i think it is important to blog about this and to talk about it perhaps not only for me, as the economic downturn is affecting a lot of people these days and will likely affect more, but maybe for others too. for those who might read. i want to talk about this rationally and again, constructively.
i have been unemployed for 6.5 months and i have detailed that experience previously. in this time i have interviewed around 15 times. i have had multiple interviews with four companies. one of those four offered me the job and i tentatively accepted the position but backed out at the last minute for a few reasons. the compensation was lower than I thought it should have been and i did not sense a real commitment to customer service. that company seemed more interested in a quick, quality injection, which i had promised i could deliver. in retrospect, two-and-one-half months later, i feel like it may have been yet another mistake on my part to back out of that job. still, i have to move forward.
i have priced myself out of a couple of the jobs i interviewed for, which is tricky terrain. in this economy it seems to me wages are plummeting. i am basing this on what i see posted online. employers ask the question though. they want to know what you have made and what you want to make or expect to make and as an interviewee you have to be prepared to answer the question. (one strategy i have employed recently involved praying to buddha, god, allah, shiva and any other deities i could think of before each interview in hopes the salary question would not come up.) next, i go into these interviews with a number that i think is in the right range for the job then i make myself ready to speak to the situation if the number i chose seems to not have been received well.
in one of my most recent interviews, i was asked the salary question and i said i was hoping to be in the $50k range. The interviewer said they were hoping to pay in the $40s. I countered by saying those numbers did not seem that far apart and i wondered if there might be some middle ground we could explore. that company never called me back. i called them and was told the person i had interviewed with was on vacation. you bet it sucks to not even hear back from a company.
in another interview, everything went super well. i felt like i had established a great rapport with the interviewer and i felt like a great fit for the job. at the end though out came that question.
"what are you looking to make?"
i said I had hoped to make $60k but that i was flexible. the job sounded like it was in that range. the rest of the interview was rushed and by the time i realized the salary question had changed the dynamics of the interview completely, (four minutes later as i was leaving,) there was nothing i could do to change anything. i called that interviewer back one week later and he apologized and said he was actually sending me an email that day and that i had not been selected for the position. the email did arrive later that day.
the entire idea of interviewing seems nebulous to me. it's just such a crap shoot. for example, i interviewed back in late november with someone over the phone and i thought the interview went especially well. sure enough i was invited to come in for an interview with three people in person. that interview also went well and i felt really good about the prospects. only one question came up from one of the three interviewers that concerned me. she asked me how i would deal with a team of new peers of which, several may be newer in the role of managing teams. i assured the interviewer maintaining my interpersonal relationships was of the highest priority to me and that i would neither be threatening nor dishonest. next i interviewed with that entire team of would be peers. it did not go well. answering questions honestly and forthrightly with a group of would be peers who are of lesser skills and experience than yourself is difficult to say the least. i tried to set them at ease but knew it could have gone better just as soon as i left. a few days later the original interviewer called me to explain that while they thought i had great experience and much to offer, they did not think i was the best fit for this team. he went on to say they would keep my resume on file because truly, he assured me, if the right position were to come open the management team thought highly of me.
it feels unnatural tooting my own horn in a job interview. i mean outside of a job interview i am always suspicious of those who are comfortable talking about how great they are. a few years ago i bought a business book called, "brag!", in an effort to gain greater comfort with shining a light on my own accomplishments and strengths. the principles therein are great and i think i was able to take something away from the book but it was most helpful for on-the-job managing your boss's perception, not interviewing. there is plenty of written material on how to land the job and interviewing at a high level. heck, i have had more advice than i can even remember at this point. most everything i hear has some value, which is not to say any of it is original or new to me.
california's unemployment rate has surpassed the 10% mark. the economy nationwide is in a bad way and it could be a while before things turn around, which is distressing. there are only so many jobs out there and i have certainly lowered my expectations in terms of the job i am expecting to get as well as the salary i expect to command. even then, there are no guarantees. i have two children ages two and four, so i have a heightened sense of panic about getting off the dole and getting back to the plans i have had to shelf for this season. my daughter attends a costly pre-school and if worse comes to worse, i could be forced to pull her from it, (though it would certainly be a last resort.)
additionally i have had to face some common challenges. i have had to battle against a sense of depression that has at times engulfed me in a mish-mash of self pity and worthlessness. i have had to deal with my wife, faith, bringing home the bacon while i rely on public assistance for the complementary portion of income we have. i have had to swallow a measure of pride to reach out to friends and family to ask for help in my job search. these have not been comfortable things to work through but i recognize the importance of pragmatism and of not letting my current circumstances define me. a few weeks ago i heard an athlete being interviewed on tv and he talked about the importance of rising to meet adversity and how much more those times say about a person's character than when everything is just fine. i want to work more than anything-i could hardly be less comfortable than i am and have been. so as much as this has been a down time for me, it has also been a seminal time in terms of learning who i am and what i am really all about.
this entire experience has been a learning one for me. i now know what it is like to be laid off. i know what it is like to have real worry. i have become substantially more frugal than i have ever been in my life and what's more, i think there is still room to spend and consume even less. i have been home with my son mark all of these last 6-7 months and we have bonded but good. when he wakes in the morning or even during the night he can be heard crying, "da-dah," through sobs from his crib. that is remarkable as he was formerly, just as terra was in these same years, so oriented towards mama. i have improved my cooking skills in this season. i have also blogged much more than i could have imagined when i had a job.
these things are all nice but they are not the natural order of things. voltaire's candide is certainly in the top three novels i have read, (along with cervantes' 'don quixote,' and chinua achebe's 'things fall apart,') and what i took away from it more than anything else was a certainty that humans are meant to work, to have a purpose and to toil at that purpose. anything else is in opposition to the natural harmony of the universe.
my sister is out of work. my brother was but started a new job today. my other brother was laid off late last year and was unemployed for about seven or eight weeks. at that time, the unemployment rate among my parent's children was 80%, (four of five.) since it is an issue with me, it comes up a lot in conversation as well and it seems as though everyone is close to someone who has lost their job. yesterday faith told me of a friend whose mom lost her job after 20 years and now plans on going to work as an entry level csr.
i hope we fix some things in this country in order to get people back to work. manufacturing things in america seems like a good place to start. but otherwise we all just have to do our best to cope with the lean times and find our way back to employment and our careers. personally, i am working on my positivity daily. moreover, i am trolling the job boards, monster.com, indeed.com, careerbuilder.com, callcenterjobs.com and craigslist. i try to stay in touch with people. i try to get out of the house with mark daily. and when the interviews happen, i am trying to do my best to be the right choice for the would be employer so as to give myself the option of accepting a position. most importantly i remain hopeful that this season of my unemployment is coming to an end any day now.
1 comment:
You were at McLaren Hall? When were you there?
Looking for people who were there late 70s, early 80s...if this means you, or anyone you know, please call me.
Michael
213-842-9507
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