In my quest to find contract technical writing positions, I came across one for a full-time position at a company that I’ve dealt with before. It was a bad experience from several years ago, and it left me with such a bad taste in my mouth that I haven’t bothered to apply to them again…even though they’ve always, and I mean always have technical writing job openings. BUT, the other day I went ahead and actually applied to the Evil IT Company anyways.

“Why did you do that Julia?” you might be asking.

- I did it because I was curious.
- I did it because it would look good on my resume.
- I did it because incoming cash flow is zero.

I probably wouldn’t actually take the job if I were to be the “successful candidate” (as HR types like to say), but I figured it was worth a shot. In this economy you sometimes can’t be choosy. I don’t actually want a full-time job, and am working on making it as a freelancer, but since companies are taking longer to go through their hiring process because of the state of the economy, I thought it was worth sending in my application. As I’ve often told friends, I can always say no, especially since I’m not a big fan of this company. But if, in two months time, I still haven’t made much money as a freelancer, and am coming to the end of my savings fun, and the Evil IT Company comes a-calling, I might just have to grin and accept it while I continue to look for “better” jobs.

Have you ever been in this situation? I’d like to hear your experiences.

Edit: Just secured an interview at the Evil IT Company for next week. While I’m willing to hear them out, if there’s any hint of strangeness at all during the interview process, I-am-out-of-there.