Day 49 – Warn Notice – Hitting Home

Didn’t do a whole lot today—14 days to go.  No jobs at Boeing to apply to.

About 5 weeks ago, I interviewed for a job that I thought would be a great career move.  This position would use all of my existing talents and also stretch me in new areas.   Over the weeks of not hearing much my inner voice would alternatively give up on this position as lost and later would get really excited about the possibilities.

In BESS, Boeing’s internal job site, I remained “under consideration.”  All jobs applied for start out this way.  Some get kicked out by the computer scanning your resume.  Not seeing a match, it kicks you out automatically.   This happens pretty fast.   If it goes on very long without hearing anything, then the story I have been telling myself is:

My resume is one in a stack of fifty resumes.  Fifty is the average number of resumes received for an internal college required position.  They have already called people for an interview.  They are keeping your resume as a just in case backup.  Just in case the first seven interviewed turn out to have fabricated every bullet on their resume or a natural disaster comes along and wipes them all out then if you are in the top of the pile you might get called as a just in case backup.  So don’t get your hopes up.

Since, there have been no natural disasters in the last 49 days in the NW and I have not been called for any of these positions after about two weeks has past; my story seems to be holding water.   So I keep telling myself that I need to find other positions.

My hoped for position was different.  I got a call within the first two weeks that they wanted to interview me.  I wrote about my preparation for the interview in an earlier blog.  I thought I did well in the interview and was excited about getting the position, though I had no idea what or who my competition was.

For the first two weeks, I didn’t worry.  Even in the third week, I didn’t worry too much since they had said that it would take them three weeks to get back to me.  I was hoping that this was like Amazon’s three weeks where they say three and then deliver in two and everyone is happy even if they thought it would actually only  take twelve days.  After this though, I started writing off the possibility; thinking that I must be out of the running.

So finally I couldn't wait anymore, I had to send an email to make sure that I was still in the running.  I just couldn’t take anymore waiting without any news at all.  They sent word back that they were close to naming their short list, and then they would inform all the interviewees.   Short list, this meant another round of interviews and that meant there was a good possibility that it wouldn’t be resolved until after my layoff date; but even so, my hopes went up; I was still in the running.  Then another period of not hearing anything; and as each day would pass the ratio of “excited high possibilities” to the number of “just ain’t going to happening” changed for the worse.

Last night, while I was looking up the numbers for my blog, I noticed that the “under consideration” changed to “no longer under consideration”.   Today, I received a call.  For some reason they hadn’t be able to reached my cell phone to tell me in person before it showed up in BESS.  They apologized.   I was happy they called, it puts an end to my brain filling in missing parts of the story which can end up going anywhere but will invariably stray far from reality.

For feedback, they said I did fine; I was in the top of the interviewees.  They had interviewed twelve and cut it down to two for second interviews.  I was right in there, but not in the top two.   I think it had been so long that there weren’t any particulars that they could be share; I imagine this is especially true after doing different twelve interviews.  I’ve been on interview teams before, it is intense work; I can’t imagine doing twelve.

Most of the jobs that I have applied for are "tide me over jobs".  These are positions that I can do until the economy picks up and Boeing begins its recovery.  Then I could look for a better position somewhere in the company.   I figure recovery is only about 6 months to a year away.    The second category is "good positions", jobs that I like and can do well at, but may not really stretch me and make me learn.  These are positions that I could remain in for some time and possibly build into a great position given the right projects.  Then the third type is jobs is "Apple Pie Jobs".  The ones I would really love to have—jobs that use all of my talents; that stretch me in many different ways causing me to learn rapidly.  These are positions that would mean a lot to me.    These are positions that I would take a pay cut to get into.  There haven’t been many of these.  And some of the ones that I thought were like this, I wasn’t qualified for.

This one I interviewed for was the best of the "Apple Pie Jobs".  I hung a lot of hope on this job coming through; I figured I would get the job and would not have to leave Boeing.  I was thinking this at the same time I was preparing and getting ready to leave; but in the back of my mind, this was my savior job; the silver lining the warn notice journey.

Now, I have to get more serious about leaving the company.  Not that I wasn’t before, but now it is show time.  There isn’t much time left.  Even if some other positions call for interviews, the likelihood that something could happen before my layoff date is slim to none, considering how Boeing moves.  I haven’t given up all hope of another Boeing position.   I have met several people that had positions come up a day or two before a layoff, so it is still possible.  I’m just not going to hang my hat on that hook.

Now it is time to prepare and get excited about leaving Boeing.  My mind is again turning to what all  I have to get done, in order to be functioning without all the resources that Boeing has afforded me all these years.   Cell phones, computers, employee discounts, files, books,  and taking care of my desk items are examples of things I need to make sure gets accomplished in the next  14 days.

Tomorrow: Is supposed to be a beautiful spring day.  I hope to spend a bunch of time out in the sunshine and working in the garden.

My numbers didn’t change today.