Gotta Love Work!!!

For as much as I bitch about my job, some days I just have really really good days, and yesterday was one of them!! If you didn't know it by now, I work for a really huge company in the HR department. Yeah, yeah, I know, I don't have the persona for it, blah blah blah... Well, yesterday was one of the funnest days at work I had in a very very long time!! I went to a job fair at a local university and had the best time. I really love getting out there and talking to people, it was really fun! If you've never been to a job fair before let me paint the picture...

Imagine a gymnasium full of rows of tables, one table inches from the next. Like a big maze!! Prospective candidates go from one table to the next. Each table is assigned to a company and the company brings signage, and info packets and goodies to give away. We give away pens, notebooks and backpacks with our company logo on them. Other comapnies had candy, highlighters etc..You get the drift!

So we got there and set up our table, we were situated between the 2 rudest companies! The company to our right, was some financial company and they had 1 lady there. This woman could not have been more disinterested in what was going on. She was on her Blackberry the whole time and when people would come up and talk to her, she wouldn't even put the phone down. Don't take my word for it, I TOOK PICTURES!!!! ah ha!! The job fair ended at 3pm, she left at 1pm. I should send these pictures to her company!! What a disgrace!!

The company to our left, well I don't know how to describe them. They had 2 representatives there, a man and a woman. All they did was talk to each other, they barely talked to anyone else. They guy was snippy to me and I had to put him in his place real quick. I don't know if the pair of them are screwing, but if they weren't before yesterday, I can pretty much guarantee they are now!! The girl was wearing a suit, but the skirt was on the short side. To make matters worse, the skirt had a slit in front a good 3 inches long. Don't believe me? Well, HA! I have more pics taken from my handy dandy phone!! Good thing we sat by the window and had plenty of natural light!!

Feedback...2.0..

Here is the email I sent to the recruiter....

Hi XXX,

I would like to thank you for taking the time to interview me. Although, I was not a match for what you are looking for, I was wondering if you could provide me with any feedback. I am always looking to improve myself and any information you provide will be extremely helpful.

Thanks and have a great day!

Here is her response...

Thank you for the follow up. There are a lot of factors that are taken into consideration, unfortunately I am unable to provide specifics regarding your process.

I wish you luck with your future endeavors.

Here is the automated email I received this morning provoking my blog...

Thank you for taking time to interview with us. We have given careful consideration to your experience and skills with regard to the position. We regret to inform you that we have decided to pursue other candidates.

Thank you for considering CDW as a prospective employer. We wish you success in your job search.


Best regards,
Recruiting Team

All I have to say is... FUCK YOU!!!! I am really pissed about this recruiter not being able to provide me with any specific feedback. I really went out of my way to go and interview for this job.

Seriously....WTF???

I think I'm in serious need of a paradigm shift! I have been on the hunt for a new job for quite some time now, I won't tell you exactly how many months because the number depresses me, I think I'm just about out of steam! I just need to write and get this weight off my chest.

I have been on many interviews in the last months, most recently as yesterday. Each rejection notice is even more painful than the last. I don't know why, most of the jobs I interview for I KNOW aren't right for me, but I go on the interview anyway, for the practice. But at this point, I am just bewildered, I think I need a mental healh day from work. Here are the reasons I need a new job...

1. More Pay

That's the only real reason I am trying to move on, it's the only reason people move on to new jobs. Money is the motivating factor, plain and simple!!! Why is my quest proving to be so difficult? What can't I catch a break? Am I "blowing" my interviews because I don't really want to leave my low-paying position? Am I sub-consctiously afraid to leave my comfy little job? I'll admit it, I have a very comfy job. I'm good at what I do, I can do the work in my sleep. My boss works out of another location, so I never see her, although, she does seem to find a way to annoy me on a daily basis. So that becomes another motivating factor for me to scidaddle, but the rejection is starting to get to me.

So, the latest interview I had, yesterday, is what really prompted to write this blog for you, my faithful reader. I had what I thought was a good interview. I met with 2 ladies, we talked about what I do and about what they do. blah blah blah The interview last like 45 minutes, not too long. When I got home that eveing, I had an email in my inbox from the recruiter leting me know that she enjoyed meeting me and that she would be in touch later this week to discuss "the next step." Then, this morning, I got an automated email stating that they wanted to pursue other candidates...humpf... :(

I've emailed the recruiter and asked for feedback, but at this point I am too discouraged to care or even go on looking for another job!! I'll follow up with the feedback...

What do you do...

Ok, my friend told me about a situation she is having at work, I was going back and forth whether or not I should blog about it, but I decided to go ahead, it'll be a lesson for all of us. I never deny my public a chance to learn!!

My friend told me she found out that her boss wrote an unfavorable email about her to a co-worker. She doesn't mind very much, people fuck up all the time, it was just her turn to fuck up. But the thing that really pisses her off is that her boss wrote this email to one of her co-workers, and to boot this co-worker is not even a full time employee, she's a freakin' contractor for the company. What to do...what to do???

Her boss is out on vacation, she will be back on Monday, she'll have to take this up with her at that point in time...

At that time I will update of of you on the results...

Surviving the Cut

The department I work in is a "merger synergy" department. What is "merger synergy"? "Merger synergy" is a department where there are duplicate jobs. Let me preface this a bit, I have been at my job 6 years, and in that 6 years I have been through 3 mergers. This last merger (the smallest company we bought) has been the worst. Our department was tagged a "merger synergy" group and therefore, will undergo some cuts. 37% of my department will be cut, to be exact. It's funny, because we have NEVER been busier. They are replacing full-time employee's with contractors.

We just had our first round of lay-offs. Yesterday, people received a letter saying that in 60 days their employment with the company will end, in that 60 days they can apply for new jobs within the company, and if they get a new job they can stay with the company. I did not receive a letter! Phew... I am safe for now. The next round of lay-off comes at the end of the year, that round I probably will not survive. We'll see what happens...I hope to have a new job by then.

To be continued...

Life's Options...

It has recently come to my attention that I am at a crossroads in my life. Really, this year (meaning the past 5 months and the next 7 months) there are going to be some real opportunities to make some drastic chnages in my life. To be frank, it's a bit scary.

Scenario 1: New job! For the past 2 months I have been interviewing with a company in the suburbs. With this new job comes with a significant pay raise, a pay raise that will change my financial considerations. Drastically! However, there are some glitches with the procurement of this new job. It has now been 1 month since I last interviewed and until last week, I thought I was out of the running until I received a phone call last Friday morning from the recruiter saying that they finally finished interviewing all the candidates and that I'm still their top candidate and that they want to proceed with me and that she will call me Monday or Tuesday to let me know what is going to happen next. Today is Thursday, I have received no phone call. All I need is a little patience, right?

Correction...I just received a phone call and it's worse than I thought! This company is putting the position on hold INDEFINETLY and who knows when it will open up!!!!!!!! Major! Major! Disappointment!!! The recruiter sounded very disappointed as well, she said that she was looking forward to the opportunity to bringing me in for the next round of interviews, and that she thought I was a very strong candidate for the position.

Scenario 2: No job! The other day I was approached by my current supervisor and she asked me if I would like to be surplused. In this world, it means that I would get a letter on May 1 saying that I will lose my job in 60 days. I would get a small severance package and I would be guaranteed unemployment benefits. My plan, would be to take the summer off, fly to Greece for the summer, and then come back in the fall and start school full-time. In the end, I told my boss no, I don't want to be laid off right now.

Scenario 3: Now that I have some answers to my some of my job woes. I have to formulate a new plan. I will probably survive this first round of lay-offs, but I probably won't survive the next round of lay-offs in November. Which means that as of December 31, 2007, I will probably be out of a job. So, I have 7 months to find a job, when I have been looking for a job for the past year.

I need a drink...it's 11:27am and a need to find a bar quick!! Jack Daniels is my best friend!!!

Pulling out all the stops...

On Monday, I interviewed for another job within AT&T. My interview was scheduled for 11:30am, on the 6th floor of my building. I decided that I should arrive for my interview at some point between 11:20am and 11:25am. I knew that the hiring manager had an interview scheduled from 10:30am to 11:00am. When I arrived on the 6th floor I saw that the hiring manager was still interviewing the previous candidate. So, I decided to go for a walk around the floor to kill a few minutes. On my way back, I saw the other candidate leaving and decided to go knock on the HM's office door.

The door was closed and I heard her and another manager talking about the interview. I thought to myself this interview should be good, I have personally worked with this HM before and she knows that I'm a dedicated employee. I knocked on her door to let her know that I was here and she asked me to take a seat in the conference room and that she and another girl would be in there in a few minutes.

I went in the conference room and waited several minutes for my interview to start. They finally came in and the interview started. They asked me a few questions, I asked them a few questions and *POOF* the interview was over in less than 15 minutes.

I was like, what the heck is going on? There are a couple of things that this means. 1. They already have in mind who they want to hire and they are just interviewing me out of courtesy. OR 2. Because the HM and I have worked with each other in the past, she already knows she wants to hire me.

It's a funny game in corporate America. It's not what you know, it's who you know, especially here at AT&T!! So, when I applied for the position, I had the recruiter for this department write the HM a nice recommendation email about me. Then, I asked the department admin to put in a good word. Finally, today, I called a previous boss of mine who knows HM's boss call the HM and tell her that she should hire me. Final decisions are supposed to be made tomorrow and I hope that campaigning for the position had paid off. I'll update my blog tomorrow with the results!