Category: Career

Career, Money

God does not want me to be depressed

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So yesterday I took a stroll down Negative Lane. Some tough times financially and a questionable future. Not great. I was down. 

Then, something odd happened. No… somethingS (plural) happened. Some good positive messages, vibes, grace… call it what you want. 

1. A salesperson told me that he put in some good words about my service to my boss’ boss.

2. Then a friend Bob reached out to say hey and to make plans to hang. Always great when someone reaches out and wants to spend time with me.

4. Then a friend, Jackson, reached out to me today, I know him from a men’s mentoring organization that I used to belong to. He invited me to an organization event that I can’t make. Really great of him to think of me. He even said: 

I used to be VERY active in that organization and really touching to be thought of like that.

5. Later today I got a phone call from a client and I was able to help her issue. And she PRAISED my help up and down. Now, what I did for her was very simple. But she really needed the help and I gave it to her quickly. Plus, I’m very personable on the phone with clients and enjoy easy going relationships to put them at ease as I work through their issues. And it shows.

“You deserve a raise!” she exclaimed. I thought that was very serendipitous, given yesterday’s blog about money. 

This is the universe/God’s way of saying “don’t worry, buddy. Help is here and will continue. Have faith.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

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Career

Temporarily Depressed- Money and Interview Issues

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So in my therapy session this week my therapist put the screws to me. Mona and I have been talking matriage lately, which is great. She’s awesome and we get along astoundingly well. However, how am I paying for an engagement ring and a wedding?

This past year, my credit card debt has gone from $19,500 to $3,800 and dropping. However, I have not saved dollar one. I do have 401k that I don’t touch, and about $10k in the bank. But that’s it. To my name. 

My debt will be gone by November, then I can start saving for a ring. And once I buy one next year, there goes my savings again. 

Then a modest wedding will still cost money. Probably another year’s worth of savings (on my end, anyway. Mona’d chip in for that too, of course.) Then, my savings would go back down again. 

When do I start saving for me? I don’t see it happening in the near future. 

This is at my current salary, anyway. I plan on changing companies this year so hopefully that will bring in another $10k annually. I need to make that happen. 

Unfortunately, I had FOUR INTERVIEWS with a company recently, including a presentation which I thought went very well. That was TWELVE DAYS AGO. And I have NOT HEARD BACK YET.Not either way. I’d think after 4 interviews I would get notified even if they decided not to go with me. 

Last Thursday, a week after my last interview,  I sent a follow up email to the hiring manager.

NOTHING. I haven’t heard a peep.

Come on. 

Ok it’s August and people are on vacation. I’m trying to keep positive but at this point, but it’s fading. I didn’t even hear back from my latest email. I’ll send an email tomorrow afternoon to the HR business partner. I know it’s out of my hands but some closure would be nice, and sending emails a week apart is not bad. I don’t think. 

Then once I’m in this state, my mind can really spiral out of control, beating myself up for all of the many mistakes I’ve made. And yes, no success comes easy, mistakes always happen,  but it’s getting depressing. I’m going to be 45 this year. I need to kick it up several notches so I don’t become a burden to my family or society in my old age.

Ugh

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Career

Left a Pint of Blood in that Conference Room (I’ve been interviewing) 

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So these past two weeks have been BUSY. I normally have to work like an hour extra every day. And I have to spend a few evenings uploading pictures from the previous weekend from my side job taking pics of real estate. 

And I’ve been interviewing. Last week was round 3 with Company A, where I came in, met someone briefly and was trained on their research data product that I would have to grab data from and present back to them in a Powerpoint deck at a later date.

But my presentation you them was postponed til today. That was a good thing because…

I had an interview with Company B last Thursday and they wanted me to analyze data and give writing samples over the weekend. I did that this weekend, reminding myself of some Excel formulas like vlookup and other concepts that I used to know. I submitted on Monday and they promptly told me they weren’t interested in me anymore. 

Ok fine. That was a stretch anyway. 

But now I still had to do the work for the presentation for the other interview. I pushed and pushed and crammed and practicesd. Visusluzed success and got into a positive frame of mind. 

The presentation was today,  and I did VERY WELL. I missed some points I could have hit, but hey, I had just learned their service a week prior. 

I had slept poorly all week. Now I can relax, it’s out of my hands. I’m not going to do any more job search activity until I get resolution on that. 

And yes… I’m GOING TO get a GREAT offer SOON! 

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Career

I can’t figure it out if I never start

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So I’ve been interviewing. With Company A, I’m on the fourth and final round next week, which will include me doing a presentation with their data. That’s pretty standard in the type of client service that I do.

 I had one interview with Company B, on the phone. The next step is he gave me three writing assignments and a spreadsheet of data to crunch in different ways and answer questions. 

I wasnt looking forward to any of it. I did some work on my presentation for Company A to get a feel for the story I can tell with the data I found. I have umm at least Wednesday for that one.

The data Company B gave me is in Excel and my knowledge is back to basic since I haven’t used it in a while.

I was considering not doing anything tonight, I was beat from walking 8+ miles today taking pictures of real estate. 

But after a half hour of rest I did the right thing. They said it would take up to 3 hours you do the entire thing. BUT the Excel portion alone took me 5 hours. Maybe because it got late and I got sleepy. Probably because I was re- learning Excel, especially blasted vlookup.

At least that portion is done and tomorrow I can just write the essays and submit it. I’m so glad I got off ny ass.I couldn’t start to figure out Excel unless I started looking into the work. 

Procrastination is for suckas.

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Career, Health

Bony Butt + Sitting All Day

Posted on by GratuitousRex

I think I have calluses on my butt. I work from home sitting in front of a computer all day and my chair is a wooden chair. Wooden all the way through. No cushion. 

Plus, I have very little cushion down there so the bones come down pretty prominently when I sit.

And lastly, the skin down there is rough in those spots.

I know, some of you are thinking “whoa, Rex, TMI!” but Butt Callouses are real people. Get a padded seat. Save your butt!

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Career

Is a $5k base increase + possible commission enough to change jobs?

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So I had an interview this week.  It was an initial interview with HR and I came in very prepared and did well. It’s for a Client Services job similar to what I’m doing now; training clients, onboarding, driving all adoption of our services, working on client projects… but the type of market research it’s for is not what I currently work in but the industry I worked 7 years in, at the company I got laid off from 3 years ago (I was not in a CS role when I got laid off.)

Which is the industry I’d love to get back in.

The job is very similar to the CS role I had 7 years ago. I’m very confident I can do it and do it well. 

HOWEVER… the base salary is only $5k more than my current base.

HOWEVER… part of the job entails renewing client contracts and upselling other services of ours. Now, my service has been factored into renewals before, but I have never negotiated any sale or closed a contract before. Not that I can’t do it, but I never have.

So there’s potential for commission on top of my base (I’m only base, now.) She said possibly up to $30k more. Those were just the numbers she threw around. But that all depends on my performance renewing and upselling. 

They would of course train me. If you work in Client Services long enough,  eventually selling is going to factor in at some level. This isn’t cold calling, or “hunting,” these are warm because these clients already use some services already. To be honest, the thought of sales always made me nervous, but renewing/upselling  could be a good entry point. 

I’ve worked in sales environments for 14 years in support roles, maybe it’s time I give it a shot. The thought is a little scary to me, but hey… Get different results by doing something different, right? 

Going up a guaranteed only $5k doesn’t really excite me, that’s a little over $400 monthly before taxes, but the commission is a potential I have to consider.

Not sure if only a definite $5k base raise is enough to satisfy my gf Mona’s opinion of me as a go getter. If I earn commission to get me to $80-100k then this is a non-issue, of course. I mentioned it to her this weekend and she seemed ok with it. We’ll see for sure at our next joint therapy session this coming Saturday.

I have the follow up interview with the hiring manager on Tuesday where I could get more info. 

Thoughts? 

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Career, Life

Nice to do the Right Thing

Posted on by GratuitousRex

Happy Independence Day to you Americans! What did you do? See family, friends, fireworks? BBQ! You know what I did? 

Cleaned my apartment, studied the company I’m interviewing with tomorrow, uploaded pictures that I took for my side job taking external pics of real estate. 

All three needed to get done. I rarely get free non-gf, non-picture-taking free days, so I took full advantage. BBQ’s can wait and I’ve seen fireworks. And these things needed to get done. 

My apt was a danger zone, borderline disgusting. Now… it smells of cleaning products and candles.

I need to upload pictures every week in order you get paid. It takes a couple hours. SoI made an enormous dent in this week’s work. 

And of course, I needed to prep for the interview. I’ve actually interviewed with this company once before a year and a half ago. Same position too- Client Service, but they wanted me more for a product management job, but I didn’t want to work in PM anymore. In retrospect I should have….

But now, I have my CS sea legs back and this is in my old industry. I intend to crush this interview, then the next two and get a great offer.

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