Waiting by the Mailbox

By now, I am sure that you have guessed the job interview did not go well. And it had so much potential.

The interview was with a major retailer. Not my first choice, but a job's a job. Plus, I was thrilled that they called me in knowing that I was asking for at least $9/hr (very reasonable considering my retail experience.) I meet with the first interviewers. All is going very well and schmoozy. I find out that the position is for cashier. I wasn't thrilled, but oh well. I move on to the interview with the store manager. Here too, I'm killing. Then the guy asks me if I don't think I might be a overqualified for the position. With a master's degree and over 3 years of retail experience, I am neither capable or willing to deny it.

"I'd rather be overqualified than underqualified." The reason, he explained for bringing it up, was that I had asked for over $2/hr more than they were willing to offer. He wanted to know if I would be willing to work for the lower sum. I was honest.

"I don't know. I would have to check my finances and see if it would be feasible for me."

There was lots of minor debate, namely on whether to continue the interview. He did not want to waste either or our time. I wasn't going to pretty that I was happy with that kind of wage, and he wasn't going to offer more. I told him that I would think about it over the weekend and would call in Monday if I wanted to go through with the interview process.

I went home and did some math. My unemployment would be margainally less if I decided to file (thank goodness I was eligible to file.) There was the added bonus of not selling out to a completely crappy job that would have scheduled me lots of crazy hours. The wage killed me because a) on the application, I told them the minimum that I would accept was $9/hr, hence they wasted my time simply by calling me in for an interview, b) the guy had the nerve to tell me to think about the long term, how long would it take me to get to a wage I could live on?, and c) I didn't so much feel overqualified on the matter of education (even though I am), what pissed me off is that I have not only 3+ years of retail experience, but I had increasingly greater responsibility over that time. That alone should have helped on the payscale.

So, I bucked up and filed for unemployment. I held off as long as I could. I called my last job and talked to a co-worker for support. Despite my significantly less office experience, she encouraged me to pursue office jobs and offered to provide references (again.) I also found a job listing for my alma mater for grad studies. Academic advisor, which falls in nicely with my graduate degree. I'm going back to visit my former advisor Tuesday to get her advise (and reference letter) for applying for the job. Has to beat the most depressing job I would have ever had.