Job update

Apparently, I am so brilliant and talented, such a sultaness of style (not to mention grammar and spelling), plus a paradigm of copy editing perfection, that I failed to get the job after all. Y'know, the one I almost blew for other reasons.

The software firm left two messages on my answering machine today. They considered me overqualified for what was essentially a "junior position."

Fair enough.

They might've mentioned that before three mornings of non-stop interviews and a two-hour editing test, and then frantic behind-the-scenes scrambling to line up childcare options.

But it wasn't meant to be. Perhaps another time, another opportunity. Meanwhile, the Empress blogs on.

Comments

[plosh]

Man so much excitement with so little to show for it. Sigh.

[Faith]

After ALL THAT, they left a message on your VM????

V-E-R-Y classy, boys.

[Gooch]

That kind of stuff makes me so mad. Clearly they could see from your resume that you were overqualified, so why even bother with inconveniencing you with a multitude of interviews for a job they probably decided early on you were too qualified for?

I think I may be experiencing the psychological condition known as projection. I had this exact experience (except replace over with under in the qualified part) early on in my professional career - interview after interview for a particular job that they ultimately told me I didn't have enough experience for. Like, did you not notice that from the resume that only listed positions I held in my fraternity? And if so, was there a reason, besides sadism, that you choose to put me through the ringer regardless?

You're better off anyway, Anne. More time to blog.

[Anne]

Plosh: {{{{hugs}}}}

Faith and Gooch: This still isn't as shabby as the Baltimore Sun, which flew me in TWICE (I lived in Florida then) and then never told me a thing. I had to use up vacation days and find creative ways to throw my editors off the scent without actually lying about where I was going. I was told I should keep sending them clips (of my articles) and clever letters, which I did for a full year. Never, ever heard a word. And the editor-in-chief responsible for such horrendous conduct is now the head honcho at a certain large, metropolitan daily where my hubby works. So I guess being rude gets you rewarded in my line of work, which is why I'm just as happy to stay home.

[Gary Amdahl]

Hi Anne...I'm one of the two people at XXXX (name deleted by Anne) you didn't meet--the two people you should have met, who, had they known more about what was going on with your candidacy, would have done something, or tried to do something, about the...the...the...words fail me...the mysterious wrongness of it. I thought your hiring was a done deal. Anytime we are told our opinions are very valuable, that means the deal is done. Your interviews, I assumed, would be as innocuous as every other pro forma group thing we do: you're right to wonder why you were forced to repeat yourself fifteen times--it's usually just a way of introducing the person who has been hired and who will begin to work with us shortly. You went from being "ideally qualified" to "overqualified" without an explanation. (I have asked for one and got the usual bullshit.) Forgive me for prying, but it sounds like my boss called you and left a message on your machine saying you wouldn't be hired--is that so? What he says is that you "decided to pursue other options," and his sidekick says, "She would have been unhappy doing routine copy-editing work." And may I also bluntly ask, do you think they read your blog and suddenly changed their minds? I am pretty sure that's what happened, but I am not clear on the details. I think the blog was evidence of independent thinking and the honest expression of that thinking, and it caused alarms to go off in our increasingly corporatized little group of language-folk. I think you were re-perceived, if I can say that, as someone who would join "the wrong side": we who are resisting the transformation of writers and editors into "manuscript preparers" who exist to serve the production, marketing, legal, and publicity people. Kind of like hungry people being developed to serve the needs of grocry wholesalers.

And hey, you're not the only Jew in the Inland Empire. I'd invite you to our Hannukah party, but I'm not sure. at this moment, if it's going to happen as planned.

Sorry I won't be able to work with you. And feel free to post this.

[Anne]

Hey Gary, I moved your comment over here to keep it with the rest of the discussion.

Most people who know me and who are familiar with the situation are convinced I probably sabotaged myself. My hubby's convinced I saved myself.

Sorry I didn't get to meet you the day I was in. I was pretty impressed with the group overall, including the bosses, but life goes on.

Good luck in your battle with the corporate behemoths.

[Gary Amdahl]

Hubby's right.