Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket

If you put all your eggs in one basket you will experience one of two things: tragedy or joy. The outcome will be exactly how you wanted it to be or you will be absolutely crushed if it didn’t go your way. There really is no middle ground. My best friend recently put all of her eggs into one basket when applying for a job. Caution to the wise: do not do what she did!

My friend has a good head on her shoulders. She had good grades and recently graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree. She has wanted to work in an art museum for quite some time now but she never found any job position that would be a perfect match. Unfortunately, she was severely limited in her job search because the only city she wanted to live in was Dallas. She went to college in Dallas and absolutely fell in love with the city. So she applied for her perfect job a few months ago at an art museum in Dallas. I’m not just saying this because she is my best friend, but the girl is qualified. Internships at art museums, a fine art degree, studying art abroad in France, oh the list can go on and on. She decided not to apply to any other jobs because this was her dream job and she was positive she would get it. The director at the art museum had reviewed her resume and was deciding between a few candidates. He would contact her in a few days.

A month later she still had not heard anything. She e-mailed, she called, and she moped around for two months. Finally someone from the museum returned her e-mail and said they were sorry but they had picked another candidate. Yup, it happens. She was so sure she was going to get the job that she started searching for apartments in Dallas and even told the restaurant she worked at that she was moving. She had no backup plan and is still stuck waiting tables.

Moral of the story: don’t put all your eggs in one basket! If you are a job seeker you should know to apply to as many jobs as possible because you never know what is going to happen. Applying to your dream job is wonderful, but you need to be realistic and have backup plans in case your first choice doesn’t work out. Don’t be dumb about your job search. Prepare yourself for every possible outcome.