8/6: Searching My File Of Employment Inquiries
Well now that I’m in job search mode once again I feel like whipping out an old-school story of one of my previously unsuccessful employment-seeking endeavors (the best time to look for a new job is when you already have one; NEVER just up and quit your place of employment). I had moved to Ohio in August of 2000 and was sending out resumes left and right. I had thought with my previous experience and the fact that I was situated in-between two decent-sized cities – Dayton and Cincinnati – I would be able to get something related to the communications field.
It was early October when I got an interview for a place called Modern Machine Shop Magazine regarding a newly created editorial-type job. I spent a day or two preparing myself for the interview and headed down there on Columbus Day. I had a number of unsuccessful interviews over the last month or two, but I was getting a great vibe from the guy I was talking to at this place. Not only was he easy-going in nature, but also he had no clue as to how anything worked at this place. I was thinking to myself that this job interview could be the one, and then I met these two bitches who were only a few years older than me and who I would be working with at this job. Any mojo I had before meeting these two was immediately vaporized. I could tell right off the bat these two didn’t want to be bothered with me, and words can’t describe how pissed off I was on the drive home.
Over a month went by and I got a follow-up call from Modern Machine Shop Magazine asking if I could go to some shrink they contract to who gives pre-job screening assessments. It was odd that it would take them a month to proceed with this next step, but seeing how I was still unemployed I went ahead with this appointment. Once again, the hands of fate played a cruel trick on me. It turns out that this shrink’s mother had just been sent to the hospital for a serious condition (I think it was a stroke), and I could tell that this guy was in no mood to do his job, and who could blame him? However, that’s no reason to act like an asshole to your subject, which he was with me. Basically, he just asked me why would people hate me (oh, if he only knew), and I could tell he wasn’t listening to half the shit I was saying. This guy then gave me some hippie “test” where I had to check off, in terms of what I agreed with the more, sentences that read. “I like to work with people,” “I work with people I like,” “People like working with me,” “I like people who like working,” “Working people like me,” and so on. Once again, any hopes of getting a full-time job that involved the use of what I had spent four years learning in college was dismissed on my drive home.
Another month and change went by when I got yet another call from Modern Machine Shop Magazine. It turns out these people were still interested in my services. This time I inquired about why there had been such lengthy delays during this job screening process. I was then informed that they had originally offered this job to someone else, and (surprise) the person they wanted to hire was a friend of those two bitches who didn’t want to give me the time of day during my initial interview visit. It turns out the chick they wanted to hire was playing them off of another company and eventually took the other place’s offer. Ironically, the organization she eventually took a job at was the same place who had asked me in an interview I had with them if I would have a problem working in an all-female department. I wonder if they would ask a Muslim or Jew if he or she would have a problem working in an all-Christian department? Better yet, I wonder if they would ask a minority if there will be any problems for them to work in an all-Caucasian division? But this is another story for another time.
So here I was driving back to Modern Machine Shop, where I would meet with the company’s owner and the head editor, who I hadn’t met before. I had the interview of my life, and I knew I had impressed the owner, especially when I indirectly noted that I read the conservative/libertarian magazine National Review (which was intentional on my part because something he had said earlier tipped me off to his reading interests). So after all of this did I end up with the job? Of course not. According to the head editor, a few days after that interview the company ordered a hiring freeze, and I was S.O.L. Was this guy being honest? Who the fuck knows, and who the fuck cares. About a year or so later I was talking with this lady who personally knew some people who worked at this place and mentioned that they were having to lay off some people due to unexpected costs that came with a large loan they had received from a bank (this was also the reason I was given for the hiring freeze). So even if I had gotten this job, I probably would have been pink-slipped shortly thereafter anyway.
So what’s the moral to this story? I don’t know. I was never a believer of fate, but events like what I described above have made me question my previous doubt of the phrase, “everything happens for a reason.” In addition, if you’re reading this entry and currently having difficulty trying to find a job that you want to put those four-plus years of higher education to good use, then take solace in knowing that you aren’t the only person who has experienced the problem of finding steady work related to your college degree. Believe me, I've got a bunch of these stories.
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