I'm one of them.

For approximately 5 years, I sought after a full-time student services position in Seattle. Beginning in 2005, I went on the hunt while planning to move to Seattle for graduate school. My UW employment search shows that I have applied for 162 jobs at the UW since July 2005. Of course that doesn't count the many jobs that I applied for at Seattle metro colleges.

For those 5 years, I networked like the schmoozer I wanted to be. I longed to be "one of them"--the Seattle higher education community. I thought how lucky they were to have a dream job in a dream city.

But let me tell you. The Seattle higher ed community is a hard nut to crack. I should know.

I had an assistantship where I worked part-time coordinating admissions for a graduate program at the UW. I had an internship with another grad program, and a temporary advising assignment at a community college.

Despite these feet in the door, the full-time permanent opportunity remained elusive. I went on 26-ish interviews after that assistantship. I finished 2nd 5 times. Are you freaking kidding me, Seattle.

Do you know how stressful it is to live in one of the most expensive US cities on a part-time salary and pay for grad school? No wonder my sanity remained far from me during those 5 years...I would have stayed away from myself if I could have.

Until...

In September 2010, I was offered an advising position at North Seattle Community College. For a job I did NOT apply for. How's that for irony?

And I have realized...now I'm one of them. Part of that community. I go to internship fairs now, to RECRUIT an intern for our office. I am schmoozed by grad students who are either seeking internships or jobs. I go to conferences where the people I used to schmooze are now colleagues, where I am even teaching them something new.

I am so grateful to be on this end of things. It took 5 years, but I love to get up in the morning and go to a job where I am able to work with students and develop professionally. And let's face it, the fact that I have a steady paycheck that's severely higher than anything I made in Texas makes cracking that nut worth all 1,825 days of insanity.