E-mailed My Recruiter

Having been thinking about my [hopefully] eventual joining of the Peace Corps, I thought it was time to e-mail someone. I might as well start gathering information about how I might go about reactivating the application, and if based on my timeline, I'll be able to reactivate it or if I will have to reapply and do everything over (ugh). I wrote:

Dear Hazel,

Hi, back in the February/March/April time you were acting as my recruiter and interviewed and nominated me. I recently declined my invitation to El Salvador for several reasons. One reason was that I felt I needed more time to prepare myself for that amount of time abroad. Another reason, a very big reason was that even though I am qualified, I feel I need to have some more "practical" experience on my side before I should move to a site where the community is counting on me. I feel that I could do the work had I accepted, but that if I get more real-life experience first, I will be able to give much more to a community.

That said, in October I will begin volunteering at The Literacy Center in my community, and possibly the Boys & Girls Club (also volunteering as a tutor). In January, I will be moving to Shanghai for a year to teach English. I feel this will help me gain a lot of practical experience on multiple levels.

I think my application is "deactivated"--if that is the right term. I was hoping to reactivate my application summer of '09, but due to TEFL in China, I wouldn't be able to leave until early 2010. I was wondering if that would be too early to reactivate it. If so, I am more than willing to go through the application process again. I realize that getting a nomination and invitation will be substantially harder now that I've declined an invitation, but I am willing to work hard for it. I am 100% dedicated to becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer, but I feel that right now I just need that extra push in experience to be able to best serve, and that by 2010 I will have hopefully gained it.

Thanks for all your time. I cannot express how much I appreciate everything you did back then and now this.

Sincerely,

Jenna Walker

She e-mailed me back this morning. She always did answer e-mails quickly. So this was her reply:

Hello Jenna,

Sorry you could not accept the first assignment. As long as you can be reached by email and phone, you can go ahead and seek a reactivation of your application in summer of 2009. However, if my counting is correct, you will have to start over and submit a new application because, by then, the application we have on file would have been withdrawn for over a year. Good luck to you.

Hazel
Regional Recruiter
Diversity and 50+ Liaison
PCV-Lesotho, Southern Africa 2003-2005

I'm glad her e-mail was helpful and nonjudgmental. Not to say that I expected her or anyone else to be (tho a handful of people have been)...its just that, its not really the best topic--declining and invite. She's always been great--always responds promptly, very nice, very helpful. Good recruiter in my opinion!

Okay, so I see what she's saying, 100%. I think in July, I will call and see if I can reactivate my application for an early 2010 departure, or if it is too early. If its 100 early, I'll just reapply--that should still give me enough time for a February-June departure date I think?

I really do want to specify a region this time...I think that would be better for me. I'm thinking EE/CA, Africa, and Asia. That may change in time, I should also look at where my skills best fit, and decide exactly why I'd like each region and how I'd do better in one over another. Stuff like that. Really know before I go into this again. I think that may be how I tripped up a lot last time. Besides experience, I didn't think about where I could best personally flourish or do my best with the community. Things to think about people, things to think about!