Word first came to me of this place in particular almost 3 months ago from a friend. I investigated by googling them and reading up on the people involved, services provided, etc. It seemed promising, a great place to complete my CF. I contacted them the only way I could find listed on the website, one of those generic email generators where I provide my name, email, and question and they might get back to me. Over two weeks later, someone did finally contact me and this person told me they were currently interviewing and would be happy to receive my resume. A glimmer of hope bloomed in my heart. The area I live in is fed by a lot of different graduate programs, so while there are many job listings, they are (apparently?) overrun with applicants and I'd been struggling to get my foot in the door thus far. With cautious optimism, I sent my resume in and waited to hear back.
Another fortnight later I hadn't heard back. Unwilling to surrender as this was the only place so far to put me in contact with an actual human and not an automated application system, I emailed my contact again to follow up.
No response. Another fortnight passes. We're a month and a half in at this point. I email again.
Another fortnight. Finally my contact responds to my repeated emails and asks me if I am available for a phone interview the next day.
Success! I don't mean to brag (maybe a little) but I am a great interviewee. With only one exception, I've never interviewed for a job that I have not later been offered. This was exactly what I'd hoped for. If I could just get someone to talk to me, I felt certain I could show them what an excellent addition I would make to their team. I immediately responded with a time frame in which I was available, and anxiously awaited the phone call the next day.
Nothing. No phone call. In the early afternoon, after our interview window had ended, I emailed my contact to ensure the person had my number correct and discover if there had been some unforeseen issue that co-opted our appointment time. (Our correspondence was exclusively through email because my contact never provided me with a number by which they could be reached.) No response that day or the next. Then came the weekend, during which I did not expect contact, but I still didn't hear back on Monday. Finally, this process having been drug out over 2 months thus far, I called the general number on Tuesday. It connected me to an automated menu that listed 3 options: clients make an appointment, clients pay their bill, and the facility's contact information (redundant, don't you think, since I had clearly already found their number?). I chose bill pay because I figured that was most likely to get me to a person.
I spoke to someone who never provided their name and explained that for reasons unknown, my contact had missed our appointment the week before. The person on the line with me assured me my name and number would be passed along, and I was left to play the waiting game again.
Nothing the rest of that week, no contact.
I called again early the next week and couldn't even get to a person this time. I left a message. No response.
Finally, that weekend, I send a respectful but matter-of-fact email to a general email address that I'd be able to find and explained that I'd been waiting 2 weeks for some feedback about my missed appointment, and hadn't received any response to my 2 phone calls (didn't make any mention of the previous 2 months I'd waited to get to that point). I attached my resume, adding that I thought my name had been passed along to someone different that the person I'd originally been speaking with and I wanted this new person to have access to it. Monday, I finally heard back.
The new person apologized twice for the delay in getting back to me and explained that the facility had been making some staff changes and my name and situation had slipped through the cracks. New person asked if I would still be available for a phone interview in 2 weeks.
I again, somewhat hesitantly, celebrated. I was now in contact with, it seemed, the right person. We had scheduled the interview with much more advance notice, so odds were good it would actually happen, I would be charming, cue job offer. Finally.
Today was that day. 2 weeks I spent preparing myself for this interview. Nerves and hopes were both high that today, almost 3 months after initial contact, I would finally get somewhere with this facility. I slept poorly and suffered through nervous nightmares. Finally, I got up hours early and tried to distract myself with the internet and the Bible. I set up an interview station with everything laid out that I might need to refer to in order to answer questions. I sequestered myself away from Fiance, Moose-dog, and all other living beings in the house (except bugs, probably) and anxiously waited.
Ring, ring.
Hello? This is she! Nice to talk to you to. Yes, I did have a good weekend. And yourself?
I think I mentioned it in the email, but we actually don't have any open positions right now. I just like to meet people in the field and develop a good size set of names I can pull from should a need arise. So tell me about yourself.
We chatted very generally for a few minutes more, and I think it went well enough that my name will remain on the list of future possibilities, but almost immediately, my hopes were crushed. I had trouble not breaking down right then and there on the phone, and I'm still fighting the urge. Are you kidding me?! I spent 3 months chasing after you people because you implied you had openings and no one would freaking just talk to me and tell me what was going on! And NO, you didn't mention that there was no position. Why would I interview for a position that doesn't exist?!
Chasing this particular lead down did not technically prevent me from following other opportunities, and I have been sending out emails, resumes, and applications to other places in the meantime. I've made phone calls and talked to other agencies. But I focused most of my energy on this opportunity because they repeatedly lead me to believe there was an actual opportunity and I'd been able to get in contact with the people directly in charge of interviewing and hiring, something I hadn't been able to accomplish with other places. Of course, once in contact with those people, they were ridiculously unprofessional in the sense that they repeatedly ignored my emails and messages and shoved me under the rug, but that really only made me more determined. Maybe you won't hire me, but dammit, you are going to say that to my face! I refused to allow them to ignore me so I would go away. If you don't have a job for me, just say so!
I guess, in that way, I got my wish. But it would have been really nice, and frankly and hell of a lot more professional, if they'd just said so from the beginning so I didn't waste my effort on them for 3 months. I could have been chasing someone else down.
Fiance and I discussed how it was kind of like a shitty relationship. Some douche-y guy that keeps giving you just enough positive feedback to make you think there's a chance, so you don't want to just walk away because what if this is the one? But it never quite happens and finally he just cuts you loose after all your other prospects are gone.
And that's the part that is most upsetting. I've focused a lot of energy on this place because I kept getting promised an interview for a (though I didn't yet know it) non-existent job. I've already applied to everything else in the area that I'm qualified for. I've even applied for some things I'm not (yet) qualified for and listings not in the area, but after 4 months of unemployment, I no longer have the funds to relocate for a job. I don't know where I go from here.
(source)
What do I do now?
That is super lame! I can in no way help you. But that is super lame!
ReplyDeleteYes, I have to not think about it or I go to a dark place.
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