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They say it& #39;s always easier to find a job when you have a job... 
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(random tweets about employment coming up)
I& #39;m 42, and including high school & collage jobs I have worked for 8 companies and only 1 job I got "all by myself"
The first (only) job I got in high school was working for a Casino company. The person who hired me, hired me after I did two days of volunteer work for a local organization. "You& #39;re a good worker, you want a job?" ... ok.
He gave me a chance out of the blue and I will forever be thankful for that. But I can never tell him. He passed away in 2001.
My second official job was in College, but it didn& #39;t last very long. But again, I didn& #39;t try for it. My sister was managing a Tim hortons in the city I went to college and she said "just apply to the one near your school, you& #39;ll get in." -- I did.
I worked there during the school semesters. I almost got killed by a reckless driver. When I asked for some time off to go back home, it was denied. So I quit. (You& #39;ll see this again)
Post college, my first "real" job was working for a computer store in downtown Toronto. This job was also one that I didn& #39;t apply for. It was handed to me by a fellow that I did freelance work for.
I don& #39;t consider "Freelance" a job. I can break that down more later if you& #39;re confused. I& #39;ve always had a little freelance work interlaced in my life. Regardless, building computers wasn& #39;t my jam - and after a year i asked for 2 weeks off (in a row) - it was denied so I quit.
I was then unemployed for almost 2 years. I threw away a paying job for some strange belief that an employee is entitled to time off. That two years was quite a moment of my life, but again, not this thread.
My second real job (after searching and searching for something tech related) came by way of another friend. "We& #39;re hiring, submit now!" - so I did, and I got hired.
This one was a tedious data processing job. Not what I wanted, but I needed it. I wanted to be programming stuff. Which, strangely enough, this data processing job leaned into. I wrote some software that optimized my job. I was ultra-efficient in comparison to others.
Then I got fired. My first real experience (and only) of working in a place where they give you and everyone negative reviews constantly so at a whim, they can fire you. (And also not give you reasonable raises)...
Unemployed again. But this time, the age of internet job boards was springing up. I splattered my very weak resume over many of them. I kept applying to jobs I saw and got nothing in return. The occasional email "we& #39;re pursuing other applicants"...
Until one day someone reached out to me directly. "hey, I saw your profile on [redacted], would you like to come to Toronto for an interview?" -- uh.. yes, yes I would.
I went. I had _the worst interview of my life_. (all of my interviews are bad, just FYI). I drove back to mom& #39;s house at 160km/hr and hid in the basement for a day.
Then I got an email "Your interview was terrible, but we want to give you a chance. We would like you submit us some code samples by Monday, can you do that?"... Anxiety -> Maximum. I can do that, but now I have to figure out what to write...
So I worked on some things and submitted it it Sunday night. It was reviewed Monday morning (I know, because I saw the logs!) and then I was given a response...
"That was probably the best code sample I& #39;ve ever been given. We would like you to come in for a second interview." I earned this one. Hopefully I don& #39;t fuck up the second interview...
But now that they know I& #39;m terrible at interviews, this one went a little different. In fact, it wasn& #39;t an interview at all - it was a job offer. They asked me the ever hard question "How much do you want to be paid?"...
I& #39;m coming from a data processing job of about $10/hr. Minimum wage at the time is about $6.85/hr. My freelance rate is about $30/hr. I say "$22/hr!" thinking I& #39;m gonna get bank! - they look at each other and say "we& #39;ll discuss."...
They come back after a few minutes "we& #39;d like to off you the contract position at $35/hr"... I... what... wow. Of course I& #39;m going to take it! (If you& #39;re reading this, you know who you are: Thank you, you probably have no idea what that did.)...
I worked there for 3.5 years. I left in 2009 without any angst or stupid reasons. It was just time to go. This was an experience given to me by someone I didn& #39;t know who thought they should give me a chance...
In late 2010, it was time to go back to work again. The job browsing was much of the same. Apply -> "no!"... Search -> Apply -> "no." Until a friend again, "We& #39;re hiring! Apply here..." Apply.... (bad interviews)... get job because I know someone...
That job was terrible. I only lasted 5 months, and the last two months I spent finding another job. The next one in early 2011 was the only one I& #39;ve ever acquired by myself.
While employed by the "bad" place, I was applying to others. A lot of places near by. I would literally go "for lunch", but actually go for a bad interview instead. I would "go for coffee" but it was really a phone call. I don& #39;t know if they noticed I was doing it...
It didn& #39;t matter to me. After a bunch of bad interviews and nope nope nope, I got one that was willing to be more flexible. They scheduled one out of office hours. I had to bus far away for this one...
I had an interview that I actually thought went well (this is rare) I felt like I would be in there... I was wrong. They declined to offer me the role and I went on....
Two weeks later though, the same place called me back. "We have this different position, do you want it instead?"... done. This was the first and only job I have managed to get without someone else on the inside, or someone seeking me...
Of course, this was only a contract job. I didn& #39;t hate it but shortly after, while employed, someone from one of my former jobs reached out to me... "I know a place that& #39;s looking for what you do... do you want to meet them?"... You might be reading this too, Thank you.
Ok! Let me at & #39;em. There& #39;s not much to this one - after an into, an out-of-hours interview (bad, there was a dog though, so I think that helped.), a second interview at a bar (my safe space), I was hired as the first employee of this company...
I was there for 8.5 years.
While unemployed I struggled to get even a bad interview.
While employed I bounced from a bad job, to a good job, to a great job....
While unemployed I struggled to get even a bad interview.
While employed I bounced from a bad job, to a good job, to a great job....
I don& #39;t know what my point is to all of this. But I& #39;m in the unemployed stage right now where I& #39;m applying to things (20 jobs so far in the last few months) -- only 2 interviews, a handful of "we& #39;re pursuing others..." and a whole bunch of ghosts...
I& #39;m in the unemployed stage where someone, somewhere maybe will give me a chance to roll up and do some kick ass work...
I& #39;m not at the state where I& #39;m willing to just take any job though. Again, sorry for the rambling rant of shit. I don& #39;t have a blog anymore. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤣" title="Lachend auf dem Boden rollen" aria-label="Emoji: Lachend auf dem Boden rollen">
