write and it's on a pretty complicated topic (since I don't have an MBA), so research took a while. That research had to be put on hold for a (pretty mandatory) "tour" of the John Adams Courthouse. The "tour" started out with a 35 minute tour of the building with a tour guide talking about the building and showing us around. That part of it was pretty cool, it's a beautiful building. Then we sat at the SJC (cool place, also literally, I was freezing...and I had to pee) while two appellate judges talked to us and answered questions for an hour and a half. And by talked to us and answered questions, I, of course, mean talked about how cool they were and dispensed advice in a semi-pompous manner. Granted they are judges, which is pretty cool, but we know that you are good lawyers, we don't need you to reinforce how awesome you are for an hour and a half. That part got pretty annoying. I also don't appreciate having the Massachusetts court system explained to me twice in one tour. It was a tour for legal interns - we are in law school, I certainly hope we understand that it goes trial courts, appellate courts, supreme court. That's called underestimating your audience.

Today it rained sideways! And the other intern in my division checked the weather online, which said it was still sunny out.

This weekend included a 21st birthday (Karishma's, who demanded pizza, despite having some in her hand already), a Harpoon brewery tour (saw 30,000 cases of beer in the same place), and Battle of the Sexes (men clearly won, and three of us-Me, Chris, and Ryan-were very barely able to name all four main characters on Sex and the City as our crowning achievement).

Writing cover letters has not changed. It still sucks. It is apparently not an acquired taste.

A letter to cover letters

Dear Cover Letters,

I have a great deal of experience applying for jobs. I have applied for dozens of jobs throughout my life, including three today. I have no problem with the idea job applications. I enjoy formatting my resume, reading about the exciting opportunities to which I may soon have access, and even sorting through endless lists of jobs. Finding references and creating a writing sample may not be the most glamorous activities, but I accept them as relevant and necessary. Employers understandably want to know that I am not some hooligan frivolously applying for a position and that I know how to adequately construct a sentence. These requirements must weed out some applicants.

What I do not appreciate or understand is an employer's demand for a cover letter. Each letter be tailored to the particular job for which I am applying, emphasizing the skills enumerated in the job description or describing my relevant job experience. Honestly, I have little to no relevant job experience, most likely. But I am not unique in this regard. Most people do not. That is why they do not have that position yet. If they had the exact qualifications the employer was looking for, then chances are that they would not be currently applying for that job.

Additionally, it is absolutely impossible to write a cover letter well. Good writing and cover letters do not mix ever. Cover letters are dedicated to being self-important, which automatically starts them out at a disadvantage. They use active verbs, which end up sounding too strong and sometimes to stretching the truth or outright lying. And just about every sentence starts with "I am" or "I did," which ends up reading like a forth grader's homework assignment about what they did over the weekend. What purpose cover letters serve is somewhat beyond me. I am clearly interested in this job, that is why I am applying. I am providing a writing sample, reference list, and resume, which will give you about as much information as you could want when deciding to hire me or not. Plus, employers will likely glance at my cover letter for a grand total of twelve seconds after I spent thirty-five minutes agonizing over verb tense. This is a waste of my time. No one will ever know if my verb tense is completely consistent because no one will ever read my cover letter that thoroughly. As long as it does not throw up any red flags, what is the point of painstaking precision? I have no good answer. The only conclusion is that the concept of cover letters should be abolished.

Sincerely,

Me