16 Painful Interviews (part 6)

During March, I was called in for some sort of invoicing position at a shipping company. It was international shipping as the cargo fit into steel shipping containers that floated over the oceans. It seemed like the job required a lot of communication with vendors. It would be important to make sure payments were received on time, cargo went to the proper destination, and cargo arrived on time. The woman interviewing me looked at the application that I filled out and noticed the requested salary was $36000. Immediately, she asked if that salary was negotiable and I said yes. The position was only going to pay $30000 per year. It wasn’t a position I was excited about and the commute was over 25 miles. I recall the lady from HR was talking about her son being stationed in Alaska for some reason but I couldn’t care about anything she had to say or try to build a fake connection with her.

About a week later, I was called in for an interview in the accounts payable position at some different company. I slogged my way through it.

After talking to my parents, they were kind of asking how come I hadn’t gotten hired yet. It had been about 10 interviews so far. Surely they would have expected anyone to get hired after that many interviews. I told them that the US economy was in the toilet, good jobs are hard to comeby, and they market is hyper competitive. As a nation, we elected a socialist as a president. It wasn’t 1950s or 1960s America where GDP grew at an average of 4% per year. No, after the turn of the century, GDP growth was only half of what it used to be. My parents meant well however they were very out of touch with the labor market. They had been working on their own operation ever since the 1980s. Well, at least I was doing everything I could on my end.

Towards the end of March, my unemployment benefits were about to run out. I had only about a month worth of benefits left to collect. For a little while, I started considering other options. Some people recommended joining the military. The benefits were numerous and you could save a lot of money if you lived on base. There was just the downsides of having the risk of death and always having someone yelling in your face. It wasn’t an option I considered seriously. There were other government options though. The government had a program where volunteers would go overseas to help with projects in poor third world countries. This would mean digging wells, building houses, planting crops, and taking care of the sick. While I didn’t care about helping the poor or assisting third world nations, I did however consider the benefits. Should I decide to go abroad and pass some peace, my food and lodging would be taken care of. We would be living in the same conditions these villagers would be living in for a total of 27 months. This would be 27 months where my expenses would be cut down to practically zero dollars. The website also stated that volunteers would receive an adjustment bonus of almost $8000 upon successful completion of the assignment.

February 2013

For the month of February, I spent a total of $600.04. My premium for car insurance was $192. My rates decreased slightly. My premium for health insurance was $41.91. I spent $96.08 on gas by filling up my tank 3 times. I spent $40.07 on fast food by eating out 12 times. Each time I ate fast food, I typically just ordered off the value menu. I spent $35.90 at restaurants eating out with some friends. I purchased a phone card for $30.74 on a 120 minute bundle. I spent $30.59 on groceries. I bought some clothes for $10.69. I spent $15.67 on motor oil.

March 2013

For the month of March, I spent a total of $482.46. It was the first month I ever kept my expenses below $500. My premium for car insurance was $191. My premium for health insurance was $41.91. I spent $88 on gas by filling up my tank 4 times. I spent $55.78 on fast food by eating out 13 times. I spent $24 on restaurants by eating with some friends. I spent $23.53 on groceries. I spent $26.46 on clothes.

16 Painful Interviews (part 5)

A lot of online sources recommended buying some gold or silver. This was even some wisdom my old man gave to me back in 2011. Unfortunately, I scoffed at his advice and utterly rejected it. Back then, I only had about $15000 to my name. I had only been working for a year. In other words, I really didn’t have that much to lose. Back then, I really couldn’t see the value in precious metals. Should civilization end, I didn’t see what silver would do. If the power grid goes down and there is no more electricity, people will be raping and killing each other in the streets. When the world gets that bad, the most valuable investments will be commodities needed for survival. Food and water would become the new currency and you can’t eat silver.

Back when I was just starting out, I never went to my parents for financial advice. They were not the ones that showed me how to plan my life out on spreadsheets, keep track of all my expenses, and do everything I could to save as much money as possible. After graduating college, they had the aspirations that I would start my own business and become a made man that way. Unfortunately, they never gave me any real advice or ideas for starting or running a business. My dad kept on encouraging me to build some sort or building and sell products out of it. I’m sure he would have encouraged me to take on thousands upon thousands of dollars of debt and get started before even having an idea of how to make any money. They wanted me to take on a whole lot of risk for a shot of getting a decent reward.

My mom on the other hand told me that I was being foolish for not investing my money in the stock market. As much money as I was saving, she kept on telling me that all of it would devalue due to inflation. My counter argument was that I would keep my expenses down to as little as possible so that the effects of inflation wouldn’t be as harsh. Secondly and more importantly was the fact that the financial meltdown of 2008 happened and I had no faith or trust in the stock market. Thirdly, there was no investment that was safe and provided a good rate of return. It was my intentions to invest only in long term certificates of deposits which paid out a whopping two percent apy. At least they were FDIC insured.

Investing in some silver was a good idea. I just kind of wish that my dad could have explained it better than he did. Precious metals should be looked at as a sort of insurance rather than an investment. As the economic situation worsens, people will start to lose confidence in the dollar and try to look for an alternative currency. This is where gold and silver come into play. They are an alternate way to store wealth. Gold and silver are unique metals that don’t react with other elements. They will not perish easily. They have some practical usage in the electronics industry and they are used in luxury items such as jewelry. But the best reason I like gold and silver as an investment is the fact that the US government can’t dig out and mine gold and silver as easy as it can print US dollars. The supply of gold and silver will not be inflated crazily due to the mismanagement of politicians. As much as I wanted to buy some precious metals, I’d have to wait until getting employed again.   

16 Painful Interviews (part 4)

Being unemployed for a few months only helped to reinforce my decisions to never get married or have children. At this point, it was also making me reconsider my aspirations of buying a house. Ever since the financial meltdown of 2008, I always had this deep feeling that the world could end at any moment. Actually, that feeling started after the September 11th attacks however the financial meltdown just seemed to magnify the threat.

The United States spends more money than it collects in tax revenue each year. We have a total national debt greater than our GDP. Young people are either unemployed or underemployed. Also, trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities would eventually come due in the future. Social Security and Medicare are the programs that will eventually bankrupt our country. It is a very hostile environment to even consider marriage or children.

With $34000 in my bank accounts and no debt, I was lightyears ahead of the average America. Of course, the only way I could have such wealth was to keep my living expenses down to the bare minimum. For a man with a wife, children, mortgage, car note, and credit card debt, being out of work for as short as two months could feel like a death sentence. In my case, it was just a minor inconvenience. It was almost a vacation. However, there was always a possibility that things could get far worse.

During the time I was unemployed, I remembered two significant news events. The first was that some crazy lunatic went into an elementary school and shot some kids. The second, and far more concerning story, was the event that happened in the country in Cyprus. During the start of 2013, the country of Cyprus was experiencing some financial problems. The country was probably on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to remedy the problem, the government decided it would be a good idea to take a portion of the bank deposits of the citizens of Cyprus. Obviously, this lead to a panic and a run on the banks. I’m not completely sure how much money the average citizen lost however I heard accounts of people losing anywhere between 10% to 50% of the money in their bank accounts. What struck me so hard about this story was that if it could happen in Cyprus, how long would it be until it happened here?

I had put my life down on spreadsheets but having a portion or all of my assets was something I never accounted for. After doing some research online, it seems like bank haircuts or “bail ins” have happened before in several other European and South American countries. Here in the United States, we have a situation where we continuously spend more money than we make. It is a completely unsustainable system. Even in the news, there was talk about nationalizing retirement plans as early as the year 2000. With life being even more uncertain than I had anticipated, I wondered if there was anything I could do to protect myself.

16 Painful Interviews (part 3)

January 2013

For the month of January, I spent a total of $508.77. My premium for car insurance was $207.40. My premium for health insurance was $41.91. I spent $73.99 on gas by filling up my tank twice. I spent $31.51 on fast food by eating out 8 times. I purchased a new phone for $63.13. The phone I bought offered triple minutes for life. I bought it to save money in the long run on prepaid minutes as the old phone only offered double minutes. I spent $34.62 on groceries.

It was February and I had talked to or heard from Julia since December. I guess she just really didn’t want me anymore. I was certain that she found someone else. Nothing good would come from her but I’d talk to her if she decided to call me back. However, during the new year, I purchased a new phone. I had always used prepaid phone services and the phone I had been using gave me double minutes. During January, I found a prepaid phone that would give me triple minutes for life. I’d use the old phone until my service time expired which would be on April 14th 2013. After that, Julia would not be able to reach me. I deleted her number from my phone and I didn’t commit her number to memory. I did all of this to prevent myself from becoming a groveling simp. I couldn’t trust myself otherwise. The only way I could get in touch with her after April would be to go out of my way to talk to Ting.

Loneliness is one thing but hatred and depression was another. Repeated numbers of rejections and the utter waste of my time going to these interviews left me feeling incredibly spiteful. I was getting to the point where I was thinking I’d never become an accountant. The world was going to hell but part of me wanted to see it happen. I wanted to see everyone burn and die together. I had to remind myself that things weren’t so bad. After all, I had over $34000. I was still collecting some unemployment benefits so I wasn’t stressed for cash. When I wasn’t going to interviews or job searching, I had a good amount of time to skate, jog, lift weights, and play video games. There was even one girl that wanted to spend some time with me.

Her name was Allison. We knew each other in college and she actually reached out to me to have lunch sometime in November of 2015. I thought she was a cute girl and college and I kind of wanted to date her back in 2010 but it never worked out. With things going sour with Julia, I thought it would be nice to see if I could make something happen with Allison in the end of 2015. I never knew why she reached out to me but it seemed like dating was not her intention. She already had a boyfriend so I wondered why did she want to see me? Maybe she was using me as a backup incase things ever went south with her boyfriend. I had lunch with her twice or three times along and I enjoyed the conversations we had together. Unfortunately, every time after that, she always invited me to dinner with a group of four or five other of her friends. After the second or third time, it got pretty boring.

16 Painful Interviews (part 2)

Most likely, I screwed up getting both of these jobs because I was too eager to follow up with them. I had the impression that I was one of the first candidates to be interviewed for both positions because I was constantly spamming my resume to any new position I saw on the jobs databases. I called up both companies every few days to see if they made a decision. The first company told me they hired someone else and I might have offended one of the girls that interviewed me at the second company. She told me they took the hiring process very seriously and rejected me before even inviting me to the lunch.

Sometime during February, I got called into to a company for another interview. The company was one that specialized in reloadable prepaid debit cards. The position was for an accounts payable staff member and I think the salary was more than $30000 but less than $40000. Of course I was interested in the position, I wanted to get into anything that was in the accounting field. The interview was far less exhausting as I remember only talking to two people. The interview went on without anything memorable really sticking out.

Again, in February, I was called in for an interview for a staff accountant position. This time, it was for a major gas station. Over the phone, the guy told me that before having the interview, I’d take a quick accounting assessment and then he would show me around the corporate headquarters. Feeling incredibly apprehensive about taking an assessment, I had to ask him what were the topics that the assessment would cover. He told me that it would just be basic level topics. When he said basic level topics, I assumed that it would be only the topics that we would have covered in the level one accounting classes. When I got there and started taking the assessment, the questions started off pretty basic. Unfortunately, after 10 questions, they asked how to handle lease accounting and other topics that were covered in our advanced accounting courses. That bastard lied to me. As I went through the test, I became increasingly more and more pissed off as the test went on. Eventually, I said to hell with it, dropped the assessment on the desk, and just walked out. The lady at the front desk seemed a little confused and asked me if I had met with Carlos. That was the first and only time I ever rage quit an exam.

To close out the month of February, I got called in for a property tax position. The salary was not stated but I assumed that it would be roughly $45000. The company was a very small operation. It only had two employees. The boss of the organization said that they covered a very niche market. They assessed property taxes over anything from skyscrapers to nuclear reactors and that the job required a fair amount of travel. Out of all the job interviewers I ever had, this jackass stood out the most. When I went to all of my interviews, I always did my best to portray a certain amount of professionalism and I’d expect the same amount back. As soon as I talked to the guy, he looked over my resume and the first question he asked me was if I read any interesting novels lately. After 10 minutes, we covered topics such as his daughter, college, and the Vietnam War. After talking about the war, I was getting the feeling that the interview wasn’t going very well so I tried to steer him back on track by actually talking about the job position. Unfortunately, when I brought up the topic of work, this just seemed to bum him out. After 10 more minutes of his nonsense I just decided to try to cut through it all and ask if I could have the job. He just said he didn’t know and I decided to end it there. I said I’d follow up with him and just kind of left. Needless to say, I was contacted by these three organizations just to tell me my services were not needed.

16 Painful Interviews (part 1)

After New Year’s Day, things started to look up a bit. I got a phone call from a cost accountant at a company I had applied to. He told me that he was impressed with my resume and we had a 20 minute conversation over the phone. The company he was with was a manufacturing firm that produced fixtures and other components. They needed another cost accountant for the company. Over the phone, I told him that I had two years of work experience in non accounting jobs. While I wasn’t an accountant, I did have some experience using accounting software, reconciling balances, and sending payments. He was eager to set up an interview with me and I was happy to go. After I got off the phone, I looked through my records to identify the company and position I applied to. I was excited to see the position paid from $45000 to $55000.

I put on my suit and drove out to the work site a week later. That day, I was interviewed by three or four people of the staff there. I did my best to engage everyone of the staff members and asked really good questions. What were the day to day activities? Why was the position needed? What sort of software would I be using? How have employees been successful at the company? Was the company growing and expanding? I also answered all of their questions and told them how I took control of a few teams back in college and delivered good results. I told them I was a dedicated worker and was eager to learn how to become an accountant. By the end of the day, I had my hopes up but I knew it would be foolish to stop looking for work and wait to be accepted or rejected. I was proud of the fact that it was the first time I had ever been considered for an accounting position.

During the same week, I was contacted by a different company. The position was of a property tax manager and the job paid between $45000 to $55000. Again I was excited because I had never had a chance to make so much money before. The position wasn’t necessarily accounting related but it did require doing a lot of data manipulation and analysis. The ladies there told me that it was routine to receive large amounts of data and then manipulate the data into pivot tables in order to produce different calculations. Producing pivot tables was on part of the interview that hurt me because I had never made them before in spreadsheets. I did tell them that I was eager to learn and that I could pick up the skill pretty fast. During the same format, I interviewed with either three or four people that day. They proceeded to ask me the stock questions. Do you work well alone or in teams? How do you work under pressure? Are you good with meeting deadlines? Where do you see yourself in five years? Once again, I had to put on a show for them and tell them that I did work well in teams, perform well under pressure, and had the ambitions of perhaps getting advanced certifications in the future. It was so exhausting that by the time I met with the boss of the company, I just wanted to get out of there and go home. I asked him maybe three or four questions and he showed me the door. The ladies told me that myself and the other prospective candidates would be invited to a lunch to better get to know us. After the lunch, they would decide who to bring on aboard.

The seven month contract (part 14)

By the time my contract ended in October 2012, I had saved up a total of $34000. I was a free man again and I had the time to look for an opportunity. By the end of October, the staffing agency had another contract waiting to be filled. It was for the position of accounts payable clerk in a successful fast food restaurant. The restaurant is best known for their chicken sandwiches. It was a short contract lasting only three months but I was ready to take a paycheck anywhere. I dressed up in a suit and drove close to thirty miles just to get to the job site. When I got there, they handed me an assessment to complete before the interview started. I had 30 minutes to complete it. Most of it was basic and familiar however I had a little bit of difficulty remembering how to do adjusting entries. I handed the assessment in and waited.

After five minutes, a lady came out to tell me I had failed the exam and we could not go further with the interview. Immediately, I got pissed off and wanted to choke someone. I just drove 30 miles and wasted at least 3 hours of my day to go to this interview. We shared an awkward silence while riding the elevator down to the lobby. She asked me one question and I answered it with one word while giving her a look filled with the blistering hatred of a serial killer. My love for that restaurant died that day and I got a burger to eat on the way home. Unfortunately, the recruiters never found another position that I could qualify for. They specialized in staffing people with IT skills and I really didn’t have knowledge of coding, programming, or SQL. It was rare that they would get a flood audit around my location. With that first interview done, I was on my own and out to look for work again.

I had one interview in November. The company offered financing to people who wanted to buy new cars. It wasn’t a position I was excited about but I went just to get in the swing of things again and get comfortable with interviews. I really didn’t have much to contribute to the conversation with the boss and really I was just waiting for the interview to be over. After a painful 30 minutes, I left the office without any real expectations.

During December, I noticed that there were more job positions available. On job databases, I regularly saw positions for staff accountant and cost accountant present. I made sure to apply for all of them. I had close to two years of work experience so I’d might have a better chance of actually getting an interview. The world didn’t come to an end on December 21 and I made it through Christmas and New Year.

July 2012

For the month of July, I spent a total of $690.67. I was over budget but I wasn’t that concerned with staying in budget. I was only going to be employed for a few more months anyway. My insurance premium was $203.40. I spent $175 on gas by filling up my tank 7 times. I spent $63.85 on fast food by eating out 12 times. I spent $62.10 by taking Julia out to eat twice. I spent $60.38 on clothing. I got my haircut this month for $20.

August 2012

For the month of August, I spent a total of $728.22. I was still over budget but I was still not really concerned. My insurance policy renewed this month. To my dismay, my premiums didn’t decrease but the increased slightly. I spent $208 on my insurance premium. I spent $235.57 on gas by filling up my tank 7 times. I spent $49.48 on fast food by eating out 5 times. I spent $40.32 by eating some meals with friends. I spent $33.89 on groceries for this month. I bought a pair of shoes for $37.09. I spent $18.98 on oil filters for my car.

September 2012

For the month of September, I spent a total of $1091.19. I was way over budget. This was due to health care expenses. I spent $45 on an eye exam and $232.39 on a new pair of glasses. I spent $158 on a physical exam because I was committed to buying health insurance. My insurance premium was $207.40. I spent $201.07 on gas by filling up my tank 6 times. I spent $53.90 on fast food by eating out 9 times. I spent $40.36 eating out at restaurants with some friends. I spent $36.10 on groceries. I also spent $19.99 on a phone card for my prepaid phone.

October 2012

For the month of October, I spent a total of $691.86. My employment ended again yet I was still over budget. My insurance premium was $207.40. I spent $180.86 on gas by filling up my tank 6 times. I spent $61.58 on fast food by eating out 13 times. I spent $24.65 on groceries. I spent $40.75 eating at restaurants with some friends. I spent $80.74 on a 400 minute bundle for my phone. The 400 minutes became 800 minutes with my prepaid phone as it had the double minutes for life feature. I spent $49.80 on ink cartridges for my printer.

November 2012

For the month of November, I spent a total of $555.49. My premium for car insurance was $207.40. I paid two months of premiums for my health insurance which came out to be $104.10. I spent $42.74 on gas by filling up my tank twice. I was not driving very much this month. I spent $33.15 on fast food by eating out 8 times. During this time period, I wanted to get fast food just for the sake of getting something. Each purchase was relatively small. I spent $67.56 on the taxes and tags for my car. Related to my car, I also spent $15 on emissions. I bought a pair of knee pads for $23.29. I spent $10 on groceries. I only went out to eat with friends once this month and spent $11.96.

December 2012

For the month of December, I spent a total of $548.92. My premium for car insurance was $207.40. I spent $86.54 on gas by filling up my tank 3 times. I spent $20.19 on fast food by eating out 6 times. I bought a new skateboard deck for $59.26. I spent $26.01 at restaurants by eating out with friends.