……3 months later, here’s a blog post.

I don’t know if I should do this diary style and catch the internet up (sounds better than saying “you people”) with what has been going on in my life. So much has transpired that I don’t even know if I have the energy to discuss it all. When I tell you that life changes…..that’s exactly what it does.

I would like to stop and welcome all the new people I have picked up the last few months (without any new material). This blog has just kinda randomly found people around the globe, and I appreciate all the messages (email, facebook, and more) I have received from people encouraging me to keep writing. I write very similar to how my brain functions (organized chaos) which makes my blog very much organically Tee.

Very few revisions, mostly stream of consciousness….all directly from the heart.

Without further ado:               (drumroll please)

I’m thankful that June is behind me. June 2015 was one of my most trying months ever. I had problems and those problems had problems. Dysfunction left and right. I woke up July 1st just happy to be alive. June was the sewage drain that Andy Dufresne crawled thru for his freedom (Shawshank Redemption). Yeah he smelled like shit after, but he made it! To finish tying in that analogy I have been showering in July with positivity, washing away the proverbial shit smell that had blanketed me the previous month.  (I’ll admit that wasn’t my best analogy but I’m not in the mood to delete an entire paragraph….blame it on writer’s rust…it’s been 3 months)

I went on 15 job interviews in June. That is no typo, fifteen. 10 first time interviews, 4 second interviews, and 1 third interview. On one hand I am thankful that 10 different companies called me in for an interview. Some people can’t get the phone to ring for nothing, I had 10 different calls. By the way this number doesn’t include phone screens, automated questionnaires, personality assessments, or anything like that. The numbers I quoted are just the face to face interviews I went on.

It’s frustrating to go on that many interviews and for things not to pop how you desire. There was a range too. The biggest job was a 80K/yr position with a company that I went 3 interviews with, was introduced to the team, shown my future office, given my start date, only to be called 2 days before and told that they went with another candidate because he/she was more educationally accomplished than me. That hurt. (whats another word for hurt? Insert that word here ___________________)

Another low point was a $9.00/hr key-holder position at a retail chain here in town. The key-holder is under the assistant manager basically an assistant-assistant manager. Speaking of which, the A.M. was a snotty nosed pimple faced 23 year old kid, who honestly sat there at the end of the interview and told me he couldn’t hire me cause he was afraid the store manager (who was on vacation) would demote him and bump me up to assistant manager. He apologized profusely but said he couldn’t afford to lose his job. I just sat there stunned. A full month later I still cannot believe that happened. I thought about reporting the business to the better business bureau but as serious as the kid was about needing the job, I didn’t want to be the reason he lost his employment by reporting his faulty interview technique. (What’s another word for faulty? Insert that word here______________)

So those were the two low points. On top off the fact that filling out an online job app is a chore to begin with. Yes I got 15 interviews, but do you know how many jobs I had to apply for to hit that number? I’m actually asking because I lost track but I know it was ALOT.

I received 3 job offers from those interviews. The first offer I passed on, the hours weren’t going to be conducive to me being the type of dad that I am. The mothers of my children weren’t exactly thrilled to hear me pass on a job, but they do value co-parenting over single parenting so they understood (grudgingly accepted would be a more realistic term) . I accepted the second offer and loved those 2 weeks at that company. My co-workers were awesome and I felt we were going to do some great things together. The pay was really the only bad thing about that position and also the fact that T-Mobile had no service in the building which left me no choice except only being able to “work” while at work.  

Then like that the 3rd offer came in and I had to make a decision on the best place for me to help provide for myself and my children. It was a no-brainer, I had to accept. This is also a career challenge for me. Professionally, I thoroughly enjoy recruiting and the opportunity to work here in Huntsville recruiting government professionals is a big deal. So here I am….

There was a 4th offer that came in a couple days ago but I had to pass on it. the 3rd offer was the best place for me as I move forward all things considered. The 4th offer was tempting though. I had been applying for this job for 2 years, so for them to call finally made me know I was doing something right.

I guess the moral of this post is to not give up. Life gets tough, 15 interviews tough….but you have to weather that storm. You have to survive it, you have to do whatever it takes to conquer this life. For me it meant keep applying, keep on Indeed (sidenote: I prefer Indeed over Monster and CareerBuilder) and those job sites and stay the course. Have faith that something will come thru for you but remember you have to work your faith. Your day is coming. Don’t let things like education scare you off, and for damn sure not some snotty nosed kid whose afraid of you taking his job.

Be the best you. Always.

-Tee Large

wow it felt good to write again…… I’ll be back soon.