The Job Hunt

Most of you know that I was laid off towards the end of 2014. After 18 years at DB, I would finally succumb to the corporate America cutbacks.

One thing I must say, the company did really good by me. I don’t think that I am allowed to provide any details, but let us say that they went above and beyond anything they had written in policy. We had an amicable parting, and I am forever grateful for my time there, and their generous send off.

I took about 9 months off to basically explore my music, writing and television careers. But in reality I ended up spending most of my time watching television series, on blab, and wasting my time arguing on social media.

Thankfully, towards the middle of it, I got my act together and added training to the list of things I was doing. Since then, I have dropped about 70 pounds, and I’m still going.

Around the 9th or 10th month, I realized that it was now time to start looking for work, and thus began the job hunt. I was under the impression that with my extremely impressive resume, I would land a job pretty much immediately. This logic was an error, and nearly 6 months after I started looking, I had not yet landed a gig.

This was not a good thing, because in my very weak financial planning, I had not budgeted for a delay in finding work. This proved to be quite detrimental to my bank account, and pretty much ate away all of my buffer. That sucked by the way.

Throughout my search I interviewed for jobs that I considered well beneath my skill and experience level. Since it was taking me so long I started to become slightly desperate and aimed extremely low. I was not proud of this, but I have a mortgage to pay, and a family to feed.

The funny thing was that these people spoke to me as if I were some new kid out of college. They did not respect my nearly two decades of experience supporting an environment which was light years ahead of their rinky dink show.

It is an employer’s market out there, jobs are limited. They know this and they milk it! These employers are asking for requirements that are ridiculous for the specific jobs. They are paying so little and making the process so difficult that it is almost laughable. I couldn’t believe some of the nonsense that I went through for a job that was paying about half of what I was earning before.

One recruiter sent me on a 2 hour commute into New Jersey. It was a cold day, a difficult area to access via the bus, and just an overall unpleasant trip. Once I arrived I sat for about 30 minutes as no one was around, and there was no front desk. Eventually a gentleman passes by and asked me who I was. I explained and he asked me to wait. He then came back and informed me that the recruiters had not confirmed my interview with him. I asked him if he could squeeze me in, and was once again asked to wait. He returned and said no, that he did not have time.

So I took a trip out to New Jersey, on a bus, on a cold day, and it was all for nothing. Not only did I not get the job, the guy didn’t even interview me because he had no idea I was coming. Now how uncool is that? As much as I’d like to do an entire expose on this recruiting firm, with their name, emails, and so on, I won’t. The professional in me won’t allow me to do this. They say, “don’t burn bridges,” and though I don’t even know if there is still a bridge to burn, I really don’t want to conduct myself in that fashion. However, I will do this, if you are really interested in knowing, perhaps to avoid, or to make sure that any conversations with them are clear, I will privately tell you their name if you reach out to me.

One of the jobs I interviewed for asked me to get a car, BEFORE they would even decide whether or not I would be a candidate. So let me get this straight, I’m looking for work, you know, to earn some money, and you want me to incur the debt of a new vehicle so that you will consider whether or not you want to give me the job? A job that pays 2/3 the amount I earned, and incur a new debt? Seriously?

I even interviewed for a job with Facebook, and though this experience was rather pleasant, I didn’t have the level of Mac expertise that they wanted so that didn’t work out. The same can be said for buffer, twitter, bloomberg, spotify, deutsche bank, and all the other places where I submitted and interviewed for.

One thing I noticed, the ones who claim they will be there for you, etc, that’s all bullcrap. When it hits the fan, very few people are actually going to try and help you get a job. I have about 5 friends who made an actual effort to help me out, and one in particular who really went to bat for me. To these people, I am eternally grateful. The others, they are laughable.

Although, once I actually landed a job, a position where I have some influence and authority, all of a sudden they came out of the woodwork and have taken an active interest in my career.

Hey Angel, congratulations on your new Director role. Listen, if you need any of these specific services, please let me know as I’d love to work with you and your new company.

REALLY? REALLY? GTFOH!

All the experiences that I had were a blessing in disguise. They reminded me of something that I already knew, the only person who has your back, is YOU! The other, even more major thing is that had any of these places actually hired me, I’d never have the opportunity to interview for, and land this amazing, God sent job that is LITERALLY two minutes from my apartment!

I truly believe that all that happened was necessary for me to end up where I am today. There is no way that I could have scripted a better job for myself. Other than winning the lottery, or making it big on tv, there just wasn’t a better case scenario for me. This job is amazing, the people are amazing, the hours are amazing, and all the new things that I am learning and working on are amazing.

So believe it or not, using hindsight, I am now grateful for all of those unprofessional, and some professional encounters, because without them, I would not be where I am today. And I love where I am today.

I guess the moral of the story is, don’t give up, it all happens for a reason. Trust yourself and your journey, do not let the setbacks break your spirit!