Optimism in the Job Search – A Short (True) Story

A new take on staying positive!

The job search is a funny thing and in these recent economic times it has been made all the more difficult even for the most seasoned. There is no question that in conducting an effective and comprehensive job search, it is of the up-most importance to keep oneself in good spirits and of a good frame of mind as this has a ripple effect through every interaction during one’s search.  

Probably one of the most ‘extreme’ examples of this, and I put extreme in quotes because in this case it is, but in a good way, as you’ll see by the end of this writing.  I was having lunch with a friend the other day and to give a little background, he’s spent his working life in customer service/relations on the corporate side of the fence.  He first spent many years in banking, starting as a teller and working his way into customer relations and eventually into client account management.  After a series of mergers and acquisitions hostile take-overs, his bank folded and many of the staff were let go, re-positioned or re-located.

He was transferred to a branch bank in an urban area that he wasn’t particularly pleased about, but he still had a job.  For about two-weeks things went along as regular; customers coming and going, bank operations happening as normal, really the only differences being a new commute and the building was much smaller from what he was accustomed to having come from the main location.  

After about two-weeks of that regular, mundane sort of banking operations & existence, his career path was changed a bit when two men came in with masks, pistols and an agenda.  Everyone was ordered to the floor and, as expected in these sorts of situations, was ordered to stay quiet, money was then demanded and with that, the exchange could be done with, hopefully.

However, this case was a bit different once the money was handed over, which was given with no question as everyone’s safety is obviously paramount.  These guys decided, after they had secured their ‘withdrawal,’ one of them reaching over the teller counter, and like any good Chekhov story, ‘if there’s a gun involved it better go bang!’  So, without looking, he squeezed the trigger and fired a couple shots into the floor not realizing who and where people were positioned on the other side.

Luckily, after the guy ventilated the floor a bit, and having left, everyone, employees and customers alike having survived the melee relatively unscathed, got up, relieved as the alarms started going off.  Needless to say, and not realizing in it in the moment, my friend’s banking career ended as one of those random shots hit the floor no more than 6 inches from his side. Other than going to testify against the two men (they were caught a short time after the excitement) he never went back having decided that being shot at was really best being avoided in his future and FOR his future.  

Fast forward 19 years later, after having spent said time, again, in customer service/relations but this time in a much safer, hidden-from-the-public, cubicle environment of a major toy manufacturer, where he was recently laid off, among many others, after some restructuring of its corporate bottom line.  Back to our lunch where we were chatting about the times, the economy and kind of commiserating about such as it’s been about a year’s time now since he received his pink-slip, I asked him

“how’s your job search going?”  

“Miserable,” he said.  

I asked, “are you getting any call-backs or interviews so far…?”  

He said, “no, I’m lucky in that as other’s go through all the trouble of applying, getting interviews and then told ‘no,’ I simply get rejected right from the get-go!”  He then went on to say, “this gives me more time to do things I really enjoy instead of all that job-search rigmarole for nothing…”  

In saying this, we both broke out in laughter, reminding me of a time years ago when we were mountain biking and he let fly another great quip…  

As we were riding, looking back as I realized he had crashed.  I yelled, “are you ok?”

He said, “oh yeah, I’m fine.  Luckily the ground was there to stop my fall!”

He said both in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, and I realized this, but also at the same time, with a legitimate, real sense of keeping his chin up in the whole process and recognizing with his situation the cliche, ‘if you’re given lemons, make lemonade!’  I found this refreshing and with an optimism that, as an employer, who wouldn’t want it in their ranks?  

He’ll find that next venture, some-way, some-time, and when he does, they’ll be the luckier to have him!