Acrylic, ink, and paper on canvas
2024
Job hunting is tough and I’ve had my fair share of frustrating and disappointing experiences over the years. These are some of the more memorable experiences I had while looking for a new job. They aren’t arranged in any particular order.
Ghosted You – I had an interview that seemed to go well and the employer said they would contact me by the end of the week with their decision on who they were hiring. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear from them again. I tried emailing and calling them over the next few weeks but I didn’t receive any responses.
Filled – I had an interview at a private company but the interviewer seemed disinterested in talking with me and I was rushed through the meeting in about 20 minutes. I found out later through a mutual contact that the company had already decided on who they were hiring prior to my interview. I felt like the interview was a waste of time.
Forgot about your Interview – I had a scheduled phone interview with a non-profit organization, but the hiring team didn’t call me. I tried contacting them several times by phone and email, but I didn’t receive a response until five hours after my original interview time. Due to an oversight, the hiring team forgot to put me on the interview list. The supervisor from the organization called me directly and apologized for the situation but he decided to interview me on the spot because he didn’t want to delay the hiring process. This was very inconvenient because I was at work and I had to clock out early to talk to this guy. He only asked me two questions and spent most of the 45+ minute phone call bragging about how important the organization was to the community. After we concluded the call I never heard from the supervisor or the non-profit organization again.
Rescinded – I went through two rounds of interviews for a leadership position at a large company and after several weeks of no communication following my interview, I was sent a formal letter stating that the job was being rescinded for undisclosed reasons.
Fluffing Job Description – I applied for a job under the premise that I would be doing office work as an administrative employee, but during the interview I found out that the job was mostly physical labor with an inconsistent schedule and less than ideal working conditions. The employer wouldn’t give me a direct answer as to why the job description didn’t match the actual job.
No Funding – A job I applied for didn’t materialize because the employer didn’t secure the funds to fulfill the salary requirements for the position. The job was in the private sector and whatever was going on behind the scenes, the employer decided to distribute the duties of the new position among their current employees. I only found out about this around three months after I applied for the position because the hiring manager called me and wanted to explain what happened and why they had not been in contact sooner.
Help Wanted Sign Still Here – I applied for several jobs at different companies only to find out that the jobs had already been filled and the listings were out of date. The listings were still posted on the websites of these companies and when I mentioned this, each company quickly removed the listings without further comment to me.
Vague Job Listing – I applied for a job with a non-profit organization under the impression that the job was entry-level and would be customer service based. The hiring manager was not responding to my communications, so I didn’t know if the job was filled or not. After the third attempt at contacting them, the hiring manger finally responded and very rudely told me that I was not qualified for the job which required years of highly specialized experience. They condescendingly told me to look elsewhere to get my foot in the door if I wanted a career in this field. When I informed them that the job listing didn’t mention the qualifications the job required, the hiring manger had the listing removed from the organization’s website and I didn’t hear from them again.
Cronyism – I was one of two external candidates competing for a upper-level supervisory position at a small, private company. I thought I had a decent chance of getting the job since only two people applied for it, myself included. Several weeks went by without any updates from the company so when I reached out to ask about the job, the company leadership informed me that they promoted an internal candidate. The leadership told me that the person they appointed to the position was a friend who had been with the company for a long time and they were the best fit.
Poaching – I applied for a full-time job at a company that I used to work for as a part-time employee, but the company changed the hiring process without telling the applicants. Instead of conducting interviews, the hiring committee went to a rival company and recruited someone directly. I felt like the application process had been a waste of everyone’s time because in addition to filling out an application, I had to secure two letters of recommendation. I felt bad because my colleagues who wrote me a letter were hoping that I would get the job. I would have been in the dark about the hiring decision if I hadn’t reached out to the hiring manager about a month after I applied. I was told that the company wasn’t going to inform the applicants about the decision until after the newly appointed employee’s probation period had ended, which was one year.
We’re Unprepared – I went to an interview which had to be delayed because the hiring committee didn’t prepare their interview questions. Then they asked for more time because the questions they brought were for a different job. After waiting alone in the meeting room for a while longer, only one committee member came back and asked if I could reschedule the interview because the other committee members had another appointment. I didn’t feel like the committee respected me or my time, so I declined and said I was no longer interested in the job. At no point during or after this “interview” did any member of the hiring committee reach out and apologize for their unprofessional behavior.
Schedule Conflicts – I was offered a job after three rounds of very competitive interviews but I turned it down because the employer had a pre-determined work schedule for me that did not work with my personal schedule. Instead of a typical eight-hour day with a short lunch break, I was expected to work two separate, four-hour shifts – one in the early morning and one in the late evening. The employer’s schedule was non-negotiable, and I felt like I was mislead because I had asked about the schedule during one of my interviews and the hiring committee did not mention the split shifts. My commute to the workplace was already a long trip and the split schedule would have made my day very difficult so I declined the job offer. The compensation the employer was offering wasn’t worth the hassle of the commute with this schedule.
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I was going to create an aggressive, underworld theme for the background to represent frustration and failure but I changed my mind and included a predominantly blue hue to symbolize melancholy and disappointment instead.
The bottom of the piece features a stone hand with several bleeding cracks in it. The hand is reaching upwards to grab an opportunity so it can leave this depressing place. The cracks and the maroon thorns on the sides represent continual and increasing pain but the hand remains determined to push through and reach its goal. I chose stone to represent the hand because it is a very sturdy material but it is not invulnerable so it will eventually wear down over time. I used some kind of sandy textured paint I found at a craft store to paint the hand. The very bottom of the piece is painted in various shades of red and brown akin to piles of fallen leaves. Most trees shed their leaves again and again, year after year, and most job seekers apply for jobs, again and again, until they find one that accepts them.
The job opportunities are represented as flying laptops with bat wings. They are beyond the reach of the outstretched hand and are mocking it by sticking out their tongues. Red text on each laptop screen describes the individual reasons why the hand cannot claim the job opportunity.
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