I Mean...How Does This Happen? HOW?! in These Foolish Things

I just have to get this out. I’ve been working on the downlow on a job opportunity at a company where I used to work. I didn’t write about it for fear of jinxing it. It was just too perfect of a plan.

I still have friends at this former company and had drinks with a former co-worker a couple of months ago. This woman has worked her way up to a Senior Vice President and she said she’d love to recommend me for a position if one comes open. GREAT!

There was a role open that I was not 100% qualified for. I still spoke to HR, yet didn’t get an interview with the hiring manager because she was looking for a few different skills. Fine.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and another former co-worker sent me a text telling me that her boss, my former boss asked her directly if I’d be interested in a product development job that someone had just put their notice in for. The job wasn’t even posted yet!

I said of COURSE I’d be interested!

The job was a semi-step down from my previous role, but I didn’t feel like I’d be moving backwards for a couple of reasons: (1) the job was a bigger role than I’d previously had at this company, and (2) I honestly don’t want a VP-level job anymore! I want something that I can live off of and not be super stressed out about.

I spoke with the hiring manager, my former boss, a few days later. I felt like a freaking shoo-in. We talked like no time had passed between us. And he told me to wait until the job was posted and he’d make sure I was officially interviewed.

I watched the company website like a hawk.

By the time the job was posted, I found out that there were actually TWO of these roles open! One of them would report to my former boss and the other would report to his counterpart. Great!

I had a phenomenal phone interview with HR. She was talking about how if she could work it to where I could start before the end of the month, I’d be eligible for bonus and a raise at review time!

By the time I got video interviews set up, there were three open positions! Done deal! I was going back to work for my old company. I was figuring out my in-person interview outfit and what I was going to wear on my first day back.

I felt a real sense of relief and that’s why I could kind of breathe easy about this trip to Utah, knowing I was going to cancel all of the travel arrangements (I arranged for a refundable ticket, etc.) and take this job back at my old company.

And then I didn’t hear anything.

I kept texting my friend and she was very, very, VERY positive about it all…she’d talked with my former boss and he told her that I had a great interview with both hiring managers. That’s great, but why wasn’t I hearing back about next steps?

I waited and waited and finally decided to send emails to both the HR person (who was out of the office until today) and my former boss. Crickets. Not even a “thanks for checking in…hang in there!”

Wouldn’t you know that today I heard back from the HR person that ALL THREE of the open positions were filled by internal candidates?

My heart sank.

I am so freaking upset.

I was so sure about this opportunity and now I am back to square one because I do not want to move to Utah. My mind is totally made up about that. I’m still going because I’m going to work very hard to make them fall in love with me and have to figure out a way I can take the job and work remotely.

And if none of that works, I’m going to take a holiday retail job and figure out WTF I’m going to do with the rest of my life.

So much for not jinxing. The Universe is absolutely saying something, but WHAT?!

Devastated,
GS

Last updated October 25, 2022