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prorevenge · 6 years

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Dapper Dan fails to think things through.

Warning: this is a very long story.

I graduated uni a few years back and immediately started looking for a job in my chosen field - marketing.

Marketing entry level roles were thin on the ground, so when I found a role which was hybrid of marketing with sales support, I took it.

The company was a medium sized business which specialized in recruitment, contractor hiring and head hunting. They also subcontracted work for a recruitment technology provider, which matched up perfectly with one of my other passions - technology.

I absolutely loved the role. I got to do all parts of the marketing and sales lifecycle, I got to work with suppliers, event organizers, clients, staff all across the company, meet new people and do really exciting things.

I had two managers - the one who managed the sales team and the one who managed marketing.

The marketing manager was a kindred spirit; the sales manager was oldschool sales. An arrogant and headstrong late-forties man who lived for making deals and boasting about them. Shiny shoed, silver-tongued. I’ll call him Dapper Dan. We were not friends.

For about 18 months, things went swimmingly. I’d do marketing half the time then divide the rest of the time between sales support and billable work. Billable was building custom careers / job sites to host the recruitment system front end. A steep learning curve but with the help of some web dev friends I got pretty familiar with simple site builds.

Being tech-aligned meant I was always looking digital first, bringing the company into the age of social media, SEO / SEM, website optimisation and multi channel marketing.

Dapper Dan sneered at such things. He saw digital as a waste of money. However, we were always able to justify the spend on digital by offsetting the billable website work.

The marketing manager eventually moved on to bigger and better things. Rather than promote me or hire in a replacement, the company moved the marketing responsibilities to Dapper Dan.

Dapper Dan’s changes were immediate and far-reaching. He removed the digital budget. He required that 50% of my time would be sales support, to ‘better enable the sales team’. He incorporated the billable work with his own team’s revenue. He rewrote my annual objectives to align purely with sales targets, rather than marketing. When I voiced my objections, he took me aside for a ‘friendly chat’ and told me if I didn’t like it, I could always leave.

Naturally I went and complained extensively to the departed marketing manager over drinks. After listening sympathetically for 45 minutes, she held up a hand, said ‘Stop’, and shared some life advice. ‘Each job pays you twice. You get your money now, that’s your wage. You also get experience now, that’s how you get paid in the future. So. Are you still getting paid? Yes? Are you still learning? No? Figure out how to keep learning, or leave.’

Taking the advice to heart, I busted my ass for the next year. I worked on digital outside of office hours. I made friends with the tech provider’s support and dev teams. I went to developer group meetups, attended conferences, studied for and acquired industry qualifications. I joined the national marketers and digital marketers group. I dug through blogs, articles, emailed people, took every opportunity to cross skill, upskill, to learn.

And I sat with a smile on my face in the sales meetings as Dapper Dan delegated dumb do-work to me so his team of sycophants could make the company’s growth figures look spectacular. Spectacular they were, to the point that the company was acquired, and Dapper Dan betrayed me.

You see, managers have the discretion to assign a pool of shares to high performing staff. The shares have no real value and can’t be traded, but in the event of a management buy out, they would suddenly have value - and quite a lot of value.

Dapper Dan felt it appropriate to reward every SALESperson in his team with a generous parcel of shares. As a SUPPORTperson, I would not be the beneficiary of such kindness. I’d had a verbal agreement with the previous marketing manager that the pool would be shared across the entire team so was pretty shocked to discover I’d been excluded from the pool.

I queried him on it, per the previous agreement, and he said (verbatim) ‘Well, an verbal agreement is only worth the paper it’s written on. You don’t make any sales, you haven’t built the business, you don’t get a cut’.

'If you didn’t like it,' he reiterated, 'you're welcome to leave.'

That is EXACTLY what I decided to do. Except I didn’t tell him.

The way the contract handover works in this instance is that all staff cease employment with company X on one day. The following day, they commence employment with company Y. Annual leave is paid out and begins to re-accrue at the new employer. Other arrangements - salaries, incentive arrangements, length of service - may be transferred to the new employer.

About six weeks before the handover, Dapper Dan passed me my new contract. I waited a week, came back with some enthusiastic queries on the new benefits, which took him two weeks to follow up.

Three weeks away from drop date, everyone’s frantically running around getting all the deals as close as possible to closing and employment contracts are the last thing on his mind. I go back to him, I tell him I have a couple more things I need to check out and I’ll email them through to him before I sign it.

A week passes, I fire off a couple of really complex questions around the transfer of benefits. He obviously forgets about them, then in the week of the handover, catches heat from the HR team about the outstanding contract and pulls me into a meeting room to berate me about not having signed the new contract.

I explain I’m waiting on his feedback on those specific points before I’ll commit, that I don’t want to be disadvantaged moving into the new role, call out the lack of a share option as an example. Clearly frustrated, he drops the words I’ve been waiting for. ‘If the signed contract is not on my desk on Friday, don’t bother coming into the office Monday.’ He paused for dramatic effect, and reiterated ‘I mean it. You won’t have a job.’ I replied that I completely understand and that I’ll have everything he needs on his desk by close of business Friday.

On Friday afternoon, Dapper Dan leaves the office early to attend his normal ‘client networking’ visits which typically involve long lunches and alcohol.

At 4.45pm I save the final set of forecasting and reporting to the share drive, send an email to the IT team passing over access to the Marketing lastpass account which contains the global database of usernames and passwords for all digital assets (including client sites), an Excel workbook containing my reporting macros and the location of all my documentation. I redirect my phone to Dapper Dan’s desk number, lock my laptop and leave it on his desk along with my ID card.

Over the weekend I update my work history and add my contact details to my LinkedIn profile, switching it to 'Actively Searching' mode. I figure my holiday pay will cover me for a couple of weeks of downtime before I have to go diving back into the workforce.

On Monday, I’m enjoying a long walk in the spring sunshine with my dog, who’s incredibly happy that his human has not disappeared down the driveway at 0720 per normal. We stop for coffee at a local cafe and my phone begins to ring. It’s one of the sales drones at old company; I ignore it and thoroughly enjoy the freedom of being able to amble through a park without anywhere to be. The phone buzzes another eight or ten times by the time I get home. The poop has well and truly hit the windmill.

I check my voicemails, ignoring those I know from my previous employer and returning the phone calls of two ex-clients to let them know that my contract has ended and to check in with Dapper Dan for work in progress - or contact the technology provider for support requests.

Shortly afterwards I got a call from a bemused contact who works at the technology provider who’s been fielding support calls that I’d normally handle. He listens with increasing interest as I explained the situation, then tells me he’d call back shortly.

Ten minutes later he’s back with the Head of Product on the line, asking about my lunch preferences. She arranges to meet me at a nearby Thai place. Over a delicious red duck curry, she cheerfully describes the wonders of a career as a contractor. She also mentions the day rates for highly qualified, industry-certified staff, mentioned that Tech Provider were really struggling to find such staff and gives me the number of a senior manager who may or may not have been on Tech Supplier’s preferred supplier list. I call the recruiter on the way home.

Meanwhile, my collection of voicemails from Dapper Dan was growing by the hour as he came to grips with the breadth of the problem that he’d generated. At some point in the late afternoon, HR must’ve clicked to what had happened and I received a polite SMS from the personal number of the regional HR Directory asking if I was available for a quick chat.

I call through and discussed the options presented to me by Dapper Dan on Friday, and that I felt I had no option but to follow his instructions. They probed for more information and it became apparent they were unaware that Dapper Dan had pulled an ultimatum without first engaging HR. They then informed me that to benefit from the sale of my shares, I would need to transfer to the new company and remain in their employment for a full year.

When I explained that I had no such share options, there was a full four second silence. It transpires that this, too, was not adequately communicated to HR. I mentioned that I’d appreciate it if Dapper Dan could discontinue his voicemails to me as I found them unprofessional and had no intent of recommencing employment under his management. We ended the call politely, I wished them all the best and regretted the conversation had to happen under such circumstances.

My contract for Tech Provider came through via the PSL agency at 11pm that evening and was signed and returned the following day.

I was deployed to client site that Wednesday.

Post Departure... I met up with one of the old IT team at a conference three months after it all went down. He was ecstatic to fill me in on what had happened.

The first notice anyone got of it was the service desk asking who they should route my LastPass account to and why I’d be passing it around. One of the techs came up to my floor to find me, then found an empty desk. Asked around for where I’d moved to and noone knew. That was the first call, from one of the Sales drones trying to locate me.

The tech went to Dapper Dan’s desk and found my laptop with my ID and post-it note taped to it. He put two and two together, went back downstairs and checked the access logs and realised the last time I’d logged in was Friday. He then locked my account for security purposes and went to HR to check if there was a leaver form.

HR checks, no leaver form AND a great big red cross next to 'employment contract received'. HR calls Dapper Dan, who’s not in the office. Dapper Dan says ‘No, contract should be on my desk, it was on there on Friday, I’m out on the road at the moment, give me till lunch time and I’ll sort it out’. Obviously thinking that I’m grandstanding. Starts to call me and leave messages then gets progressively agitated as he realises I’m not coming back.

When he gets into the office, he can’t find the contract either so he goes to HR and ‘explains’ what has happened, says I have been stonewalling them and it’s cool, he’ll get it sorted, it’s between me and him. HR says erm, no, this is our thing now, and the HRD sends me the SMS.

Shortly after my phone conversation the HRD walks into a sales meeting and very abruptly pulls Dapper Dan out. They disappear into a meeting room where it may only be assumed that Dapper Dan was required to spell out exactly what had occurred and address the comments that I had made. I suspect he came completely clean at that stage.

Dapper Dan was subsequently reamed as only HR and senior management can ream a manager who’s f*cked up. He was demoted, decoupled from Marketing, his budget reduced by half and a new, separate Marketing function created.

His team were collectively put under review and forced to carry out their own reporting, tracking and metrics, which lacked the coherence and consistency that I’d been able to deliver. This reduced the capacity of the team. A couple of them left and they missed out on some key deals.

In the fallout they completely dropped the ball on the client website builds. They went to market to try and find a resource who could fulfil these builds, and Dapper Dan was reportedly astounded to discover that experienced technical marketing staff are both hard to find and expensive to recruit.

They were unable to fill the role and the builds were taken back inhouse by the tech provider, who now had an experienced resource to deploy (me). I ended up working on three of these at full utilisation rate, which was paid by the new company. I’m pretty sure Dapper Dan would’ve seen the funding arrangements for these and would know my day rate - which is substantially higher than his.

Much later... As the sales lead, Dapper Dan had to bear the displeasure of his superiors for the full twelve months before he could claim his share payout. It would’ve been a really, really shitty twelve months for him. He resigned within two weeks of the anniversary of the purchase, and the company enforced a six month notice period and another 12 month no-compete clause. Any benefit he would have received from the share payout would have been consumed over that 12 months unless he switched industries or moved cities. Last time I saw he was on the job market.

As for me? Happily living the life of the contractor. I get paid for the hours I work and I work the hours I want.

My old marketing manager is now VP of something at a large multinational. I’ve used her speech several times when giving young, frustrated staff career advice.

TL;DR Old school sales manager attempts to call my bluff. Hilarity ensues.

(source) (story by DanishProtestPig)

#prorevenge #by DanishProtestPig #pro revenge #revenge stories #pro revenge stories #pro #revenge #revenge story

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rosalynbair · 6 years

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Third Floor - The Office

PART ONE -The Office | Masterlist

Pairing: Manager!Kylo x Reader Words: 2230 Summary: Kylo is your manager at First Order Paper Co. And you like him. A lot. But relationships in the office are forbidden, so, what can you do? A/N: Well, here’s my first mini-series for this blog! This is just part one, so it’s more to set up the storyline than anything else. I hope you enjoy it!

Mornings are horrible as an adult. Getting up early and making sure you look professional enough to go out in public and get to work, trying to remember to eat something while also making a mental list of everything that needed to get done that day. Dealing with traffic and raising gas prices, being on time for every single thing and planning for things that probably won’t even happen. Kylo Ren hated mornings. He hated getting up early and putting on a suit. He hated that he had to style his hair perfectly so that it was neat and professional, but also covered his overly large ears. He hated staring in the mirror each morning, tugging a comb through his hair and washing his face, trying desperately to rid himself of the beauty marks that littered his features. He stares at himself in the mirror one more time, hands reaching up to grasp a few strands of hair, adjusting them to cover the tips of his ears. He leaves his large apartment, grabbing the keys to his car off of a small little antique table in the front foyer that his mother had made him get when he had bought the apartment. His dress shoes make a dull clacking noise against the tile of the apartment building’s lobby as he walked, barely looking at the receptionist who greeted him happily with a ‘Hello Mr. Ren!’ which he promptly ignored. He made his way to his car, turning the radio up to blast the classic rock music throughout the car. Anyone walking by would only be able to hear the thud of the bass in the songs. Kylo drove to his office building. A small eight floor building that the company rented the third floor of. For a New York building, it wasn’t as elegant as he wishes it could be. But it held his fifteen employees. He didn’t like most of them, boring people they were. They had petty problems. He would have transferred to a better branch years ago, if it weren’t for one person on his payroll. “Good morning Mr. Ren.” The security guard says, nodding to him as he enters the building, rolling his eyes when he sees that the elevator is still out of service. He grabs the handle of the door to the stairwell, grumbling quietly as he stomps quickly up the stairs. His mood only worsens when he notices that his floor is still dark, no one moving about. He unlocks the door, allowing it to slam shut behind him as he flicks on the light, the office being illuminated by the horrible yellow-white lights. He moves to his office, closing the door and sitting at his desk, not bothering to open the blinds before turning on his computer. An hour passed quietly, nothing disturbing the peace of the third floor until he heard the door open. A few voices floated over to him, which he recognized easily as some of his workers. He doesn’t look up, doesn’t go out and say hello to them. He never did. He does look up however, when Maribeth knocks on his door, peeking her head in with a smile. “Y/N is running late this morning, she messaged our work group chat earlier to say that her car wasn’t starting. Her taxi is stuck in traffic right now but she shouldn’t be too late coming in.” “Thank you.” He says, dismissing her by looking back down to his computer screen. Maribeth closes his door quietly to leave him be with his work. It’s about 45 minutes before you’re in the office, carrying three trays of coffees. You set them down on the reception desk, looking over everyone with a smile. “Good morning!” You say happily “Sorry for running so late!” You Start taking each coffee cup out of the trays, reading the small acronyms on the tops of them before giving them to their corresponding person. Each time you set one down on the desk, you’re greeted with a ‘thank you’. You tell each of them that it’s really no worry, and to enjoy it. You place your own coffee on your desk, turning on your monitor while glancing at the flashing red light on the phone to signal that you have messages that need to be listened to. You sigh, taking the final coffee – Large, dark roast, one sugar – Into your boss’ office. You knock before entering, making sure to be quiet just in case he was on the phone. When you step in, Kylo’s dark eyes move up to see you. “Good morning Y/N” “Good morning Mr. Ren.” You say with a smile, voice hitching up an octave. You would probably never get over how handsome he was. “I apologize for being so late, I would have messaged you, but I didn’t know how to get a hold of you.” You set the coffee down on a coaster on his desk, feeling his gaze on you the entire time. “It’s alright. I understand your morning. No phone calls have come th-“ The phone cuts him off, and you grab it quickly to answer it. “First Order Paper Co. Y/N speaking, how can I help you?” You say into the phone, keeping your voice steady as you spoke to one of your smaller clients. You put them on hold, dialing one of the extensions to the accounting department, asking them to pick up line one. You hang up the phone, looking to Kylo with a smile. He had been watching you throughout the conversation, seeing how even on a bad morning, you were still glowing with happiness. He was fairly sure that you weren’t real. Just a figment of his imagination for the last four years that you worked for him. But he knew he could never imagine such a beautiful and genuine human. “Buzz me if you need anything sir.” You tell him with your signature smile “And please be careful, the coffee is still hot!” You leave the office, closing the door quietly behind you as you go to your desk, sitting in the old office chair that creaked every time you moved. You set your coffee onto the coaster – you had emailed corporate last year asking for a set of coasters for the office after the custodian started complaining about coffee rings on the desks. You pick up the phone, dialling the number to the office’s voicemail. Each one, you wrote down on a memo pad of who had called, what it was regarding, and a call back number. For a few, you wrote who they were for. Two were for Kylo, three for sales, and one for HR. When the inbox was cleared of messages, you take each piece of paper that had been torn from the pad, walking around the office to give them to each department with a quick run down of what the messages had said. You knock on Kylo’s office door again, coming in and handing him the two pieces of paper. “Corporate wants to set up a meeting with you to have the annual progress report, and Senator Organa wants to know when you would like to go to lunch because you haven’t been returning your emails.” Kylo takes the memos from you, glancing over them with a sigh. “Call my mother back and tell her I’m busy this week. Tell corporate that I’m available for meetings next Tuesday.” He says, his voice echoing throughout the small office, throughout your bones. “Yes sir.” You say, smiling as you go to leave the office. “Y/N?” He asks, making you stop with your hand on the door handle. You turn to see him scribbling on a sticky note. “Yes sir?” You ask, taking your hand off the handle, turning to face him fully. “This is my cell phone number.” He tells you, holding the yellow paper out to you “I would like you to have it in case you need to contact me again.” Your cheeks slowly turn pink, your face warm. You step forward, taking it from him, forcing your hands not to shake. “Thank you sir.” You say, voice breathy. “Use it responsibly.” He tells you, his attention returning to his screen. He picks up the phone, dialling a number whole you turned to leave again. You return to your desk, spending the days answering the phone and replying to emails. Faxing out papers when needed, or printing off contacts to prepare for new clients coming in this week. As the work day comes to a close, you say goodbye to everyone who files out of the office with their bags and lunch boxes. When everyone was gone, you began your rounds around the office, checking that each monitor and computer were turned off for the night. You turn close the blinds in each room, flicking off the lights as you go. You close the safe in the back office and go to the thermostat, changing turning the heat off for the night so the office wouldn’t be charged with higher heating bills. You return to your desk, pulling on your light pea coat, tying the belt around your waist and grabbing your tote purse, pulling your phone out of the small pocket. You dial the number for the taxi company, putting the phone up to your ear as you listen to it ring. You go to voicemail, and you let out a sigh. You try to more taxi companies, one saying that they had no taxis available for at least another hour, the other saying that their bank machines in the cars weren’t working. You grumble as you begin to check bus routes on your phone, trying to plan out how long you would have to wait and which two transfers you would have to take and which train you would have to catch to get to your apartment. “Y/N?” Kylo asks as he comes out of his office with his coat on, a leather messenger bag resting on his shoulder. You look up, and he’s surprised to see a frustrated frown on your face for the first time since knowing you. “Are you alright?” “I’m fine sir.” You mumble, and he knows immediately that things are in fact, not fine. “Do you need a ride?” He asks you, his eyebrow raised slightly as he remembers that you took a taxi to work this morning. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. There has to be at least one taxi available in this damn city.” You say, scrolling through your contacts to find a company you hadn’t called yet. “Y/N, I’ll give you a ride home.” He tells you, not really giving you an option to decline his offer with the tone that he said it in. “Are you sure? I live a thirty minute drive away, and it’s rush hour.” You say, thinking about how long you would be in the car with your boss. “Yes, I’m sure. I don’t mind the drive as long as I know you get home safe.” He says, pulling his keys out of his pocket and walking towards the door, glancing over to you to see if you were following. You hold the strap of your purse tighter, following him out the door, making sure that the door was locked behind you while you follow him down the ugly linoleum tiled stairs. The night air was cold against your face when you stepped outside, waving goodbye to the security guard who was preparing for his final rounds before leaving to go home. Kylo tries not to look at you when the wind goes, blowing your hair wildly around your face while you jog to keep up with the tall man. He stops at a black Audi, unlocking the door and tossing his bag into the back seat before opening the drivers door to get in. You follow suit, setting your purse at your feet as you put on your seatbelt, turning slightly so your body was leaning towards him rather than being parallel to the front. You take in the man beside you, watching him put on his seatbelt and putting the keys in the ignition, turning them and letting the car hum to life. He has a strong profile, nose fairly straight despite how large it was. You could see a small bump on it, showing that it might have been broken once or twice in his life. His hair his most of his features from you, but you knew his face like you knew the back of your hand. He was handsome. You remembered having your job interview with him. You had been a stuttering, blushing mess while you answered his questions. He had been fairly quiet, taking notes about your answers before hiring you on the spot. You were sure you were going to relapse into that reaction during the time in the car with him. He looks over to you, his arm going out so he could put his hand on the back of your seat, his head turning so he could see properly and back out of the parking space. You look down, pretending you hadn’t just been staring at him like a love sick puppy. “So, where is your house?” He asks, stopping the car before he pulled out onto the street. “Go Left.” You instruct.

#kylo x reader #kylo ren #kylo ren imagine #kylo ren x you #kylo ren x reader #ben solo #ben solo imagine #ben solo x reader #ben solo x you #ben solo headcanons #kylo ren headcanons #star wars: the last jedi fanfiction #the last jedi imagine #rosalynbair #rosalynbair masterlist #third floor #manager!kylo #third floor imagine #part one

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entitledunemployedmillennial · 6 years

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WIOA Failure

Around 2018, my parents found out about WIOA through the Prince George's branch of the American Job Center and told me about the WIOA program at the Prince Georges County job center. The WIOA stands for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. It’s a law that allows states and counties to support unemployed Americans with federal funds for retraining via a private training center or community college or have paid on-the-job training from local employers working with the American Job Center, with the possibility of being picked up by the company for a full-time role. You can’t pick both options so it really depends on what you need.

Obviously, because I have no savings and my unemployment slowly running out, I had to take the paid on-the-job training. So I called the Job Center and expressed my interested in the WIOA program. And you have to express interest in it because this program is not well-advertised to the unemployed.

But I heard about WIOA from my parents who had the opportunity to get a job via their on-the-job training program but could not because they had health issues. But WIOA is known as the Work Investment and Opportunity Act. The allow allows grants for study for certs or classes or for on-the-job training. I opted for the on-the-job training because I needed the money and two there was the possibility for the company to pick me up.

After I made the appointment, and went to the appointment in the office, the co-ordinator which was a woman explains the entire process.The entire process but the actual process will not start until I fill out several forms. You have to fulfill a checklist of requirements to be approved for the program, then verify the fact that you’re a displaced worker or unemployed. In that form you have to explain why you’re having difficulty seeking work. I’ve explained in full honesty that I have autism spectrum disorder which makes it difficult to gain relationships in order to seek better work, gaining relationships with co-workers is practically the only way to gain employment, and difficulty seeking security clearances because I’ve been the sole provider of my parents for 4 years because they were unemployed.

Then you have do actual research on the job you want via a occupational research assignment. Doing that assignment is very difficult because in most companies you want to interview with, the HR departments are difficult to contact by phone or email. But what I had to do was print out three job openings that had the job title I want, and fill in the required information the best i can.

And, of course, you need to submit your resume.

After you submit the information by email or in person. You have to go to a orientation course that tells you everything about the WIOA, what the Act is, how does it work and the details about the options they provide. It was the same co-ordinator that handled my paperwork. From what I heard from her regarding being placed to a paid on-the-job training position that it takes from 2 weeks to 6 months, but on average it takes three months to be placed in one of those to start work. She knew how dire my situation is since I dropped hints on it.

Finally after the orientation class, you have to take a Prove-IT test. Now for that test, I was able to take the System Administration test, but the Oracle Java exams and SQL exams were very difficult to take because I had no knowledge of them and it was a surprise for me because I did not expect such a test.

All I could do was to guess the answers the best I could in order to complete the remaining exam.

Then finally, another co-ordinator which was another woman gave me a link to the System Administrator job for a local contractor for the Prince Georges county government. The job would be a great fit for me if I was actually hired. Then I encountered the same problems with dealing with third-party IT recruiters, but it’s worse since you’re dealing with the state government since if they screw up, they don’t get easily disciplined or fired unlike the private sector.

I did the same thing as I did to the IT recruiters. I followed up with them by phone every week to make sure I exist and to check up on the hiring process. Often times, I leave a voicemail message and I don’t get a return call back. Often times I had to do a weekly follow up on both co-ordinators. Each one told me that they will update me tomorrow or the next day. When tomorrow or the next day came and I don’t get a phone call back, and I had to be the one calling them back.

Then slowly, I found reasons why it took so long to hear anything back from the person who gave me that job link from the other co-ordinator: The first excuse: She went on vacation. The second excuse was that she got married after she went on vacation. Finally I was told that her office was being moved to a different location. Despite all of this, she could not take 30 minutes of her time following up on voice mail messages in between the times she went on vacation and marriage.

Finally, they admitted months later that the position I have applied to with the company that was supposed to work with the American Job Center with unemployed Americans who signed up with the WIOA was closed. Worse, basically told me that they threw their hands up instead of actually giving me a position that they would have worked with ASAP by telling me to go to a IT recruiter. The same IT recruiters that I contacted a week after I was laid off that months later threw their hands up and told me they actually have nothing for me after wasting 2 hours of time talking to them at their office and doing weekly follow ups over the phone.

Even the Government of the State of Maryland does not value the time or skills of the unemployed. Even if the unemployed person is disabled and has a autism spectrum disorder.

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liu-lang · 7 years

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mental health & job stuff - tw: eating disorders, anxiety, sexual assault, self harm

this week has been difficult. on tuesday and thursday, I saw my new therapist and psychiatrist respectively.

the moment i saw my therapist’s office, i had reservations on whether she could relate to me. she was a white woman, perhaps in her 30s who was wearing one of those ... convertible skirts ?... you know the one where you can wear as a skirt with a foldable waist band thing tt also can be worn as a tube top dress. i just google’d convertible skirt and patanogia came up (white ppl who have the luxury of time and money to go camping in the summer brand). her office smelt like one of those autumn-scented candles. she had a chakra wall hanging / scroll thing. the appointment started off pretty open-ended. i think she was trying to give me ~space~ to open up so that the conversation flowed naturally. but i just felt kinda lost bc it took me months through 2 clinics and 3 intake appts to finally see her. @ tt point, i’m tired of hearing “so tell me why you’re here today” .... my scepticism increased exponentially when she recommended practising yoga, being present and mindfulness training. honestly, idk why she works there ? bc she’s serving patients seeking treatment through the LA County Department of Mental Health. considering the issues they face and their lived experiences and socioeconomic status, i don’t think following a 10-min yoga lesson through an app (she seriously tried to recommend an app to me) is gonna make a difference. anyway, my next appt is in another 3 weeks.

my psychiatrist is an older Filipino women, maybe in her 40s or 50s ... and the way she talks kinda reminds me of my mum (who is a big trigger for me). she asked lots of racially microaggressive questions before reading my file. really reminds me of how my mum exotifies my sisters and i for being mixed. i had to repeat details about my race, country i grew up and family structure a lot. she asked about my religious beliefs and i affirmed that i still identify as a muslim then she asked me if all muslim women have to go through female genital mutilation (there is a history of FGM in my family) ... and just, i can’t. her question came out more as a statement that she wanted me to confirm. i had to explain how it’s more of a mix of sociocultural factors than religious practise, tt not every muslim woman is subjected to it and there is an international response to educate these communities on its harmful effects.

she also brought up the sexual assault tt happened when i was in high school. i alr felt distrustful and uncomfortable @ tt point ... i couldn’t make myself refer to him as a paedophile. she asked me who was this man and i just like... lost for words ? felt too ashamed ? ... i’m really stuck on how i couldn’t just refer to him for what he was. i guess i do have lots of lingering issues feeling like i am to blame for what happened. we also ran into some issues with my rx. my current pcp didn’t recommend me for my usual annual cardiology visit bc she believes i’ve been stable for a long enough time. but my psychiatrist strongly prefers if i can get an ECG. she did give me a rx for 10 mg lexapro though so... we’ll see how tt goes. i decided to finally seek medication because of my anxiety at work. i didn’t want it to affect my job performance. they also took my vitals ... the usual stuff, my blood pressure is low and i’m underweight. i need to go back for blood work on tuesday.

speaking of job performance ... i went to a career fair at my alma mater. i had a federal work study position at the career development center as a communications assistant (basically a combo of outreach, distribution, marketing, social media management, data anallytics) so it was different to be on the other side of things. one of the employers present contacted me for an interview. the interview was successful and they extended me an offer. then they gave me the runaround for 2 weeks and i received an email yesterday rescinding the job offer. needless to say, i was blindsided. here’s the time line of events

10/19 thursday - attended job fair

10/20 friday - received a call to schedule an interview then an email confirmation for interview

10/24 tuesday - went in for interview (had to move my psychiatrist appt which essentially changed my psychiatrist so ... idk if i could have had a better fit. i’m miffed abt this.)

10/25 wednesday - phone call from HR offering me the position, they told me i could have until 10/30 to make a decision. they also said they wanted a 11/06 start date if possible. i told them i had to give 2 weeks notice at my current employer as proper protocol

10/27 friday - i rang HR and left a voicemail indicating i’d be interested and wanted to discuss benefits etc

10/30 monday - i rang HR again and told them i had left them a message on friday and would love to hear back from them soon. no phone call back. in the afternoon, i sent an email to the recruiter i originally handed my resume to letting him know i’ve been unsuccessful in reaching the HR person and would appreciate an update. he rang me back assuring me the offer was still on the table and they would gladly have me and he would email me an official offer by the end of day, also stressed 11/06 start date and i again repeated the 2 weeks notice spiel and could HR send me a summary of the benefits

11/01 wednesday - i ring HR and finally speak to the HR person. she didn’t receive any of my messages and the recruiter didn’t inform her of what i requested. she said she usually is not in the office mondays and fridays. she sounds in a hurry and is in the middle of doing payroll. i keep it short and express interest in accepting the offer. could i have summary of the health insurance plan and possibly negotiate a slightly higher salary ? she agrees to send me a official written offer by the end of the day or tomorrow. again they emphasise 11/06 start date... i’m like really confused but just repeat that i would love to start asap but also what about 2 weeks notice

11/02 thursday - i receive an email from HR rescinding the job offer with the explanation they had already filled in all the positions they were recruiting for.

this post is getting super long. there were red flags abt this company from the beginning but i was holding out hope bc surely a university would have thoroughly vetted the employers they invite to a career fair. also bc i worked for the CDC and knew these employers & established a rapport through my position there. i’m still trying to process everything. i’m mostly crushed at the realisation tt i will have to work another black friday in retail. i would hear things abt ppl not being able to work bc of mental health issues. i nvr discredited them but i also didn’t really have a concept of it ? now i have a lived experience. it is tortuous having to think of slogging through another holiday season when i was so close to leaving. i had a co-worker who just left and we were congratulating each other on finally getting out. it feels so defeating and depressing to still be stuck / left behind. this feels so much worse than an outright rejection. added onto normal anxiety associated w/ the recent grad job hunt, now i’m catastrophising what if this happens with another potential employer ? i keep wondering about the reasons why they rescinded ? maybe i shouldn’t have negotiated ? maybe i should have just accepted when they rang - i didn’t have any other offers on the table... maybe i tried to get in touch with them too much ? maybe i didn’t pass the background check ? maybe something went wrong w/ my references ? ...even though they kept insisting on like an impossible start date plus never sending me an official offer therefore preventing me from resigning and agreeing to their start date. i kinda want to have a meeting with my ex boss to let her know about my experience and maybe get advice on um... being aware of warning signs to prevent this from happening again ? but i don’t want it to sound like i’m blaming the university for bringing on shady companies ... i know my experience is not reflective of everyone else’s. it’s hard not to internalise this and feel like there is something wrong with me. another thing is ... i have like no written evidence of everything in between so on email it just looks like i had an interview and then they rejected me. and my phone calls which they nvr answered looks like i was the one hounding them when ... understandably i wanted to move the hiring process along bc they were adamant on the 11/06 start date. i also needed the time to make the very big financial decision of buying a fucking car in order to get to work (the office is in orange county which has 0 convenient transport options esp. going btwn LA and orange counties)

i’m really anxious abt having more allergic reactions at work - especially bc the managers now know. i have an appt with an allergist but it’s not until january. idk if my skin can survive. i can hide it when it’s on my body but lately it’s been flaring up on my hands - which i use to touch merchandise, handle money, stock shelves, build displays ... just lots of touching and hand contact with possible allergens. i cried in the car after work yesterday and have been battling thoughts of self harm since wednesday. sigh... i’ll have to call this afternoon asking for next week’s work schedule at the store. tt familiar feeling of being overwhelmed and wanting everything to stop is coming back.

#personal

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aligarbawaukesha · 4 years

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How to Respond to an Interview Request (Examples)

Nothing beats the feeling of getting an interview invitation (except maybe receiving a job offer!)… but don’t rush to respond just yet.

You need to make sure you respond correctly to secure the interview. So in this article, I’m going to walk you through how to respond to an interview request from a recruiter or hiring manager… while avoiding the mistakes many job seekers make.

Then we’ll look at examples to help you respond to your invitation to interview even faster. You can use these templates for emails, but also phone calls and voicemails.

Let’s get started…

How to Respond to an Interview Request by Email or Phone

The best way to respond to an interview request is to thank the employer, confirm your interest in having an interview, and provide your availability. Do this whether or not they specifically asked for availability. This will help avoid additional back-and-forth emails and demonstrate to the employer that you’re someone who takes initiative and has strong communication skills.

This is how you accept an interview professionally.

Note: The advice in this article is appropriate for emails or phone calls/voicemails! Choose whatever you’re most comfortable with and play to your strengths! I do better with email, so that’s what I typically do myself!

If you would prefer to respond to the interview request by phone, or if they asked you to call them, then do that instead. And all of the sample email templates that I’m about to share will work whether calling or emailing.

How to Accept an Interview: Email Templates

How to respond to a recruiter email if interested – sample

If you’re contacted by a recruiter who you’ve never spoken with, then you can use the sample email to respond and express interest. Just reply to the same email address that they contacted you from.

Hello NAME,

Thank you for contacting me about this role. It sounds interesting. I’d love to hear more about the position.

Here is my availability to talk on the phone this week:

The best number to reach me:

Thanks, and I look forward to talking with you.

Best regards,

Your name

Note: Try to include multiple days/times in terms of availability. And if they don’t already have your contact info, then include that, too.

Also, make sure you have a professional-sounding voicemail recording! You don’t want employers and recruiters calling you and hearing an unprofessional voicemail that you recorded when you were in high school and forgot about!

How to respond to an email for a phone interview

If you’ve applied for a job and the hiring manager or HR department has responded to your job application and invited you for a phone interview, here’s a sample template you can use to respond.

Hi NAME,

Thank you for getting back to me. I’d love to have a phone interview to learn more about the position.

My availability is:

The best number to reach me is:

Please let me know which day/time works best so I can mark my calendar. Also, if you’re able to tell me who will be calling, that’d be a big help. I always like to research and prepare ahead of time!

Best regards,

Your name

This is a great way of responding to an interview request because you’re avoiding back-and-forth emails for the scheduling, and you’re also finding out the person you’ll be talking to so you can prepare ahead of time!

How to respond to a face-to-face interview request

Next, if you’ve been invited to meet in-person, you can use this template to set up a day and finalize everything!

Hello NAME,

Thank you for getting back to me. I’d love to come in and have the interview. Is this a full-day interview? Or how many hours should I set aside?

I’m available at the following days/times:

Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Your name

This is a basic structure for responding to the company, but you can also add other details/questions as needed. For example, if you want to ask for the names of the people you’ll be meeting with, or the number of people you’ll be meeting, that’s a good idea. If you need help finding the company location for a face-to-face interview, you can ask if they have instructions for arriving, too.

However, I like to get the scheduling sorted out first, and then ask other questions. That’s why I kept the email template above dead-simple. Take it one step at a time, and you’ll avoid confusion and complicated emails.

So I’d recommend using the sample email above, and then ask further questions once a day and time is set!

How to confirm an interview by email (after it’s scheduled)

Finally, if you have an interview scheduled and just want to confirm the time or make sure that it’s still happening, you can use the following template (send it to the same email address you’ve been communicating back-and-forth with for prior scheduling):

Hello NAME,

I just wanted to confirm that we’re still having the interview on ___ (day) at ___ (time).

Thank you, and I look forward to talking with you!

Best regards,

Your name

Responding if You’re Not Interested

If you’re not interested in having an interview, you can simply send a brief email saying, “I appreciate you thinking of me for the opportunity, but I’m not interested.”

You can also offer to stay connected in the future if you’d like (if it’s a recruiter or hiring manager you think you’ll want to speak with down the road).

And if you’d like to offer a reason for declining, that’s fine. But you’re not obligated.

You can also offer to refer a friend or colleague for the opportunity if you know someone who is qualified.

Questions to Ask When Responding to Interview Requests

Next, here are a couple of questions to consider asking in your email or message when using the templates above. Just put your questions at the end if you’re unsure of any of these topics:

If you’re unsure of the format of the interview for the job (phone, video, in-person, etc.), ask this when you reply.

If you don’t know who you’ll be speaking to or meeting with, check this as well. Don’t worry – the templates I’m going to share coming up in the next section will help with this.

And if you’re not sure of the exact opportunity you’re being considered for, ask this as well. The easiest way to do this is to simply ask for a copy of the job description. Include this line in your reply: “Is it possible for you to send me a copy of the job description ahead of time? I always like to research and prepare.”

Mistakes to Avoid When You Accept an Interview

If you read the tips above, you should know how to respond to an interview request to get an interview quickly and make a great impression at the same time.

However, there are some BIG mistakes you need to avoid while doing this, so I want to make sure you know those, too…

First, don’t let your interview invitation sit for too long. You should try to respond within 24-48 hours if possible. You don’t need to be checking email constantly, but don’t leave the company waiting for a week, either.

Also, don’t respond without taking the time to indicate at least one day or time that would work for an interview. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate that you take initiative and are a great communicator. So I’d recommend providing multiple days/times to help them schedule the interview.

Next, always proofread your email! Having a typo or mistake in your email probably won’t cost you the interview (unless it’s a REALLY bad mistake), but it does make a poor impression.

So always check your email for mistakes before sending! Proofread from top-to-bottom, and bottom-to-top. That’s a good trick that will help you catch more errors!

And finally – the biggest mistake of all – going into the interview without preparing! It takes a lot of effort to find a good position to apply to, submit your resume and paperwork, schedule an interview, etc. Right?

So don’t throw away your hard work and waste the opportunity by letting other job seekers out-prepare you! In the next section, I’ll share my best tips and resources so you can beat the competition!

What to do After You Schedule an Interview

After you’ve set up a time to go on your interview, here are steps to help you prepare:

First, research the company.

Practice the common questions that employers ask, too.

Also, work on your body language. It’s not just about what you say in the interview; it’s about how you look and sound while saying it. This can set you apart from other job seekers!

You can also use the time before the interview to ask any further questions you have – about finding the company’s office, who you’ll be talking to (recruiter or hiring manager, etc.)

And finally… Monitor your email address in the days/hours leading up to the interview in case they contact you about any changes.

Changes in schedule happen… don’t panic

It’s not necessarily a bad sign if the company changes the timing of their invitation to interview. Hiring managers and recruiters have busy schedules and sometimes mini-emergencies happen.

So if they do request a change, just do your best to find a new time that’ll work.

However, don’t be afraid to say what works for YOU, too. It’s completely fine to say, “Thanks for letting me know about the scheduling conflict today. That’s no problem. Unfortunately, the new time you suggested for Monday won’t work for me. Could we do something from 3 pm – 5 pm Monday, or 12 pm – 5 pm Tuesday?” If a certain day or time doesn’t work for you, don’t be afraid to say so.

The post How to Respond to an Interview Request (Examples) appeared first on Career Sidekick.

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mrsteveecook · 5 years

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employer is angry I didn’t show up for an interview I didn’t know about, how much working from. home is too much, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Employer is angry that I didn’t show up for an interview I didn’t know about

There is a job I really want. I applied and didn’t hear back for a while. After a few months, they emailed me stating that my interview would be on X date with no time nor location. They had scheduled it for the next day and it was already evening. I wasn’t in town and wouldn’t be back until the next week. I sent an email in reply, letting them know and that I would be happy to reschedule.

Fast forward to today, which is five days later. Last night they sent me an email with today’s date, time, and a location for the interview. I am still away and hadn’t checked my email. I only saw it because I woke up this morning with several angry phone calls and emails asking where I was and why hadn’t I shown up yet. My morning is their afternoon, which is when they had the interview set up. I had no idea they had an interview set up! At first I thought the voicemails were for someone else because they didn’t mention my name but the emails do. I have no idea how to respond. Help!

It’s bizarre to send an email that simply assigns the time and date for an interview if you’re sending that email the night before. It’s true that some employers do just assign interview times (which is a problematic practice for obvious reasons — people have lives and other commitments), but it’s absolutely ludicrous to do that the night before the assigned date. Plenty of people wouldn’t even see that email in time (as happened to you), and many/most others would already have commitments for the following day (like, uh, their current jobs that they haven’t taken time off from).

I honestly would rethink your assessment that this is a job you really want. I know that’s easy for me to say, but truly, what you are seeing is an organization that acts without regard for people’s time — and does that in a particularly irrational way. It’s annoying enough to deal with that as a candidate; think about what it would be like to deal with that as an employee.

If you really want to pursue it, you could say, “I typically need a few days notice for an interview because of my work and travel schedule. I’m currently out of town, but will be back on (date). I would love to set up an interview for any time after that, as long as I have a few days notice and time to make sure the time works on both ends.” If they find that very reasonable statement to be overly demanding, please please pay attention to what you’re learning about how they operate.

2. How often should you send “thanks” emails to close the loop?

When is it appropriate to send thank-you emails? I have a colleague who thanks me for everything, like literally. Everything. For example, I email a vendor, they email me back saying “I will find the PowerPoint and forward it,” and my colleague will reply thank you to BOTH emails, the first email saying they’ll forward it, and the email with the actual content.

I barely send thank-you emails myself though — if I email a vendor, and they say “I don’t work here anymore, please email X,” I wouldn’t email “thank you!” back. But if a colleague did me a favor, I would answer “thank you.”

I am all for emailing less, since I easily receive 100 emails per day, and we have strict cut-off times for placing orders, so I need to get through all my emails as quickly as possible, every day. What’s the right answer here?

What your colleague is doing sounds excessive. That said, a lot of people use thank-you emails not really to convey “you have my heartfelt gratitude” but rather as a simple acknowledgement that the message was received. That can still be annoying when it’s excessive, but sometimes it can help to reframe it in your head like that if you’re finding it annoying.

There aren’t really universal guidelines about when to send a thank-you/acknowledgement email and when not to, but if I were going to come up with some, I’d say that if you’re emailing the same person multiple times a day, there’s no need for the “thanks” every time. If you’re corresponding with them much less frequently, it makes more sense as a way to close the loop on the exchange. Also, you really don’t need to reply-all on those “thanks” emails — it’s especially annoying to have your inbox fill up with “thanks” emails that you’re just cc’d on.

I also have a not-entirely-fully-formed theory that the number of “thanks” emails you send sometimes corresponds to where you are in your professional lifecycle. When you’re sort of up and coming (junior and early mid-level roles), you sometimes have more of a drive to conscientiously ensure people see that you’re on top of things. You’re efficient! You’re churning through emails! You’re appreciating everyone who’s helping you! And it’s not that you don’t care about those things as you become more senior, but sometimes there’s less of an orientation toward displaying them in this particular way (plus you’re often busier and just prioritizing other things). As I said, it’s not fully formed yet! But I’ve definitely seen that evolution in myself and others.

3. Am I working from home too much?

I report directly to my CEO as a department of one (Compliance) and my work computer was recently upgraded to a laptop and I was given VPN access and permission to “work off-site whenever I wanted” (direct quote).

How much is too much though? I’m sort of an introvert in a noisy cubicle farm so I actually very much prefer working from home. I also had previous careers in freelance/self-employment so I have no issues staying motivated at home. I’m always in the office for meetings and I answer work emails/IMs instantly. I know we have keyloggers that measure mouse movement as a productivity monitoring metric so I’m actually probably more productive when home because I’m paranoid that they’ll accuse me of not working because the mouse wasn’t moving. Unless I have afternoon meetings, I’ve been working in the office in the morning and working from home in the afternoons.

That said, I’m feeling self conscious about it. Our timekeeping system doesn’t accept off-site IP addresses so I have to email the HR director for every off-site punch and she hasn’t said anything but emailing her daily for my off-site punches feels excessive. Some of my cubicle neighbors have made comments about “how nice it must be.” Which felt like it was a loaded comment.

I guess I’m feeling guilty and self-conscious about how much I’m working from home? Aside from the outside sales people who are on the road regularly or based in other cities, no one works off-site as much as me. I’m getting everything done working (roughly) 20 hours at the office and 20 hours from home. Is this something I should continue to do until my boss feels it is affecting my productivity or am I breaking office etiquette here? I only report to one person (the big boss), and I am a department of one so no peers or underlings to worry about having access to at the office.

If you were working remotely nearly all the time, I’d be more concerned about whether that was outside of the spirit of what they really intended by “work off-site whenever you want.” But if you’re in the office 20 hours a week, what you’re doing it likely fine. Still, though, it’s worth asking — because there are definitely managers who say “it’s fine to do X as much as you want” but then it turns out they really mean “you can do a little of X.” (And it’s not that they intend to be misleading; it’s that they don’t think it all the way through before they say it and they assume that the playbook they have in their heads — “of course doing X every day would be too much!” — is the same one everyone has.)

I think you’ll get a lot of peace of mind by just running this by your boss. Say something like, “I’ve been working off-site about half the time, and am in the office half-time. It’s going really well — I actually get more done when I’m at home because it’s easier to focus — but I want to make sure that split sounds fine to you.” It’s true that asking this opens up the door for her to say no, but if that’s her take, it’s better for you to know that now than find out later on anyway. But I think there’s a good chance she’ll tell you it’s fine, and then you can stop worrying.

4. Visible dog bite in a public-facing role

Last night I got bitten by a dog while I was out on a walk. It was a rather traumatic experience and has left me with very visible wounds on my wrist/hand. At the hospital, they instructed me to keep it uncovered until it is healed, however I’m nervous about doing this at work since I am in a public-facing role. My boss and coworkers are great and supportive, but the thought of a host of strangers I encounter on a daily basis asking about it is filling me with dread. Even just saying “I was bitten by a dog” out loud causes me to tear up (I was maimed by a dog as a small child and I think this is bringing up a lot of old fear). What advice do you have for managing this situation?

You are 100% allowed to come up with a cover story that doesn’t make you tear up every time you say it! The only rule on cover stories for accidents is that they can’t be more glamorous than the actual story. (I just made this rule up.) So you can’t say “I got this sky-driving with Hugh Jackman,” but you can say “I fell while doing some yard work” or “I had a run-in with a fence” or anything else that could plausibly explain the wounds.

I am not generally a fan of lying, but you’re really not obligated to re-live a traumatic ordeal in order to satisfy strangers who are mostly attempting to be kind when they see someone with an obvious injury. Alternately, though, you can just be vague: “Oh, it’s a long story, but I’ll be totally fine — just need to leave it uncovered to heal for a few days.” Or jokey/vague: “Ladybug attack! But I’ll be fine; it looks worse than it is.”

5. Should I ask for a raise once I get my master’s?

I’m going to be graduating with my master’s degree in about a year and am working full time in my field. I’ve been working in my field for about five years now, but started at my current job in September. Once I get my master’s, should I ask for a raise? I’d much rather stay in my current job than have to look elsewhere just because I graduated with a higher degree.

There are a small number of jobs where getting a master’s will justify a pay raise, but for most jobs, that on its own doesn’t do it. Raises are based on your actual contributions to the company — your work quality, accomplishments, etc. So just completing an additional degree doesn’t on its own warrant a raise (and in many organization it would come across as naive to base a raise request on that).

However, if it’s been a year or more since your last raise and you’ve been doing excellent work, you can certainly construct a raise request based on that.