Applying for summer jobs is always an arduous experience. There is nothing like the glimmer of hope that blooms in your chest after spending two hours scrolling through LinkedIn and applying for 56 jobs. You are aware of the tricks of the trade; you apply for a vast number and broad range of jobs in order to improve the likelihood of receiving a call-back.

However, there are a few jobs that stick out in your mind, jobs that you know you’d be absolutely perfect for. The requirements and responsibilities of certain jobs speak to your soul. You remind yourself not to have high expectations, that there are thousands of applicants, and you will probably receive only a couple of responses from the companies that you applied to. Yet, you can’t help but feel a dash of confidence that you will receive a decent amount of interview offers.

After all, you did perfect and slave over your cover letter by inserting the right balance of clever wit and lofty words that you handpicked from thesaurus.com.

Yes, you may have ever-so-slightly embellished your unremarkable accomplishments in order to sound extraordinary, but that’s to be expected on the job hunting journey. After all, shameless enhancement of yourself is anticipated and appreciated throughout this grueling process. You refresh your email repeatedly over the next few weeks, anticipating a slew of interview requests, but you are slightly disheartened when you come to the realization that you have not been inundated with follow-up emails.

Instead, your bruised ego is left to chase after the sparse number of responses you receive. Still, there is nothing more thrilling than receiving a follow-up email that you’ve been chosen for a job interview, even if it is not necessarily a job that you particularly want. It is exhilarating to know that you have been deemed worthy of advancing to the next step of the process, but it is simultaneously nausea-inducing to know that you will have to present yourself to an interviewer.

Fifteen minutes of pure self-promotion can be daunting. Speaking about your values and accomplishments is always a challenge, especially when you don’t have any impressive thoughts or dreams to speak about to the interviewer. You are not a deeply passionate person with standout views and unique goals; you just want another job to add to your flimsy resume and to help pay your bills for the cramped downtown apartment that you’ve rented out for the summer. You are generic. You are just like everyone else. You need this.

You arrange an interview at the company’s office and spend hours choosing the perfect outfit. You want to seem like you care, but not too much. You try to look sleek and professional with your newly purchased blazer; your feet have been shoved into hideous nude kitten heels that pinch your toes as you walk into the office. You march up to the receptionist’s desk and remind yourself to not take it personally when her eyes flit over you in cold dismissal. You heart thrums with nervous anticipation and you fidget anxiously on the weirdly hard couch until you are called upon to enter the interview room to dutifully recite facets of your resume.

It is important to seem as though you are well-informed and intelligent with an unrivaled balance of composure and charm—and you desperately try to pull this off.

You hide your irritation as you are asked intense and, often, absurd questions. When the interviewer asks you how you react in a time of crisis, you grit your teeth, smile brightly, and lie as you tell her that you remain steadfast and calm, regardless of what is thrown your way. When she asks you what your three best qualities and strengths are, you say that you are diligent and driven, have strong organizational skills, and work very well in a team.

The interviewer asks you what your biggest weakness is, and you attempt to come across as sincere as you shamelessly slip in the overt humble-brag: “I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist. I won’t stop working until everything is complete and flawless, and I become obsessed with finishing the task that I have been assigned.”

When the interview is over, you are overcome with a weird rush of emotions. On the subway ride back home, you can’t help but feel relieved, yet slightly dehumanized, as you review the interview in your head. You feel stripped and emotionally bare; interviews are a taxing and vulnerable process that cause you to rethink your life choices. You are happy that you got it over with and can’t help but feel hopeful that you connected with the interviewer. She did laugh at your witty quips, and you guys totally bonded when you tied in a Game of Thrones reference.

However, you can’t help but replay a few cringeworthy answers that you gave during the interview and fervently hope that the interviewer didn’t notice you stuttering. A few weeks later, when you don’t hear back from them, you understand that you have been dismissed and eliminated. You try to remind yourself that this decision is not an attack on you or your character, that it isn’t personal, and that they have thousands of applicants to choose from. Still, you take offense because the rejection has wounded your dignity. Despite this slight hindrance to your summer of success, you vow to plow onward and keep trying. You swallow your pride and start the process all over again.