ATH - 13 Lies Employers Tell About Job Offers

I'm pretty sure I've bemoaned not knowing about Nick Corcodilos during my job search in 2016. I think just reading Corcodilos' perspective would have been really helpful during those days between when I was laid off from Pearson and when my current manager offered my current job to me.

While my job search in 2016 has been on my mind this week - and yes, I know it's only Tuesday! - I've also been thinking about my job search in 2011 because I happened to see a "Technical Communication Specialist" opening at the Unnamed Hellhole in southern Iowa, yesterday. Readers of this blog will recall that the Unnamed Hellhole in southern Iowa company is the label I've given to the company I left Quintrex to join. It's also the company I hated working at. I stayed there for a mere 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days (177 of the longest days of my E N T I R E  L I F E!!), which is how long it took before I was informed I was not a good fit for the role, which was also called Technical Communication Specialist.

What I noticed in the job ad yesterday were two things:

1. The job description mentions the need to adhere to standards.
• When I was at that company, I asked my co-worker what the standard was for spaces after a period. Her response was "Use one unless it looks funny, then use two." I sincerely hope that isn't a "standard" they are wanting this role to adhere to!
2. The job description mentions that there is a desire to hire a person into this role who has experience with Madcap Software and HTML.
• When I was at that company, my purpose was to write online Help for their budding software products. However, the idea of using another tool, such as Madcap Flare or RoboHelp for that online Help, was off the table because the department used InDesign in the most asinine possible way on the planet. It was interesting to me to see Madcap Software and HTML listed in the job description when those were not options when I was there.

I worked at the Unnamed Hellhole in southern Iowa and I don't regret anything about the experience. While it's been a whopping 7 years, 6 months, 2 weeks, 3 days (2757 days) since I worked there, I went through the following logic in my head.

1. Had I not left Quintrex for the Unnamed Hellhole in southern Iowa, I don't really know if I would have been hired at Pearson. 
1. Had I not been hired at Pearson, I don't really know if I would have had at least two things happen that happened during my time at Pearson. 
1. Professionally, I know that working with Confluence and learning about includes and snippets and variables ignited a passion for my work. I don't know if I would have ever found that renewed passion 
2. Outside of work, I know without a shadow of a doubt that because Pearson sent me to WritersUA 2012 in Memphis, TN, I found the fire within me for playing drums in an Ideal Band was reignited. I don't know if I would have ever met Joe or Matthew, who were in Lou's Classic Ride with me, or if I would have thought to ask Brian Guitar to play guitar in that band with me. It was such a fluke that Brian Guitar's schedule allowed him to be off early on Friday during the summer. Pearson's policy of allowing its employees to work 36 hours M - R and then 4 hours on Fridays  allowed Joe, Matthew, and I to be able to rehearse on Friday afternoons as well.
1. Had I not been laid off at Pearson, I don't really know if I would have been hired here.

As you just read, there is a direct relationship between working at the Unnamed Hellhole in southern Iowa and what I do now. As I just wrote, absolutely NO, I don't regret anything about the experience. A lot of elements fell into place and for all of those elements mentioned above and being removed by my internal editor as I write these words, without the good and the bad in life, I wouldn't be where I am now. This article by Nick Corcodilos - 13 lies employers tell about job offers - was published today and while not directly related to anything I have wrote above, just knowing about his existence has seemed to somehow reinforce how God has blessed me by being able to live the life I lead.