This is part 1 of a series of blogs about my career change.
I accepted a new employment opportunity yesterday. Yeah, that’s big. After 11 years at my current position, I am moving on. My last day will be January 10, 2012. It seems appropriate at this time to start a new blog and detail my career “coming-of-age” story.
I arrived in Denver about 2 a.m. on an unseasonably snowy, October morning in 2000. I was 21 and on top of the world having lined up my dream job and a place to stay with friends in a city I just knew I would love. I had a week to kill before my first day on the job and I made the best of it. I must have spent $1000 on cover charges, drinks, dining out and adding a new CD player to my car. Life was good, no, life was great! And I just knew it could only get better. As soon as I started my new job, I could get my own apartment and things would be perfect.
The start date arrived and I made the drive to my new place of employment. It was a company called Tanning Technology and they were located in the Denver Tech Center. Ah, the Tech Center…that’s where techies like me belong. It was perfect. I walked through the front door of the office building and met the HR Manager, Kurt Peterson, in the lobby. We proceeded to their office on the 15th floor. I expected to meet a few people on my way in and I remember how odd it felt when we detoured to a little conference room just outside their main office. Once inside, Kurt motioned to me to take a seat at the table. As he sat down across from me, he released a long, loud sigh. Uh oh. I don’t think Kurt paused again after that sigh, he just started speaking and didn’t stop until it was over. “We’re very sorry and extremely embarrassed. Management has instituted a hiring freeze and announced that they will be laying off a portion of our staff. I deeply regret I could not inform you of this earlier but at this time, we cannot hire you.”
I was crushed. This was supposed to be the pinnacle of my new career path. Move to Denver, get a job, be a success.
I did the only thing I could think to do and thanked Kurt for his time (yeah really, thanks) and left. I never heard from Tanning Technology again but I did hear they were purchased under hostile circumstances and the company ceased to exist shortly after. I spent that evening drinking beer and watching TV and wondering what in the world I was going to do.
After a sleepless night, the next morning I decided to take a drive through the mountains to clear my head. I walked up to my Ford Probe and noticed the trunk was open an inch or two. I did think this was odd, but having just moved here, I had made several trips to my vehicle to grab various belongings and could have easily forgotten to close it at some point. I closed the trunk, walked around to the driver side door, unlocked it, and sat down in the seat. It was at this moment I realized the dashboard had been ripped apart. My new CD player was gone. The thief had been merciless. The dashboard had been torn into three pieces and the wires were sliced clean through to facilitate a speedy exit. I walked back into the apartment and watched television the rest of the day.
The next morning, I vowed to make an ambitious effort to find a job. I set a goal of five phone calls and line up at least one interview. I ended up making one phone call and leaving a message. Failure.
Over the next two weeks, I managed a few phone interviews and finally landed an in-person interview. It was a contract position, working for the Federal government. Yuck. It was at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood; nowhere near the Denver Tech Center. Double yuck. After the interview, I left with the impression the job would be boring and not at all challenging. It had the yuck trifecta. The next day, I got a call from the hiring manager, Willie. He informed me that they would like to offer me the job. I had lined up another interview in the meantime and decided this position was not for me. I politely turned it down. An hour later, Willie called me back and said he could sweeten the deal with an extra two dollars an hour. This equaled almost double the salary from my last job but I was unwavering, resolute in the conclusion that this was clearly not the job for me. Willie explained that they could not hold the position for me but if I should change my mind, I should give him a call.
The next day, I dressed for my next interview. It was in an office building downtown and just had to be perfect! I pulled into a parking space nearby and paid the $7 parking fee. They better cover parking, I thought to myself. I proceeded to the third floor of a beautiful, old office building. The lobby, hallways and stairwells were timeless and well cared for and I could already see myself working there. This was it! I found their office and proceeded inside.
Upon opening the door, I froze at the sight of a room with floors so dusty you could see the footprints of recent visitors. The room was completely empty except for a cheap, green card table with a computer on it connected to a bright orange extension cord strung 20 feet across the floor. Behind the computer was a middle-aged gentleman seated on a folding chair. I no longer recall his name, so we’ll call him “Doug.”. I thought I was in the wrong room until Doug said “you must be Kevin” in a booming voice that echoed through the empty room. I responded affirmatively and the interview commenced. The experience lasted all of ten minutes. After asking a few questions, Doug informed me that he wasn’t hiring, but he liked my resume and wanted to know if he could give me a call in the future if something ever came up. I said “sure,” fully intending to never speak to Doug again. I quickly left.
As soon as I got back to my car, I called Willie and asked if the position was still available. He said it was and asked if I had had a change of heart. I diplomatically stated “having given this some additional thought, it does sound like the opportunity I’m looking for.” I had a job.
I started my career at the General Services Administration on Monday, October 30, 2000 as a full-time employee of the Greenbar Corporation. I’ll stop here for now and continue this story in my next post.
Wow. I had thought maybe I’d do two posts on this topic and be done. It’s just a lot harder to sum up 11 years in a few paragraphs.
