Nightmare Again: Part III of IV.
Time for some truth. I believe that most nightmares are caused by events that occurred during our waking hours. Situations such as job loss and long term unemployment create mental wounds, and for many of us, those wounds are manifested in nightmares. Sometimes nightmares are a collage of unresolved items that happened during our waking hours. After I wrote Part 3 of Nightmare….Again, I thought about what event could have caused that type of nightmare.
I did not have to think very hard. In 2007, I went on a business trip to Minneapolis. At that time the company I was working for was in danger of losing a major account. The purpose of that trip was to prevent the loss of that account. Shortly before our visit, there was a major disaster in that city. The Interstate 35W Bridge had collapsed, resulting in several deaths. As fate would have it, the hotel we booked was about six blocks away from that bridge, and the room I occupied had a birds eye view of the damaged bridge. The trip ended up a disaster: we lost the account, and perhaps it planted the seeds that eventually caused the downsizing of the company and my subsequent unemployment. Continue reading for Part III…
Time to turn back the clock. The Time: November 2009! The place: Somewhere in Suburban New York. Although I did not have a job offer yet, things were looking promising. I had just completed four interviews. I also had jury duty, and I wondered if there would be a conflict between interview time and jury duty. Somehow I managed to make my way through, but there were some moments that I was very concerned. As the results came in, one company turned down my application and notified me within twenty four hours after my interview. The other interview was for a position I had no experience for. True I could get training, but I wanted to see how the other interviews turned out. The third was one that my headhunter told me that I would definitely get an offer for….That definitely ended up turning into a definitely not, and was the basis for my “Cautionary Tale” writing. The final one…well we’ll get to that one later (as that is where I am now employed).
I am fortunate in that one of the talents I am blessed with is an excellent long term memory. I am not alone when it comes to this talent. I remember, many years ago, and interview with the late actor Lee Marvin. He told his interviewer that he remembered his birth! The interviewer had mentioned that people who have excellent long term memories may have poor short term memories.
Whether we are employed or not there are some days that are good, and some days that are bad. This was not turning out to be one of my better days. My network was silent for the third day this week and I was just about to give up my search for the day when the phone rang. It was a headhunter, who had arranged an interview with a company that was very similar to the one I used to work for. I remember feeling very comfortable as several top managers each spent an hour discussing my credentials. Three weeks prior, I had completed my third interview with this company. After I completed the interview, my headhunter called me and congratulated me on a job well done. “You are the top candidate for this position,” she happily chimed. “I just got a call from Human Resources and they told me that it is most likely that you will get an offer next week!” One week turned into two, and I called my headhunter, asking why I had not received an offer. “Do not worry,” the headhunter seemed very self assured. “For all practical purposes, you can stop your job search. The only reason why you have not received an offer is because top management had a meeting with HR. Top management told the Human Resources manager that, due to the high unemployment rate, I expect your department to produce at least four candidates before we make a choice. We have only provided three candidates so far, and you are the top choice. We just have not found another person who can compete with your record.”
job in his chosen field. Less than one month after he started this position, his father passed away. He followed the appropriate protocol and was given a one week leave by his employer. On the day he returned to work, he was immediately summoned to his manager’s office where he was told that his position was terminated. He had asked for an explanation and was told that New York is an “Employment At Will” state and that the company need not offer an explanation. He tried to get his employer to elaborate, to no avail. It was another several months before my friend secured another position, however the actions of his previous employer angered me. I had asked my friend if he was considering any legal action. His response was negative. All he wanted to do was to go back to work.