Had a good job interview… for a change.

Oy!

I thought I was the only person who added ‘Batman’ on the end of a statement when I was trying to accentuate the statement.

I had a job interview over Skype this afternoon. It was with an Architectural Design firm and I think that it went really well.

It started off on a bit of a funny note. I’ve been dealing with a woman at the firm who has been arranging the interviews for the CEO. When she called me on skype prior to the CEO walking in she was immediately startled and said ‘Holy Blue Eyes Batman!’

I laughed. I also said ‘Sorry’. I’m not sure why I said that. I just chalk it up to being Canadian. I’ve gotten reactions from people about my eyes for my entire life. It’s not really anything new for me. And I genuinely do think I startled her. I can’t imagine what it’s like to see my face as big as a wall.

She said ‘Are you wearing contacts?’

‘Nope, this is my natural eye colour,’ I said.

She apologized to me several times for commenting on my eyes (I think she felt really awful about her reaction), and then she told me she needed to dim the brightness of screen. (She seems like a good person. I bet if I did work there we’d be friends.)

The CEO came in, the interview went really well. I genuinely think they quite liked me. The CEO was laughing and told me that my qualifications were impressive on a few different occasions.

I don’t want to get my hopes up only to get disappointed, but my hopes are up with this one.

Cross your fingers for me, please!

Day by day my soul strips away.

Okay, that’s a little dramatic, I’ll admit. But when I get upset, that seems to be how I feel.

I went to a job interview today for an office assistant position. The position title was “Office Assistant”, I did not misread it. Thinking I’m more than capable of doing that, I applied.

Upon getting to the interview today, I learned that they weren’t wanting an office assistant, they already had one. They were wanting a collections agent.

The company is 1.6 million dollars in debt, due to the lack of collecting payment for services rendered over the past several years. As they sat there explaining to me the position requirements that were, and I quote: “making calls all day every day to collect payment”, I couldn’t help but think I was wasting my time.

When I was asked if I had any questions for him, I only asked one question. I said: “Why did you advertise for an office assistant if you’re looking for a collections agent?”

The boss was dumbfounded that I would ask such a blunt question in an interview.

His response? “I’ll be straight with you, doll. I really didn’t think that I would attract the right type of candidates if I posted the job was for collections.”

I can’t even begin to explain how much it made my skin crawl to hear a 65 year old lying creep refer to me as ‘Doll’ in a job interview. But hey, at least he was straight up willing to admit he lied through his teeth because he knows the job he’s offering is shit. A LOT of employers won’t do that.

When he asked if it was a job I was interested in I told him that I’d need to think about because I have no experience with collections and that’s a definite worry of mine.

His response? “Don’t worry doll. With that sweet and sultry voice of yours I’m sure you can convince anyone you talk to of anything. Getting money from them will be a piece of cake.”

Excuse me while I hold back my vomit.

I said ‘thanks for your time’ and then went on my way.

I’m really not sure what to do. On the one hand, I need a job. On the other, if he’s talking to me like that in an interview, I can’t imagine what he’d talk like if I was actually his employee. Also, if he can flat-out lie on the job posting, how do I know what he says is truth or not?

Ugh.

Unemployment.

Can Wal-Mart just hire me already? It seems like it’d be nice to just stand at the cash register and scan items through for eight hours. It’s mindless. I could do that. I could do that well. Seems like a much better way to make minimum wage than working for a creepy boss trying to collect more than 1.6 million dollars in unpaid funds.

A (whiny) day in the life of an unemployed millennial.

It’s been a few weeks now since my mom was officially declared to be in remission. Here, here! I’m thankful for the incredible doctors, nurses, caretakers and specialists who looked after her for the past eight months. It’s all because of them that she’s now healthy.

Since she’s been in remission, I’ve been struggling to find my way. Truthfully, I don’t know how I fit into this family. When I was looking after my mom I had a purpose for being here. Now I just feel like a little bit of a dead-weight permanently attached to their ankles.

Every day is different, but most days involve the same themes to them.

8:30 am – Wake up, take dog outside, feed dog.

9:00 am – Eat breakfast, watch the Maury show. (I’m not sure if anyone else loves this show as much as I do but watching Maury makes me feel a lot better about my problems)

10:00 am – Crawl back into bed because… really, I don’t have anything to be awake for.

11:00 am – Wake up for a second time.

11:30 am – Go to meet my brother and sister-in-law for lunch. Tell my brother and sister-in-law how excited i am to be starting my new job next week, that I really needed this and that’s important to me to be making a pay-cheque again. Tell them all about the issues I’ve been having in the past six months trying to find work and how frustrating the process is and feel as though they genuinely understand and don’t just presume I’m lazy and unmotivated. It’s a nice change.

1:30 pm – Return home. Take the dog for a quick walk to get her out and give her some exercise.

2:00 pm – ‘To-be boss’ phones and leaves irky voicemail while I am in the shower asking me to call her back immediately.

2:20 pm – Call back my ‘to-be boss’ to be informed that the job I am supposed to start in three days I am no longer hired for. Is it technically considered as being fired if I never made it to my first day? Apparently corporate restructuring came down just three days before my start date, so my job offer has been rescinded. But, she said ‘You’re a smart kid, I know you’ll land on your feet’, so everything’s going to be okay. Right?

2:22 pm – Immediately start crying. Cannot control the crying. Text my mom and Knight to tell them what happened. Proceed to spend several hours feeling sorry for myself and mad at the world whilst trying to tell myself that this wasn’t meant to be, I’m meant for bigger things and that I’ve ‘dodged a bullet’.

6:30 pm – Ordered takeout

6:35 pm – Back to the drawing board. I opened my computer back up, searched jobs in this city and jobs in Calgary (where I’d like to be) and began editing and submitting my resume to each of these businesses.

I would just like to say, job hunting is an aggravating process. One of the applications I filled out asked “Can you speak Canada?” That doesn’t even make sense. I can definitely speak better English than that, so can I have the job of creating your job applications from now on?

8:30 pm – Take dog for a long walk. There’s a large hill with 100 stairs near my house. I like to take the dog there and I do the stairs and she runs the hill beside me a few times over to tire her out. Exercise is good for the soul, especially when you’re in a bad mood. I wholeheartedly believe that.

10:00 pm – Back to the drawing board, continuation from earlier. I’m browsing job postings. This night I am also submitting my resume to McDonald’s and Burger King. I may not like the outfits, but I think it’s time I start one of these jobs, at the least, to ensure I make some money this year.

I like to put Friends, The Big Bang Theory or Two Broke Girls on the tv in the background. The great thing about all three of these shows is that they’re pretty much on at all hours of the day if you look.

Job hunting isn’t the funnest process. At least, with these shows I can have a couple of laughs during the hunt.

1:00 am – Play Clash Royale until I’m ready to fall asleep.

I’m not really sure where I’m going next. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do. At some point I’m going to have to tell my friends and family that I was ‘unhired’ and had the rug pulled from beneath my feet. I presume that’ll come on Monday when they all ask me how work is going and I don’t have a response fo rthem.

Right now, I guess I just have to keep going until I find the path that’s right for me. I hate having so many unanswered questions. I hate having so much up in the air. For someone who moved out of the house when she was 16, it’s a really hard pill to swallow to be unemployed in my parents basement at 30.

I can truly say that I never saw this happening for my life. I can truly say that it’s a struggle, most days, to keep going. But I guess the important thing at this point is to keep going and stop feeling sorry for myself. I need to get out of this rut. Life isn’t always easy and I need to be better at dealing with that.

I know I’ll land on my feet eventually. I just wish I knew when that was. Because, quite frankly, not knowing is what makes this so hard.

Offer rescinded.

I don’t even want to tell anyone this. Honestly. I don’t want to tell my family, or my friends. They were all so excited for me,and now… ugh. I feel this deep pit of shame in my stomach and it’s not even my fault. I can’t get rid of the feeling though.

I was supposed to start my new job on Monday. Monday. Monday… as in three days from now.

Yesterday afternoon my ‘to-be’ boss phoned. My job offer was rescinded. I was fed a bull-shit line about ‘corporate restructuring’ and that I’m a smart kid so she has no doubt I’ll land on my feet soon.

Fuck her. Honestly.

I guess it goes to show you really can’t celebrate the victory in anything because it’s not really a victory. Last week there was no corporate restructuring… but this week there is. Yeah, yeah, yeah I see how it is.

But I’m a smart kid and I’ll land on my feet…

Fuck her.

Back to the drawing board. I’ll probably wind up working at McDonald’s soon. Not that there’s anything wrong with McDonald’s… just that my degree and the past decade of my life won’t really be put to good use at McDonald’s.

I lied in order to get a job interview and I don’t feel bad about it.

Anyone who’s applied for a job online in the past couple of years knows that, at the end of almost every job application form there’s a question along the lines of “Are you presently living in ________ (location)?”

Here’s the truth: that question in there because said company does not want to pay to relocate an employee. If you select ‘No’, your resume/application is automatically being submitted into the ‘do not consider’ pile. They would rather only consider professionals already living within their city then branch out. Even if it means they’re not getting the best candidate for the job.

If you select no, they won’t even review your application. You might as well not spend the time in sending it, because you’re only wasting your time.

Story time:

I wound up in this city that I am presently residing because I came here to help my mom through her cancer treatments. That being said, this is not where I want to, or plan to, stay. I’ve been applying for positions in Calgary. And, probably will continue to do so until I find the right one.

Last week, whilst on holiday, I got a call from a company in Calgary asking for a phone interview. I distinctly remember applying for the position with this company and checking ‘Yes’ where it asked if I presently resided in Calgary. A lie, yes. But, I knew that all I needed them to do was read my resume and I would stand out from the pack.

I did the phone interview and they loved me, naturally. I’m pretty fucking amazing (and I don’t say that to be cocky, I say that because I know what value I could bring to any office). During the interview I was upfront and said ‘Calgary is a city I would like to be living in by the end of 2019’. Shocked and confused, the woman conducting the interview asked where I was presently living. When I told her where I was she admitted ‘we really don’t interview candidates that don’t live in Calgary’. Somehow they’d read my resume and loved me based on content provided, but had ignored the address listed on my resume.

When I hung up the phone, I really didn’t think I’d hear from them again. Though I’d nailed the phone interview, I didn’t live in Calgary and that seemed like a deal-breaker for them.

To my surprise, I got an email later that afternoon asking if I could have a phone interview with the boss the next day.

Of course!

The next day when I was talking to the boss, I nailed it. He loved me. I could tell that he loved me by the way he was responding to what I was saying. I once again mentioned my wanting to move to Calgary and he said ‘Oh, you’re not in Calgary?’ I explained to him what I had said the day before and the woman I’d spoken to the day before let it slip that she liked me so much she didn’t tell him where I was living.

Nevertheless, he liked me so much that they’re coordinating a video-conference interview for me to do this week. And honestly, I’ll talk to them as many times as they’d like, because the bottom line is that I know I’m qualified, I know I’m willing and they need to know that discounting an application based on someone’s geographical location is stupif.

If you’re looking for work, please LET THIS SERVE AS A REMINDER: if you are not selected for a position, it is not because of lack of qualifications. It can very well be something as stupid as checking ‘Yes or No’ on a questionnaire.

I’m willing to relocate to Calgary on my own dime. And if a company would bother to talk to me, they’d learn that. So counting myself out because of location isn’t a fair step of the process.

Don’t ever let ‘the process’ keep you from your destiny. If you need to fudge the truth in order to be heard, do it. The process is an extremely convoluted and, at times not even fair, series of events. I don’t see anything wrong with taking control out of their hands and putting it into your own. If you’re a badass, count yourself in, check yes and let them see just what they could have if they opened their eyes beyond a narrow scope.

On the importance of standing up for yourself.

I cannot stress enough how integral it is to stand up for yourself. Too many people in this world lead a life of conformity because they’re afraid of rocking the boat.

I think that there’s a negative connotation when it comes to ‘standing up for yourself’. People immediately take the defensive and they believe you’re in it to start a fight, when in all reality, it’s not about starting a fight at all.

Standing up for yourself is about speaking your truth, and about making someone understand your perspective and why you believe what you do. You don’t need to be rude, you don’t need to be angry, you don’t need to insult. If you’re really aiming to prove your worth to someone with respect to anything at all, your message is going to be much more well received if you do it in a calm, well thought-out, discussive manner. (Yeah, I just made up discussive)

Don’t pout. Don’t fight. Don’t be rude. But also, don’t settle. If you’re worth more and you know it, advocate for yourself. If you believe you’re being treated unfairly, advocate for yourself. Lastly, if you think something is wrong, advocate for whoever it affects.

Please don’t ever be afraid to advocate for yourself and your value. If you have a fair and reasonable request, anyone worth their weight in anything will be willing to hear you out. And if they’re not, there’s plenty of room in this world for someone who will.

ROCK THE BOAT. Do not be afraid to rock that boat. Show someone the value you possess, in the process reminding yourself what’s been inside of you all along.

Context – I ABSOLUTELY went in and advocated for myself to a potentially employer this morning. Like a boss, I strategically formulated my words and talking points ahead of time, was heard succintly and it worked out in my favour. DON’T EVER SETTLE for something just because it’s something.

Adventures in job hunting: I just can’t make this shit up.

This morning I got a response from a position that I applied for last night. This is odd to me. I get an iffy feeling about companies that respond to resumes in less than 24 hours. Nevertheless, I continued reading the four paragraph email in hopes that something positive would come from the words they’ve written me.

It didn’t really wasn’t worth my time in reading.

Firstly, I would like to state that this position was listed as being in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I am currently in a small town in Northern British Columbia, Canada.

It was a four paragraph email to which they explained the importance of my transferring them $4,000 dollars as a security deposit. They apparently use the security deposit in place of signing a confidentiality agreement. So, I was to send them $4,000 for a security deposit, that could be returned to me upon six months completion of work (the probationary period).

The letter stated that, if I sent them the money today, I could be working as early as this afternoon. They’d provide me a list of errands to run and I could hop in my car and go do them and the company would reimburse me for the gas costs after the fact so long as I kept a log of miles travelled.

The letter went on to state that the company operates under a policy of ‘trust, but verify’ and their means of verifying is through the transfer of this $4,000, and that it’s a perfectly normal request that everyone who works for the company does.

To sum it up: If I pay $4,000 to this company, today, I could have the job and be working as early as this afternoon, running errands in my car, in a city that’s 12 hours away. Utmost discretion is required and, I am not to discuss this position with anyone else and we could work on salary and payment arrangements after I’d started working.

I reported this posting to LinkedIn today.

There’s no need for people to deal with this shit. It’s clearly a scam and I don’t want someone who doesn’t know any better to fall for this.

YOU SHOULD NOT EVER HAVE TO PAY MONEY TO AN EMPLOYER TO GET A JOB (I feel as though capital letters are necessary to proclaim my tone in the sentence).