Joseph Barfoot
My story is a unique one, though many have had similar ones. I graduated with a Mechanical Engineering bachelor’s degree in April of 2019. To save on money, my wife, 1 year old boy, and I, decided to move in with my parents while I looked for a career. I started working on my resume that October, and sending in my first application that November. I had no idea what I was doing. I started to send in a few more applications in the following months, and I started to get some answers. I even had a recruiter reach out to me for an interview. Things were starting to look up. Then a few things happened all around the same time. The first one is something everyone knows: restrictions due to COVID 19. Suddenly nobody was answering my applications, and positions were few and far between. The biggest event that happened, however, was that my wife was pregnant.
About mid-February 2020, about four months along, we discovered there were complications with the baby. Over the next few weeks, we went to the hospital once a week, then twice, then three times. Eventually, at about six months into the pregnancy, she was admitted into the hospital. Our little baby girl was born at 32 weeks of gestation, at 2lbs 5oz. She had a lot of health concerns. She stayed in the NICU till the end of August, over 100 days, for which we visited her every day. She came home with oxygen help. The next few months were consumed with helping her adjust. To say that this ordeal had a large impact on me would be an understatement. This consumed my world. When I resumed my search, I wasn’t getting many answers, so I felt discouraged. Many people were suggesting jobs at restaurants, retail, postal work, or warehouses. I was getting to the point where I was almost accepting that maybe this was going to be my future. One Sunday, in my congregation, someone came up to me and asked me how my search was going. He told me of a person that he knew who could help me. I was discouraged, but I decided to reach out anyway. That is how I was introduced to Scott Pann. He told me to come meet with him to discuss my situation. Scott told me to pursue a career in my field and not give up.
For the first bit, I worked on getting my personal documents looking better. I got used to writing cover letters, which I had not focused on before. I was introduced to the idea of informational interviews: meeting with professionals in an informal meeting and learning from them. These were some of the best experiences that I had. They helped me to be better prepared, expand my knowledge, and make new acquaintances. One of the places I applied to ended up offering me a position. They told me how my cover letter was one of the big things that made me stand out. I am very grateful to all who have helped me through, but I am most grateful to God.