time files when you're unemployed...
My last day at the old job was 6 December. I was politely asked to leave due to a reorg. Not going to talk about that, but being a job hunter is interesting. And by interesting, it varies from amusing to gut wrenching.
I went to an "informational seminar" for a major insurance carrier on Tuesday. By major, I mean they have a commercial on the Super Bowl. They had about 15-20 of us in the room and there were 4 possible dates from which to choose for this seminar. We were asked to show up a little early to fill out a form and submit your resume. The usual questions, and list 4 strengths you have that would help you work for our firm. Check the box at the bottom if you are interested in a one on one interview following the presentation.
The form goes by quickly and I do a mental head count, 4 sessions, 20 people per session, plus the job fair they attended, there are a lot of applicants for however many positions there are available. The demographic for the 20 of us: 50/50 male/female, some younger some older, two black guys, no black females. The women dress in varying iterations of business casual, all the guys wear suits. I am secretly jealous of the binary dress code men have. We meet in an office park conference room with Formica-top tables and berber carpet, the beige walls are scuffed up. Crappy parabolic lighting fixtures are installed in a slightly water damaged drop ceiling. There is a cross on the podium, WTF? The kid at the table next to mine asks the facilitator for a pen. I shake my head in astonishment. I'm not seriously considering this either, but I brought my own damn pen. No one looks anywhere except to the front and I am scribbling notes for my entry here. Front and side walls have a chest high row of glass presentation panels painted white on the back, mounted like a mirror on the back of a bathroom door. They appear to be well-used, there is blue dry-erase marker embedded in the scratches on the glass. I want to get up and see if it's really glass, but I don't because plexi would have more scratches.
Our presenter is 5 minutes late and briefly apologizes. He goes down the scenario of what it's like, how one is compensated (straight commission) and how the product "sells itself" which is apparently why they are recruiting an army of unemployed people from any background to embark on this mission. He comes from a blue-collar construction background and after 3 years made bank with this company thru "hard work" and "dedication" (and a 35% commission rate). Lighting fixtures cut about 5-10%, this is interesting to me that insurance has such a high margin. He says that you don't need a sales background to do this, they are looking for more consultative types. I have a slightly sales background and recognize when he says "start with local businesses" and "you get out of it what you put into it" as code for cold calling with no leads. Some people like sitting in a tree stand all day waiting for a deer to come by, I am not one of those people. He scribbles his salary numbers on the board and I think of the Slim-Fast disclaimer on a crawl below him ...Results are not typical... People who suck at this don't get promoted to district sales manager. Still, I check the box for the one on one interview and I get a call the next day. I am reminded of Groucho Marx: “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” I have a feeling that if I wrote "pedestrian mastication" as a skill, I'd have gotten that call for the one on one interview. Since I want to get out of the house and consider this a practice interview, I'll go. I wonder what the signing bonus is on my head.
I went to an "informational seminar" for a major insurance carrier on Tuesday. By major, I mean they have a commercial on the Super Bowl. They had about 15-20 of us in the room and there were 4 possible dates from which to choose for this seminar. We were asked to show up a little early to fill out a form and submit your resume. The usual questions, and list 4 strengths you have that would help you work for our firm. Check the box at the bottom if you are interested in a one on one interview following the presentation.
The form goes by quickly and I do a mental head count, 4 sessions, 20 people per session, plus the job fair they attended, there are a lot of applicants for however many positions there are available. The demographic for the 20 of us: 50/50 male/female, some younger some older, two black guys, no black females. The women dress in varying iterations of business casual, all the guys wear suits. I am secretly jealous of the binary dress code men have. We meet in an office park conference room with Formica-top tables and berber carpet, the beige walls are scuffed up. Crappy parabolic lighting fixtures are installed in a slightly water damaged drop ceiling. There is a cross on the podium, WTF? The kid at the table next to mine asks the facilitator for a pen. I shake my head in astonishment. I'm not seriously considering this either, but I brought my own damn pen. No one looks anywhere except to the front and I am scribbling notes for my entry here. Front and side walls have a chest high row of glass presentation panels painted white on the back, mounted like a mirror on the back of a bathroom door. They appear to be well-used, there is blue dry-erase marker embedded in the scratches on the glass. I want to get up and see if it's really glass, but I don't because plexi would have more scratches.
Our presenter is 5 minutes late and briefly apologizes. He goes down the scenario of what it's like, how one is compensated (straight commission) and how the product "sells itself" which is apparently why they are recruiting an army of unemployed people from any background to embark on this mission. He comes from a blue-collar construction background and after 3 years made bank with this company thru "hard work" and "dedication" (and a 35% commission rate). Lighting fixtures cut about 5-10%, this is interesting to me that insurance has such a high margin. He says that you don't need a sales background to do this, they are looking for more consultative types. I have a slightly sales background and recognize when he says "start with local businesses" and "you get out of it what you put into it" as code for cold calling with no leads. Some people like sitting in a tree stand all day waiting for a deer to come by, I am not one of those people. He scribbles his salary numbers on the board and I think of the Slim-Fast disclaimer on a crawl below him ...Results are not typical... People who suck at this don't get promoted to district sales manager. Still, I check the box for the one on one interview and I get a call the next day. I am reminded of Groucho Marx: “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” I have a feeling that if I wrote "pedestrian mastication" as a skill, I'd have gotten that call for the one on one interview. Since I want to get out of the house and consider this a practice interview, I'll go. I wonder what the signing bonus is on my head.