Elevator pitches

There's a CPC reunion on Wednesday night, but I don't want to go. I can't stand the idea of showing up jobless. Still haven't heard back from M&W.

Another reason I'm reluctant to go to this party is because I went to the CPC job fair this morning, and it was depressing as hell. I was the only CPC 08 kid there (everyone else was 09). I ran into HR people I'd interviewed with unsuccessfully in the past. I also ran into CPC 08 kids who were now manning their companies' booths.

To add insult to injury, no one was hiring.

The only good thing about the job fair was the New Press booth. One of the editors, Sarah, had shown up to recruit interns. She set up shop in the corner, right next to the Columbia University Press booth, where I was talking to the CUP folks ("We have no open positions right now, but here, take a free promotional CUP potholder!"). I was thrilled when she hailed me over. "Oh hey, Sarah!!!!" I said. "What a surprise!!!!!! Oh man, I'm so happy to see a familiar face!!!!!!!!!!" She seemed equally happy to see my familiar face. We were both sort of freaked out by the job fair and the overwhelming sense of desperation in the air.

I sat down in the empty chair next to her and showed her my potholder. Eventually, CPC kids started coming over and shaking my hand and being like, "Good to meet you, I'm so-and-so, here's my resume." It made me laugh. Except that the CPC kids were really, really well-trained. They had all rehearsed their elevator pitches, had printed out their resumes on thick stock paper, had clearly done some research on The New Press before they approached us (I mean, Sarah). One of them had a PhD!!! And he was earnestly explaining to me why he wanted an unpaid internship at The New Press.

It was really scary.


In other news: I bought a plane ticket home for August 12. I really am going back to California, guys! For a visit, at least. Any and all of you planning to visit New York should do so BEFORE August 12 or AFTER August 26.