What The Files have to do with it...
I miss the old days of job searches. I made up my resume, gave it to a Headhunter.
The Headhunter then Faxes the companies that have requirements that you can fill.
(In one case, back to the company I was working for, but that's a story for another day)
The Headhunter then gets 2 or 3 responses from companies he solicits and BAM, I got an interview. I nail the interview and get the job. This worked for Loral Fairchild Systems, United Parcel Services, Automatic Data Processing, Merrill Lynch and CitiBank.
After I got laid off from CitiBank, NA, the hiring paradigm changed dramatically.
Gone are the days of smooshing the department heads for favors in exchange for baseball tickets, concert tickets or booze. Now all vendors must be treated the same, we all become cogs in the machine and there is no one to champion your skills, get the inside lead on a new job or even meet potential hiring manager with all the security in and around the buildings in Manhattan.
Enter Monster, the self proclaimed solution to get jobs and fill jobs. It was Wall Street's baby, the solution to everyones problems. A glorified program to take over for Headhunters. Headhunters who had years of experience, tons of connections and an eye for talent.
So, my resume has been on Monster since the Great Layoff of 2001. Merrill Lynch was having financial issues and their solution was to hire away tons of Project Managers, Programmers and the like to fix all of their problems in 4 years. I was hired in July of 1998, promised a bigger Y2K bonus that I would of had if I stayed at ADP and my Salary jumped 25% - 50% depending on the bonus structure. Making 90K Plus bonus as a Senior Project Manager was great in 1998. We all got Merrill Lynch through the Y2k "Bug" and we all got nice Y2k and regular bonuses.
Work was going well for a while longer with new projects, T+3 going to T + 1, Improved processing of Physical Securities. That was when a relative died and you found physical stock certificates for AT&T or IBM in the attic and you just became part of the 1% overnight.
One dark and dreary day, in the summer of 2001, I was summoned to my managers office with the news of my layoff. I was given a few boxes and a Limo ride back to Oakdale on Long Island. I received a decent severance package, about 12 weeks of full Salary, at which point I received 50% of last years bonus as a parting gift.
When I got home late that afternoon, about 2 hours earlier that I usually got home, thanks to the Limo and the Layoff, my wife and kids were so impressed that I came home in a Limo. I could just imaging what they were thinking. Promotion to President, a business trip leaving tonight or a surprise dinner for the family. Boy were they let down.
I was given a Job Search firm that I could go to in Manhattan, to update my resume, learn about the new job search paradigm and bitch about being laid off with fellow Merrill Lynch employees that were in the same China Shop. (Bet you thought I was going to say boat)
They taught us the virtues of this new system, no more hit or miss with headhunters, no more favors in back alleys and no more being unfair. Everyone was being treated the same. Our resumes spoke to our skill set, our application spoke to our heritage and the almighty Job Search Engines will match you to the perfect job in seconds.
Well, I burned through my 12 week severance being a stay at home dad, fixing the kids lunches, joining the PTA, getting them ready for school, helping with their homework when they got home and watching movies as a family after my wife cooked dinner.
While the kids were at school, I took off my Stay at home Dad hat and became Resume Man. I looked for jobs in the NY Times, Newsday and online. Kept a detailed job search log, tailored each resume to the specific job I was applying for and joined as many Job Search sites that I could get my Keyboard and Mouse to.
My wife at the time said that she has never seen me work so hard in my life. I was a machine, My Goal was to get a new job at 6 weeks and get paid double for the next six weeks since a had a job. Then we could celebrate the extra cash by going on a weekend trip, Dinner, the City ecetera.
I burned through the 12 week severance and applied for unemployment. Thay asked if I got a bonus payout as part of my package, I said yes and they said that my unemployment would start when my bonus was used up paying my bills. I calculated that to be in Mid-December. Great Timing, no job and no money for Christmas.
Linked in was starting to get really popular at the time, asking you to connect with former co-workers, former companies and former acquaintances. Anyone to get your foot in the door and do what Headhunters use to do for you, drop your resume on the desk of the hiring manager!
After Thanksgiving, I called Louis from Merrill Lynch. He worked for me for a few month and handed me his resignation, saying it wasn't me, it was him. He wanted to go back to CitiBank to work for his old Boss. He got more money, better hours and a bigger bonus. I figured that maybe there was some money floating around for me.
We chatted for about 15 minutes, reminiscing about the old Merrill Lynch days, Au Bon Pain and their Voluptuous waitresses. Then a light bulb went off in Louis's head. His boss was starting a new CitiGold Project and was looking for a Project Manager. Given by Merrill Lynch background, I would be a great fit, but it would be a Consulting Job and I would not be an employee, but CitiBank tends to hire the consultants they like. Sort of a try it before you buy it deal. He hung up with me and went to talk to Jay.
Wow, after 15 weeks of working the system, signing up for literally dozens of Job Sites, and making hundreds of cold and warm calls, something is finally breaking my way. Louis said that Jay was interested and that I needed to go through a consulting company. He suggested a few and I sign up with on of them and Jay got my resume through normal channels as well.
The first Thursday in December of 1998, if you want the date, go look it up, I was at a Tridex DB2 Networking Meeting in MetroTech Brooklyn. I got a call from the hiring manager at the Consulting Company and she said Jay wanted to meet me. I said I was busy the rest of the day, but was free on Friday and all next week for an interview.
The next few hours at the meeting was a total Blur. Money was running out, bills were piling up and mid december was a week or 2 away. I know that once Unemployment started, I would become a statistic as one of the many Wall Street VP's that have fallen from grace.
It would be that much harder to get a job, swimming in the swamp of the Unemployed.
Finally, I got the call. She said how was Monday at 9:00. I was taken back as most interviews are later in the morning or afternoon. She then proceeded to tell me that Jay interview Louis to find out about me and he trusted Louis's judgement. I got the job without setting foot into a CitiBank Building or even talking to the hiring manager. I was making more money as a consultant for CitiBank than I was as a VP at Merrill Lynch and Christmas was saved.
I'm still getting emails from the Job Search engines, saying they have a perfect match for my skills, background and experience. That's what prompted me to write this blog on the rainy Saturday afternoon. So I clicked to see this great job. It was for an Expert Systems Engineer at AllScripts. I am an Expert and many things but I am not an engineer, systems or otherwise. I have never worked at Big Pharma and when I clicked on the job to find out how perfect it was, the job was filled and directed me to a Data Mining position. Since I don't like canaries, I wasn't interested.
As a final note, the hiring manager at the Consulting Company said that Jay told her that as long as I done have three heads, I had the job. That weekend I was cutting off the doll heads of the dolls that my daughter never plays with, but then I thought better of it. Looking back though, Jay would of gotten a kick out of it.
ACE
Alex C. Elie, MBAAce Consulting Expeditors, Inc.
AlexCMElie@Gmail.com
Mobile 631-504-2637
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