This column is about what I’m doing on Monday mornings, since I’m not exactly part of the workforce, waking up at eight, grabbing a morning coffee and sitting down at my desk to read the latest office memo. This week’s Monday morning seemed promising. I spent two hours job surfing online, which resulted in three exciting prospects. So I jazzed up my resume, wrote cover letters, went to the post office, kissed them for good luck and mailed them off…Then I went shopping *Is holding out for a good job really just holding onto your freedom?*

I feel like I should be holding out. I mean, I went to a really great school and I really believe in myself and I believe in my qualifications. I’ve had some really great experience. And if I use the word ‘really’ one more time, I’ll know that I’m just fooling myself. But I _REALLY_ do think I’m ready to play in the big leagues. But am I right in wanting to bypass the minors? Enough baseball, here’s an analogy that finally worked for me.

*Say there are ten handbags you think are nice.* But there is one that you would just _kill_ to have. I mean, if you had this one handbag, you would be completely satisfied. In fact, you might give up handbag-hunting all together. You’re convinced that if you had this bag, you would have the coolest, hippest, most professionally gratifying, .um, .hippest, hottest bag in the world. So is it better to apply for…purchase the other ten bags? Or just carry all your stuff in a paper bag until you get the best one? And is the amount of energy you expend trying to get the great one in direct proportion your indifference to the other five? If you had the other five, would your desire to obtain the great one dwindle?

I explained this analogy to my friends and they laughed at me. So I guess it’s back to the drawing board.

_*stacy hinojosa is a recent college grad _(“recent” is beginning to be a bit of a stretch)_ and the executive editor of universitychic.com. She is still hunting for the perfect job and handbag._