Over the past few months, I’ve secretly been on the hunt for a new job. There are numerous reasons I am looking to leave my current full-time job, but I won’t get into those yet (maybe for another day). In about a month, I’ll be starting my new job, which I am excited for (you’ll get some more details after I’ve started the position), but in the process, I’ve learned one thing – it doesn’t hurt to ask. 

I had a couple of things that I wanted in my new job. 1) Semi-flexible, so that I could still teach violin and work for the homeschool academy (which both overlap the normal 8-5 schedule). 2) Related to point 1, will let me continue to work other jobs – I’m not going to give up adjuncting! 3) Remote would be nice, but not a requirement.

One person who reached out to schedule an interview let me know they were looking to move quickly but I would not be able to have any outside employment. I responded and told them that I was not the candidate for them, as outside employment was nonnegotiable. She responded and told me to wait while she looked to see what she could do. Miraculously, she said it wouldn’t be a problem, and scheduled an interview. After the interview, I heard back from them about a month later (after I’d accepted a different job). It was the generic HR “you were good but better candidates applied” letter. Oh well, I’d already taken another job. 

Other times, I applied for jobs I was adjacently qualified for. What’s the worst they’re going to do, say no? If I didn’t apply it would be an automatic no. My philosophy is that it usually doesn’t hurt to ask. Although there are scenarios where my students ask me something and I greatly question them. For example, one of my students had two weeks to get an assignment done. He emails me two days after the deadline asking if I can extend it for him because he fell asleep. No, but you can submit it for late points. Another emailed me three weeks after the course was over with an assignment that wasn’t able to be uploaded. I had to tell him grades were finalized, sorry. 

My future boss reached out to give me a verbal offer. Before I accepted, I negotiated the start date (to make enough time for my current planned vacation and a spontaneous trip back to the East Coast to see family who aren’t doing so well), verified that I can work on my college work during downtime (sometimes those grad papers take too long to write), and that I can hold other jobs. I also verified that my time would be flexible, that I could make up for hours missed within the 8–5 window for my other activities. He replied with “of course, that won’t be a problem at all, I will be very happy to work around your schedule”. Remote is not an option, due to it being a state job and governed by those requirements. That’s ok – it’s a five minute drive from my house anyways!

I must say, I’ve never felt more confident than I did during my most recent job searches, and I’m not sure what changed. Maybe the fact that I didn’t desperately need a new job helped, but that wasn’t even the case for my prior job interviews. I think it helped that I knew the bare minimum that I wanted out of a potential job, I had a better understanding of my worth, and knew the worst they could do was say no. Oh well, there’d be another job out there. Of course, I still got nervous during the actual interview, but I really had a confident feeling overall, and I’m still not quite sure why. It was great, though, I must admit – not constantly worrying about whether I did/did not get the job. 

This whole “just ask” strategy I also applied to the homeschool academy. I pitched an idea for me to design an elective microbiology course (everyone was not surprised). They told me it sounded interesting and they put it on the list for potential future courses. It wasn’t a straight-up no, definitely a not-at-this-time, but it was worth a shot (and might even turn into something in a couple years). 

It doesn’t hurt to ask (usually) – the worst that can happen is you’re told no. But you won’t know until you ask.

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