The Story of Jobs

Since the end of March I have had my resume posted on all of the big career web sites. In spite of clearly writing in my resume where I will and more importantly, will not work, IE inside the Circle of Death – AKA the Capitol Beltway – and Northern Virginia, I still receive emails telling me about the great opportunities that await me there. Now before any NoVA readers get their panties in a bunch about my comments I want them to take a moment, step back and realize that the comments are not about you. They are about mileage, traffic and population density that I – that means ME – cannot and will not deal with. If you like and or love NoVA, that’s great. Okay, now with that out of the way we can move on. So, I don’t care what the job is or how great they think it is, I will not commute into either of those areas ever again! It is too far to go and the traffic is beyond insane. An hour to go 15 miles is insane and no, you cannot argue otherwise. I have politely written each of these people back and told them that I appreciate their interest, but if they had bothered to really read my resume they would have noted that I would not accept employment in those geographic regions. In my resume, I probably should have written that I would only consider employment within twenty-five driving miles of our Ellicott City, MD home and nowhere outside of that. Maybe that would stop the emails concerning jobs not only in DC and NoVA, but in Herndon, California as well. Jenne has thee job in our little family. I will not relocate for a job and make Jenne’s commute longer or impossible. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!

Fortunately, things have happened that really make it all moot. Through a headhunter that does know how to read my resume and is concerned about what I want in a job, I have had an interview with T. Rowe Price for a helpdesk and support position. The first part of the interview was a technical phone screen. I was asked twenty questions and I missed a good five of them, but I was honest with the guy and said, “I am a little rusty in some areas, but if you were to call me back tomorrow I will have the answers for you. I wrote the questions down and I will research them.” He seemed appreciative of that and told me that he would be speaking with the hiring manager that afternoon. We hung up and I figured that I pretty much blew that and left for my mall job. Later that day I got a call from my headhunter saying that they wanted to bring me in for an in person interview! We arranged the date and time. I was the most relaxed, open and honest than I have ever been at an interview and that is saying a lot because I always interview very well. Seriously, I already had employment, albeit not great, but better than Maryland Unemployment bennies. If this job didn’t feel right there was no pressure, no desperation for me to take it. The interview went very well and I even mentioned that I know four T. Rowe Price employees in Colorado by playing World of Warcraft with them on an almost daily basis. They were interested to hear more about that. One of the guys I play WoW with even dropped the hiring manager an email on my behalf. So, online gaming does have benefits in the real world! Near the end of the interview the manager said, “I am going to do something with you that I have never done on an interview before. You missed a few questions on the phone interview, but you told the interviewer that you would know the answers by the next day. He found your openness to say that very interesting and I want to follow up with you on that. Do you know the answers?” I am proud to say that I did know the answers to all of the missed questions and I was able to rattle them off without notes. The hiring manager was very impressed and called me a person of integrity, honesty and trust. The interview went very well and they told me that I would know in a week. My headhunter confirmed that the wheels at T. Rowe Price move slowly when it comes to interviews and offers, so not to panic. I left the interview and went to my mall job. At five PM the headhunter called me and said that this has never happened before in over the one hundred people placed at T. Rowe Price, they wanted me on the team and they wanted to secure me before someone else picked me up. They offered me the job in the same day and that they were so impressed that they even offered me my choice of the three shifts available! My headhunter was astounded. This had never before happened. I was told that the I really impressed them on the interview, but the thing that really did it for me was knowing the answers to the missed questions and rattling them off with confidence and ease! I accepted the position and have since left my job in the mall. So, on June 12th – ten years to the day that I started my IT career in tech support at Claritas in Arlington, VA – I make my triumphant return to tech support! I am so glad to be going back to where I was happy, where I was good and what I never should have left. HAZZAH!