After getting laid off from Aradiant, I found myself in a position I hadn't been in for more than eight years: Having to find a job from scratch. A lot had changed since the last time I was unemployed. The Internet was now available for assisting me in my job search. I was optimistic that I would be able to find a position with comparable pay in very little time.
One of the things recommended to me was to post my resume on Monster.com. In addition to there being a number of job listings, companies could see my resume and contact me to come in to interview for a position I may be qualified for. The day after I uploaded my resume, I received an e-mail from a company called Primerica to consider applying for them. I didn't really know much about the company, but they featured the umbrella logo that was used by the Travelers Group. I'd heard of them and figured this was a reputable company.
I visited their website and viewed the job description. They were looking for people to become financial planners and sell life insurance policies. It appeared that employees would be sent to the homes of people who contacted Primerica for financial solutions. They would do some kind of analysis on their earnings, and if there was enough funding left over, the employees would try to talk the clients into purchasing life insurance or some other product. I didn't want to do this. I then looked at the fine print of the job description. It said that employees would be required to pay $200 to go through some kind of insurance licensing and certification. I definitely knew that I didn't want to do this.
However, I saw this as an opportunity to brush up on my interviewing skills. I called them up. The person I talked to asked if I had seen everything about the requirements for the position online. I assumed he meant the part that I would have to shell out money in order to work there. I said I had. We arranged a date and time for an interview.
I dressed up like I meant it. I went down to the office. I could see they had a room set up for a presentation for about 20 people. However, I was the only one there. I wasn't sure if they were going to do an interview or a full presentation with a lot of other people. A man came out and asked me to come into the office. I went in and the interview started. It was a standard interview. I don't remember anything special about it. I know I wasn't trying too hard to impress him, but I did my best to answer his questions to his satisfaction. He told me that if they were interested, they would call me back.
A couple of days later, he called me back to see if I wanted to come and take part in a seminar they were offering. This seemed to be what the presentation room was for. I didn't want to waste any more of their time, so I told him I wasn't interested.
(A few months later, at a job I did wind up at, I assisted a customer. Immediately afterward, she gave me her business card and she said she could offer me a free financial planning session. It was a Primerica card. I knew what was up with that. It even looked like they had trouble getting leads, so the employees were required to hit the streets to drum up business.)
In addition to the interview, I attempted to apply for a lot of jobs that were listed on the website. There were many positions that I appeared to be qualified for and it was very convenient to apply for them, but no one ever called me up for an interview. I came to the conclusion that every job that got posted probably got THOUSANDS of applications, even from people far away from the locations of the jobs. They probably just looked at the first 50 - 100 applications that came in and pooled their interviews from those. The others just weren't looked at. (And keep in mind that there were a lot of people who lost their jobs in the aftermath of 9/11. There was A LOT of competition.) I would imagine you had to get your application in SECONDS after a job was posted in order to be considered.
Under these circumstances, I came to the realization that I was not going to find a job through the Internet. I was going to have to apply in person if I wanted to get a job. Since I really just needed something to get me through the end of the year so I could attempt to get Unemployment benefits in January of 2002, I decided to apply at retail establishments.
I started at Kmart. There was one just a couple of miles from my house and was within decent walking distance in the event that my car broke down. Since I had worked for Kmart before in Artesia, I thought there was a strong possibility they would hire me for seasonal work. But they never called me back, even though the application asked if I'd ever worked for Kmart and I clearly stated I had.
Next, I went to Toys R Us. It wasn't that far away from my house, but I would definitely have to use some form of transportation to get there. I applied and took their test that tried to figure out if I was a child molester. I was called back for an interview a few days later. The person who interviewed me said he liked that I'd had inventory experience because that meant I could help with their audit prep, which would allow me to continue working there a little past the Christmas shopping season.
But I had to do a little role play. He asked me to go out onto the floor for about 15 minutes, pick a toy and then try to sell him the toy. I didn't like where this was heading. I looked around and found a Harry Potter toy. (The first movie was about to come out.) It featured Harry riding a broom and trying to catch a Snitch. I figured I could talk about the excitement surrounding the movie as a pitch for the toy.
The age range for the toy was 11 - 15. When the role play started, I asked the interview if his child was a fan of Harry Potter. He said yes. I then asked how old the child was. "10." "D'oh!" (Yes, I actually said that out loud.) Because this was the toy I chose, I had to stick with it. I asked if maybe the child might be considered a little advanced for his age. He said yes, and I continued my pitch. I flashed back to my roleplaying in the high school DECA competition after he didn't give me a definite "yes" to buying the toy. He said he'd call me if they wanted me to work for them. I never did get that call.
However, I did get hired at the next place I applied. I'll go more into detail about that tomorrow.
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