Sometimes it's just not worth it
Sometimes a job isn’t worth the cost.
When I moved back to Wisconsin from Michigan, I started working with a tech temp firm.
They would set me up with potential jobs doing web work. Since it was Madison, there were a lot of state agencies that needed extra help.
I mostly got the jobs they put me up for. It helps when the potential employer has asked the people you work for to choose someone for them. You’re pre-selected. There’s no pyramid to climb, like I talked about last week.
I went to one interview at a state agency (I forget which one), threading my way through a maze of grey cubicles to a claustrophobic conference room. Like with most state government interviews, there were maybe eight people around the table, and they asked me their canned interview questions in order.
Those are the worst interviews. No spontaneity. No flow. Neither side learns much about the other.
Even after the whole interview process, I was still unclear what the job actually entailed. One of my evergreen pieces of job search advice is to always know what the exact shape of the job will be before you agree to it.
So at the end when they asked if I had any questions, I said:
”I still don’t understand what the day to day of this job will look like. Can you give me some detail on that?”
And the ruddy-faced man poured into an ill-fitting dress shirt and ratty tie looked me dead in the eyes and said, with barely disguised irritation:
“The job is whatever I say it is.”
Well that clears it up. Thanks.
Actually it did clear something up: I never wanted to work there.
At that point in my life I probably would have taken the job if it was offered to me; I needed the money. But as it happened in this case they decided not to fill the position at all. Which makes their lack of clarity about what the job entailed much more understandable.
I definitely dodged a bullet that time. Reporting to that “Joe vs. the Volcano” office every day would have sapped my will to live.
The moral of this story is: you always have a choice. Decide for yourself. Don’t let circumstances decide for you. Interview them; don’t just let them interview you.
Know your worth, and respond accordingly.
Honestly, things have been more challenging than usual around here. So I would love to hear if you have had some successes in the job market recently. Even if it isn’t recent, I would enjoy hearing some positive stories.
Did you crush it in an interview? Did a connection turn into an opportunity? Let me know in the comments, or just reply to this email.
See you next week.
More from the Department of Dodged Bullets: A politician interviewed me for a job. The interview went poorly (or so I thought), with the politician pushing back and telling me why every answer I gave was wrong. A few weeks later, they called to ask if I'd decided whether to accept the position. "You never offered me the job," I replied. "Well, do you want it?" And in that moment, it became clear that working for this person would have been a daily adventure in ambiguity.
“The moral of this story is: you always have a choice. Decide for yourself. Don’t let circumstances decide for you. Interview them; don’t just let them interview you.
Know your worth, and respond accordingly.”
TOTALLY HITS HOME!
I have very little choice as a special education teacher, as my day to day is dictated by the students I am given. This has meant track shoes and scrubs for the last several years bc of elopers, violence, and bodily fluids….
When I interviewed, my job description was much different and it is morphing into an extreme form of behavior management and abuse. But the awful part is I am not alone. These students need help and we teachers do too! I am facing leaving teaching altogether because I do know my worth.