On August 15th and after 15 years with WAMU/Chase, I resigned. I was supposed to start a new job on that same day, but that job fell through. I probably should’ve held off on resigning and used one more sick day, but I was excited and eager to start something new. It was a remote job as a content writer for a company that sells mattresses, bedding, bedframes, and pillows. As soon as I realized that the job wasn’t going to happen, I sulked for a few minutes and then got right back to the job search process.
I thought that by pleading my job situation to my LinkedIn network, somebody would step up and help me with some contacts to contact or even a job but that didn’t happen. I am a private person and didn’t spread the news that I was unemployed on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or even a blog post. I only told my parents, my brother, and two of my former co-workers at Chase. That was it. Of course, Nina and Niko knew.
I am fortunate that my medical, vision, and dental insurance expired on August 31st for us and on September 1st, Nina enrolled us in her medical, dental, and vision plan from her job as a few weeks prior, she switched to fulltime to be the sole breadwinner. So, no lapse in coverage.
I have experience in unclaimed property, banking, content writing, and proofreading, and that is what I focused on. I searched both remote and local jobs. For local jobs, I always searched the company for a map of where they were located just so I could imagine the drive to and from.
It was stressful and depressing for me applying for jobs which I knew I could perform the duties in the description but didn’t quite have the experience. I always expected someone on the other side to see my resume and application, and immediately call me to schedule an interview. Then, after the interview, they offer me the job. Nope, it doesn’t work that way.
Actually, that did happen to me a long time ago when I was a Box Office Representative for the Majestic and Empire Theater in downtown San Antonio – interview and offer happened on the same day!
What frustrated me the most was that some of the jobs I applied for, almost immediately, I would get a rejection email. Really? Did anybody even look at my resume? Probably not. Oh well, their loss is what I have to say to all of them.
When I did have interviews, I hated waiting for a yes or a no and would often find myself emailing them for updates – after a few days.
One of my pet peeves was applying for jobs for where the salary was not mentioned. I have a family to support and need to make sure I can bring in enough money to cover my bills and still have some left over to have fun. When these jobs were interested in me, I would ask for the salary range before anything else. I don’t want to waste my time or their time if the pay is below what I was targeting.
I had an interview where the position was already filled, but the HR manager still wanted to talk to me because they had other jobs available. She told me that she liked me, but nothing ever panned out with any of the other jobs I applied for.
One interview I had, the HR manager was going to refer me to the hiring manager as they both were impressed with my resume. Everything about this company checked a yes for me. After a few days of waiting, the HR manager told me that they have decided to promote an internal applicant. Yeah, I was disappointed. But I moved on. I definitely would’ve accepted this job.
Another interview I had, I almost left halfway through as I wasn’t clicking with the interviewers, and I had a hard time answering the questions of give me an example of when you had to deal with adaptability, diversity, process improvements, and innovation. They also didn’t look like they reviewed my resume thoroughly. A few days later, I got the rejection email. If the pay was a little bit more than what was advertised, I would’ve had to do some serious thinking about it.
I can’t even begin to count how many rejection emails I got.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTERST IN THE POSITION. You are welcome and I really enjoyed your online job application system especially where it asked me what I had for breakfast and if it included cheese, please tell us what type of cheese – because that is super important to the job duties.
Why can’t there be a universal job application system instead of a million? I hate having to register and enter my information and when I use my resume to prefill some of the tabs, it doesn’t always work.
AT THIS POINT, WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT WE ARE MOVING FORWARD WITH OTHER CANDIDATES WHOSE EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE ARE MORE ALIGNED TO THE JOB. Wrong! I have 15 years of experience in a bank, a master’s degree, and I am awesome. Nobody else has that.
WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU, HOWEVER, THAT WE HAVE COMPLETED ALL THE NEEDED SCREENING AND THE POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED. What is their name so I can stalk their social media and decide for myself if they are better than me? I can guarantee that in a few weeks or months, that that job will be posted again. That has happened to me at some of the internal jobs I applied for at Chase and also other companies.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REVIEW OTHER OPPORTUNITIES WITH OUR COMPANY. No thanks. Unless I can run the HR department!
Man, I could easily write a book about my job hunting experiences overall throughout my life.
One week, I had two on-site interviews and one phone call interview. It felt really good that three companies were interested in me for totally different jobs.
On that Monday morning, I got a job offer for a job I interviewed for a few weeks prior; I was expecting it. I was planning on accepting it but waited to see if anything else that week would be better.
I was still planning on going to the on-site interviews. But I had a small problem as I didn’t have any khakis. I gained some weight since I started working from home and got rid of a lot of clothes. So, I ordered a pair of khakis online at Target and picked them up at curbside a few days prior to the interviews on Monday and Tuesday afternoon.
Also, on that Monday morning, I had a phone call interview with Union Bank also, and a few hours later, they offered me a job. I was surprised it came so quickly as they told me they had other people they were interviewing and should have an answer by the end of the week. I guess my experience was just too much to pass up!
Yeah, two job offers in one day and both were remote, so I canceled both on-site interviews, and said yes to the job that paid more. I kept the khakis because they are nice looking, fit me well, and I can always wear them on a date with my wife or on our cruise.
I am happy to announce that on October 11th, I started working remotely for Union Bank as a Financial Analyst. I was a bit nervous on that first day, but after I got my access setup and logged in to the VDI, I was good to start training. I won’t have any issues getting up in the morning as I have a Niko school alarm set for 6:30 am, but I probably won’t be able to take him to school or pick him up – at least not for the first few weeks of my work. Nina is more flexible in her work as she just has to work a certain number of hours and I have to work between a certain time.
It was weird starting a new job as the last time that happened was when I started at WAMU Bank in 2007. My wife also started the same day as me as at WAMU and after a few months, she arrived in my department – and that is how we met.
When I arrived at the bank in 2007, I had absolutely no experience in the financial services industry. What I did have was three years of telephone customer service experience with the San Antonio Express News. The position at the bank was providing bank policy and procedures to branch employees. It was a substantial increase in pay, and I was ready for something new as there were a lot of changes taking place at the newspaper.
In May of 2006, I was diagnosed with a rare voice condition called Abductor Spasmodic Dysphonia. It is in the same family as Parkinson’s – for mine, it’s involuntary muscle spasms in my vocal cords. Botox injections and speech therapy; I have had both, help manage the muscle spasms as there is no cure for it yet. My voice is doing really good now, but some people with the same condition have it much worse. So, when I got the offer from WAMU, talking on the phone was the only negative.
One of my co-workers at the newspaper, Jeff, also resigned at the same time I did. He let it be known to us that he was going to WAMU. I, on the other hand, kept my plans private. So, when training started in 2007 at WAMU, Jeff was surprised to see me but also, we were glad we had each other. We were the only two without any banking experience. There were about 25 people in the training class, and when I left, only 5 remained – one of them being Jeff.
I don’t really want to get into too many details about it, but I will say that I took a few weeks off after training concluded to get a Botox injection and some speech therapy sessions to help my voice get stronger. It worked, and I was tethered to a phone until April of 2010, when I escaped the phone world and entered the unclaimed property world.
It was very nice that for the first seven weeks of school for Niko, Nina and I were able to drop him off and pick him up together. I did get naps in which was very nice and ran errands for the household. But I was eager to get back on the work side and bring in income for us.
I also had three weeks from the time I accepted the new position till I started, and it was a really good feeling knowing I had a job lined up and didn’t have to keep looking for another one.
I am very glad, though, that I can stop telling prospective employers that I am a white male who is not a veteran, I am not disabled, and I have no criminal background. One question I enjoyed answering was the highest level of education which for me is MASTERS. One job I applied for asked me my religion and I considered stopping but rather I selected other!
One thing I am going to try to do to coincide with this new job is to eat healthier. I always start it and do good for a few weeks, and then I just fall off a cliff and eat anything! I feel good, but I know I can feel better and losing a few pounds won’t hurt. I also know that I will have to find a way to exercise so I will strive for some short walks in the evening. Wish me luck on this please as I really like to eat, especially stuff that doesn’t always agree with my stomach. I know, it’s always easy for me to write about than it is to actually to do it.
