Public Service Announcement: Just five regular work days left till Rosh Hashana. For me this means I really have just two days left to get to the post office and replenish my supply of stamps if I want to ensure that the majority of my Rosh Hashana cards arrive in time. I keep a running list during the year of people in my network that I want a good excuse to connect with. (Some will get a Chanukah card too and others will get a Thanksgiving or Seasons Greetings card toward the end of the year). While I tell myself that the value of receiving a handwritten Rosh Hashana card in the age of emails and e-greetings is such a rarity that people won’t mind getting the card a few days late, the reality is that with proper advance planning, there’s no reason the cards shouldn’t get there in time.
Take-home #1: Keep a list of names and addresses (work or home depending on context) of people you meet during the year so you can remind them of your existence during the same season that we remind Hashem (and ourselves) of our existence, and/or at other appropriate times of year. It’s a great way to stay connected, especially with people that you may otherwise rarely see or interact with.
Take home #2: Pre-plan. You’ll need sufficient time to send the cards, and supplies – for example, plenty of cards (and not necessarily all with Hebrew script writing on the front unless everyone you are sending them to reads Rashi script). Stamps. Good handwriting.
Take home #3: Yes, people still write, send and receive mail. Yes, you can do it too. Yes, recipients often display them in the office or on their mantle and visitors will often comment on them.
While we are on the subject of big events that are just around the corner let me briefly segue into another PSA: With each passing week, applications for Summer 2022’s most competitive internships are closing. If you’re a junior and hoping to work for a big finance, tech or consulting company when you graduate in May 2022, your best route is the pool of coveted, and quickly emptying, eight- to ten-week summer internships. The same is true of applications for the most sought-after graduate programs starting next fall. If you had dreams of starting Harvard’s MBA program in Fall 2022, the deadline is September 8. In fact, you would need to have started your journey toward the Masters several months ago (at least) in order to secure a convenient test date and location for the required Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), whose result is needed to complete your application. And that assumes you were guaranteed a high enough score the first time that you don’t need to schedule another attempt.
As we consider our religious and spiritual goals for the year(s) ahead, give some thought to your professional goals. If you are a student aiming to receive a high paying job offer at a brand name company before graduation, consider how much time is left before graduation and if that goal is realistic.
Work backwards. If you desire a coveted junior year internship, when would you need to apply by? And when would you need to start work on the many prerequisites for your application including extra-curricular activities that demonstrate your community involvement and leadership, prior professional internships, etc. Add these dates to your calendar.
The notion of preparing early for big events and delineating time on our calendar should not be foreign to us. We are in the middle of Elul, which establishes a framework for approaching the yomim norayim with the right mindset. In fact, we began marking time well before Elul as we made our way through the seven special haftarahs of consolation that lead up to Rosh Hashana. So, whether it’s internships, graduate school or other career objectives, we need to take a leaf from the Jewish calendar and work backwards to ensure ample time for the preparatory steps towards our goal.
Remember, Rosh Hashana is closer than you think. So is next summer. And so is graduation. And in case you want to write me a Rosh Hashana card telling me that you liked this column or anything else, feel free to address it to me at the Career Center on either the Wilf or Beren campus of Yeshiva University. I look forward to displaying it on my windowsill.