Commencement

This was it. It had been four months and twenty-five interviews since his encounter with Aldrige. Allen had been close to a nervous breakdown after so many terrible interview experiences. To make matters worse, the industry in which he had been seeking work had more than collapsed. The subprime mortgage mess was turning into a full-scale disaster of gargantuan proportions. Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Washington Mutual, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the first casualties. Then there were rumors of little banks beginning to fail like Sun Trust out in California. There were bank runs almost reminiscent of the early days of the Great Depression. The financial losses seemed astronomical. Then the DOW fell hundreds of points, on not one, not two, but three days in a row. Despite this, the lame duck president assured the public that there was no real problem with the economy. The recent fall in the DOW Jones industrials was merely a correction. People should take the opportunity to buys stocks at the new lows before the prices went up again. According to certain economists, it was still a bull market. And indeed it was all bull. Layoffs of thousands were imminent. There were a few businesses that were still hiring, but for those few jobs the competition was fierce. Allen knew that in this environment, his lack of experience might now be a good thing as those firms that were hiring might be looking to save money with younger less experienced workers. But this alone would not give him much of an advantage. The whole economic crisis made Allen’s situation more desperate. He had to make the most of his interviews and land a job while he still could.

  Allen racked his brain to figure out what he was doing wrong. He went to interview workshops, and even paid money for a coach. A couple of days ago, he went on an interview for the position of associate analyst at Towne and Farber with the hope that all the time and money he had spent to sharpen his interview skills would pay off. The interview began like all the others he’d had previously. When he walked into the conference room for the interview, he noticed an uneasiness wash over the people who were interviewing him. Allen managed to sail through the interview, but the whole time he felt as if he were being interrogated. There were some on the hiring panel that were even openly hostile. Allen thought the interview would be a bust like all the others. Then he got a call from one of the panel’s members, Mr. Wong, about coming in to discuss an offer. It was as if someone had thrown him a life preserver in the midst of perilous waters.

  Allen was now sitting in the same conference room in which he had his initial interview. As Allen waited for Mr. Wong, he contemplated all of the things he had gone through up to this point. He couldn’t believe how close he had come to entertaining the idea that maybe he would never find a suitable job. How silly he had been. After all, there was no way someone with his education and skills could be out of work for very long, even with everything that was going on with the economy. In the midst of Allen’s meditation, Mr. Wong appeared with some documents in his hands.

  “Good Afternoon, Allen. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

  “Good Afternoon, Mr. Wong. It’s no problem, really.”

  “I know you’re probably anxious to get this settled, so I’ll get right to it”, Wong explained. “As you know, we would like to offer you a position with our firm.”

  Those were the words that Allen had been waiting to hear for months. He was so happy, he almost felt as if he would cry, and he struggled to maintain his self-possession. Allen knew that in the business world he had to keep his “game face” on.

  “Thank You”, Allen managed to say. “It’s an honor to be an analyst of such a wonderful firm....”

  “Actually-, I don’t know how to put this, but-I know you were interviewed for the analyst position, but after reviewing your qualifications, we thought we might be able to use your talents in another capacity. The pay is a little less, but we feel that given your incredible management skills it may be a better fit for you. Are you still interested?”

  “What is the position?” Allen inquired, trying to keep the suspicion out of his voice.

  “You see our firm owns several commercial properties including this one, and we have in-house facility maintenance. You would be working out in our building management office as our Facility Maintenance Director for this property. You would be the leader of a team, and would be managing several of our building maintenance workers, and trouble shooting various problems that occur. You would even manage a lot of the activities in the building. It’s a very challenging position, but we think you would be great. You’d be making roughly 40,000.00 a year.”

  “So basically, I’d be the head custodian of the building.”

  “Some people would refer to it as that, but at this firm, you would have a lot more responsibility than what such a title implies.”

  Allen swallowed hard. It seemed as if Mr. Wong just hit him in the face with a brick. Allen had been desperate for work, but not this desperate.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Wong, but I don’t think I can accept the position.”

  Seven