Picking up the Pieces

Disappointments and rejection are facts of life. We all experience them. We all understand how much it hurts, and somehow we all manage to rise above the hurt. Except when it happens to one of your children. Why is it that as a parent we feel their hurt, their rejection somewhat more than they do?

My son is soon to graduate from college. He is a good kid, has worked hard in college and has the GPA to prove it. He has entered into this whole job search experience with a naive but honest leap. He is trusting those he contacts with his future, his career. But all he meets is rejection.

Recently he interviewed with a company. Three times they invited him to their office to speak with different people. He received a call yesterday, from the secretary. Sorry, they want to find someone else. He was rejected yet again. Why did they bring him back three times? Why did they seem to encourage him, yet to decide to "look" for someone else?

I do believe in honesty. I believe that, especially in today's economy, the candidate for a job has to be savvy, but honest. I guess it is a quality that both my husband and I believe in enough that we have instilled it into our children. It hurts big time when they don't get the same honesty in return. I understand that employers are not overly anxious to hire new employees, but they can at least be honest about it. If they advertise for a job opening, and receive an applicant, they should have an obligation to that candidate to say if there is really an opening, or if they are just "looking" for possible hires someday. Honesty. It is a rare commodity these days.

My son is out pounding the pavement again, so to speak. He still has a month of school to go too, so he blends the job search with finals and projects and all those wonderful things students do. I know he will be ok, and things will work out for him, but as his mom, I feel his pain, his disappointment, his rejection. Then I pick up the pieces.