Cliché for a reason

A cliché, or perhaps and American proverb, often attributed to Will Rogers; "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." I found this to be particularly applicable when presenting myself for the first time via email to a prospective employer. Yesterday, after carefully crafting my application package, complete with graphic cover, application letter, resume, references, and accompanying transcripts, I sent them as a PDF attachment via email to the search committee chairs. This morning I was thrilled, insert sarcasm here, to note that both email had been bounced back to me because they exceeded the mailbox size.

A message was sent that was returned to the sender(bounced) because it would have caused the mailbox quota to be exceeded. If the size of the message is too big, contact the sender to reduce the size of the message and resend the message.

Yippee! Even better, one message arrived sans attachment. The search committee co-chair was both gracious and kind; she contacted me about the attachment. I was able to re-create the pdf package, stripping down the scanned grad and undergrad transcripts for smaller KB's, and resend without much issue. However, I am now left with the sinking feeling my technology skills were obviously not displayed with much depth.

I have given myself today to obsess about the glitch (it's what I do).

While it is true I will not get a second chance to make a good first email impression, it is also true there is nothing I can do about it now. All water under the bridge. If I do have an opportunity to present my portfolio, it could make an interesting icebreaker for the technology aspect of the interview.