Work Story

A few months back, I attended a resume workshop where I learned a new term, "in transition." "In transition" people are those seeking jobs and are currently without one. So, when people ask what you do for a living, you say, "I'm in transition." And then you give a 15 second "elevator speech" which is basically your way of marketing yourself and letting others know what job opportunities are of interest to you. So, I'm in transition...

My last job was providing research to internal clients for an electronics company. I was part of the company's market research team which was under the corporate marketing umbrella. It was a great contract position and I learned a lot. Sadly, the company underwent massive layoffs and any attempts to make my position a permanent one were null.

Previous to that, I worked two years for a different company in accounts receivables. This was my first corporate job. I've also worked as a filer, data entry clerk, receptionist and had short lived careers in retail.

It's been a trying process keeping my sanity intact during this recession. My most recent interview was the worst one that I have experienced so far. Within five minutes of the interview, the hiring manager answered his cell phone and proceeded to hold a conversation with the other person on the line. My first urge was to tell the hiring manager that I was no longer interested in the position and walk out, but I didn't. I would use the experience to become a stronger interviewee.

I sat through another phone conversation, inappropriate personal questions about how I was "surviving" without a job, personal attacks about the length of time between now and my last job and basically felt like I was trying to convince the hiring manager that the statistics I was spewing about the unemployment rate were not made up numbers. Needless to say, I didn't get the position.