The stillness of the night wrapped around me like a blanket, broken only by the faint hum of my laptop. I felt like a wave in a sea of uncertainty, oscillating between hope and doubt. I had sent out another internship application last week, topped off with a carefully crafted resume, a cover letter that I was positive could bring tears to an HR manager’s eyes, and a LinkedIn profile so polished (or so I thought) it practically sparkled. Then, my email notification pinged. I froze, staring at the subject line: “Your Application Status has been Updated”. My heart raced as I clicked on the email, hopeful, with a glint in my eye, only to be greeted by the dreaded words: Dear Applicant, thank you for your interest in our internship program. We regret to inform you that we will not be moving forward with your candidacy. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.
One thing I’ve realized is that the internship hunt is a lot like Schrodinger’s cat experiment (a scenario where a cat inside a box can be both alive and dead until you open the box and find out its fate) but in reverse. I stared at my laptop screen, the blue light illuminating my face in my otherwise dark room at 2 am. Yet another rejection email. The 5th one this year, but who’s counting? (Me. I’m counting.) And thus began my descent (as does everyone’s) into madness. Initially, you’re certain something is terribly wrong with you. Your resume must be appalling. Your cover letter probably reads like it was written by a sleep-deprived toddler. Maybe, you’re just fundamentally unemployable.
But then, you open the box.
You try to dissect your resume like it’s a crime scene report. Was it too wordy? Too short? Did you accidentally use Comic Sans instead of Times New Roman? Was “proficient in Google Docs” not impressive enough? You ask for feedback. You get your resume reviewed by Career Services. You have your roommate (who landed three internship offers) read your cover letter. “Your resume looks great!” says the career counsellor. At least when you thought your resume was revolting, you had something to blame. “Your cover letter is better than mine,” admits your freakishly employable roommate. It’s like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube blindfolded – every twist brings more questions than answers. All of a sudden, you’re even more confused.
In physics, Schrodinger’s cat exists in a state of being both alive and dead until observed. In the internship world, you exist in a state of being both qualified and unqualified until observed by a hiring manager, who inevitably collapses your wave function into “unqualified” regardless of your actual attributes. And that’s what gets you thinking. Maybe you are simultaneously the perfect candidate and thoroughly unprepared. Maybe you exist in the superposition of employed and unemployed. The only certainty in this process is uncertainty itself.
Maybe the secret isn’t understanding why you’re getting rejected but accepting that in the quantum field of internship applications, anything can happen, including, eventually, an acceptance. The job search isn’t really about finding the perfect formula, it’s actually about sending your applications (wave functions, bear with me) into the universe until one finally collapses into the reality you’re hoping for. And if Schrodinger has taught us anything, it’s that you never know what’s in the box until you open it.