Corporate Death Spiral

A few weeks ago, I received an interesting email from a former colleague at my former former workplace. He came across a news story about the possible sale of our former former workplace.

Though from a reputable media outlet, the article was based on “anonymous sources close to the situation.” In other words, this is mere speculation at this point. Who are these sources? What do they have to gain by leaking this information? Who knows if and when the sale will ever take place? I’m not saying the story is untrue. But like alien sightings and George Clooney marriage rumors, I’ll believe it when it actually happens or when I see it for myself.

Nevertheless, this rather flimsy article reminded me of a phenomenon you see quite often in the business world, and one that I have witnessed firsthand. I call it the corporate death spiral.

It goes something like this: A company encounters revenue shortfalls; maybe it even files for bankruptcy protection (as my former company did). They cut staff and product lines. When that fails to boost profits, the CEO is fired. Of course, oftentimes the company never says he or she was fired; just that he or she left to “pursue other interests.” Pursue other interests?! HA! The company fired your sorry butt, now get the heck outta here.

Then, a new CEO is brought in to basically clean up the mess. Think of a mop-up relief pitcher brought in during a blowout loss in the middle innings. He’s not there to win the game that day. His only job is to minimize the damage so the team can fight another day. (Insert NY Mets bullpen joke here.)

That’s not to say the new CEO isn’t an intelligent, experienced executive. No doubt he or she comes in enthused and with great ideas to somehow elevate revenues. Only…sometimes those grand schemes don’t work out and the company is still bleeding cash.

So the new CEO resorts to the familiar tactic of slashing staff and products in a desperate doggy-paddle to save the company, himself and his cronies. When that fails to move the needle, the CEO throws up his arms in disgust and says, “Uncle! Let’s sell the damn thing!”

Remember, about six months before the article about the possible sale of my former former workplace was published, the company cut over 30 employees. At my former workplace, the CEO sent around a cryptic note alluding to rumors about a possible sale of the company. (I didn’t see anything in the press about it.) Soon after, four others and myself were shown the door.

So you see a pattern here. A company in fiscal straits cuts staff/products, brings in a new CEO, cuts more staff and then puts itself up for sale.

It’s similar to when a homeowner decides to sell their house. They paint and spruce up the bathrooms to make it more attractive to potential buyers. In the corporate world, companies slash a third of their workforce. Gah!

All I can do is shake my head in bitter resignation. For all the hyped-up plans that went bust, for all the people they put out of work, for all the lives destroyed, all those companies did was buy a bit of time and temporarily stave off the inevitable, which is the ruination of a once thriving company. What a sad waste of money and talent. Instead of creating a credible blueprint for success, these companies are barely treading water. They might as well have flushed all that money down the drain, along with a lot of good people who may never see a steady paycheck again.

Another example is the retail stalwart JCPenney. About two years ago, it tried a new pricing method to bring in shoppers. When that failed, it brought in a new CEO, who restored its previous sales pricing system. It also announced a slew of store closures. Recent reports have the chain holding its own. But how long will it survive?

Likewise, how long will my two previous workplaces survive? Will a new buyer snatch them up at bargain prices? Will that new owner embark on a program of staff reduction (as they did at my former former workplace)?

What if no buyer is found? Will both companies be shut down, thereby completing the inevitable corporate death spiral?

Stay tuned.

The Stockholm Syndrome of American Workers

In this blog, I try not to divulge too much about individual companies I have interviewed with. I don’t want to get into trouble with any potential employer, so no names will ever be mentioned. It’s only fair.

However, two recent job interviews that I went on recently crystalized two trends I see in today’s workplace: corporate penny-pinching at its most cheesy and transparent as well as the utter contempt upper management displays toward its employees.

The first job was one near my home with a Major Media Company. I mean, a really, really big media company. Again, no name, but if you own a TV or a computer with an Internet connection, you know this company.

Not to go into too much detail, but it was a job I have extensive experience in and could do very well. Yet since it was a “contract” position, I would be paid only an hourly rate but be afforded no benefits like health care or a 401(k).

That’s not the part that upset me. Companies routinely advertise for contract workers. It saves them money in subsidized benefits. And as I’ve been told on several occasions, if a contract worker doesn’t “work out” the company can easily can them.

Now, as someone who has been laid off two times in the past four years, I think I know the system pretty well. How difficult is it to lay off workers? Does it entail extra paperwork? Maybe, but isn’t that what HR people do? Paperwork? We even clean out our own desks.

And as someone who has been given the “we can no longer support your position so pack up and desk and leave” speech twice, I can assure you no HR person broke out in a sweat, nor was any member of upper management harmed in the process. It’s not that hard to do…for the person doing the lay off, that is. For the person being laid off, it’s sucks pretty bad.

In theory, I have no objection to contract work. With Obamacare, I could probably find some affordable health plan in November. Retirement? Well, that’s another story.

But what truly galled me about this job wasn’t the no-benefits aspect. It was the fact that the interviewers informed me that I would routinely be verbally abused by co-workers (and I use that term loosely, we would work in the same office, that’s about it) who apparently make a sport out of demeaning lowly paid contract workers who are merely doing their job.

I’m no stranger to being reamed out by bosses. I’ve worked with bipolar sufferers and raging alcoholics who brought me to tears at times. We all have. No, I don’t like being screamed at, especially if it's for something that is not of my doing. If I've made a mistake, I'll take the consequences. But if I'm doing my job and doing it professionally, I fail to see why I have to endure bad treatment.

I also have a problem with confrontations; I don’t handle them well. I believe that if I act professionally then the people around me should do the same. Am I in the minority?

Again, what I object to most in this particular case is that I would have to endure these regular beat downs for no health insurance!

Seriously, this company has enough revenues to support benefits for all its employees. It’s also a media outlet that has written and posted many articles on how companies are reducing benefits for workers. What hypocrites! Instead of habitually humiliating underlings, perhaps these puffed-up hotshots should take a look into their own house and how well their own company treats all its workers.

I didn’t get the job. I took a test, but I don’t think even if I did well on the test I would have been hired. The minute I stumbled over the question about how I would handle these egotistical buffoons I was toast. (BTW…if part of the job is to be routinely verbally accosted, why not list that in the requirements, rather than blindsiding applicants with a rather appalling scenario? Seriously, if that is part of the job, let applicants know.)

At least the interviewers were polite to me, even after it was apparent they considered me a weak-kneed bubblehead. I can only wish whomever they hired good luck and skin as thick as an elephant’s. They’ll need it, that and a reasonably priced self-funded health plan.

Just today, I had a similar experience. Again, I’ll overlook the fact that the head of the company didn’t seem to have a specific job description for what he wanted other than “to make my life easier.” (Don’t we all want that? Does he want a worker or a wife?)

I’ll even give him a pass on his obvious lack of understanding about how the industry works. Or the fact that he used swear words during the job interview. 

And since it’s a nice spring day I’ll forgive him for the insulting way he told me “at your age, it would be difficult to get a job.” Way to boost my confidence! Like I didn’t know that already?

No, what really upset me and set off screeching red flags in my mind were his references to his volatile temper. (Another man in the office mentioned his bad temper as well.) Great, another workplace bully.

When he did get into specifics about what the duties of this vaguely defined job would be, he rattled off an absurdly extensive list that would kill a hamster on speed. Having worked in the industry for many years, I know no one could do what he wanted at a high enough level to please him or without getting burnt out in six months to a year. All for a salary that is barely a livable wage in this area of the country.

I could take the low wages, but what I cannot take, nor do I think I should have to take, is workplace bullying for that measly salary.

And was his comment about my age and dim job prospects a threat? “No one else will hire you so you have no choice but to take my mistreatment and like it. Got it?”

Is this what the employment landscape has become in this country? A place where harassment by management, low wages and no benefits are the norm? A place where we can be terminated at any time, for any reason?

Are companies taking advantage of workers and job seekers, especially those out of work through no fault of their own? Are they manipulating our desperation to find and keep a job to pay us low wages, slash benefits and treat us badly?

This depressing situation sadly supports the perception that wealthy and famous people in this country believe they have the right to mistreat anyone they see as beneath them. Shameful. But they obviously don't think they are doing anything wrong.

 Am I the fool for believing I’ll ever work again? Do I accept any job, just for the paycheck, even it it means regular degradation?

Just how much abuse in the workplace are we to tolerate before we rebel and take back our voice? Have workers in this country become Stockholm Syndrome victims?

Living Joblessly

What’s it like to live joblessly? To one day be gainfully employed, and the next day not? To be unconsciously (or unconscionably) uncoupled from your job with no warning?

To lose your job through no fault of your own (or so you’ve been told), yet still be demeaned as a lazy bum by some politicians and society at large?

Since this is my second go-around as a laid-off worker, I have some observations and feelings about what it’s like to be in the perpetual Lent that is long-term unemployment.

Living joblessly means…

Going into stores and seeing beautiful clothes and housewares and delicious food, but knowing you can’t buy. Hard to live in a consumerist society when you can’t be a consumer.

Living with near daily rejection…for jobs you know you can do.

Putting on a happy face with friends and family…but inside you’re dreadfully unhappy.

Feeling like you are suddenly incompetent…even though you’ve built a career for over 20 years. Has my whole life been wasted?

Putting your life on hold. New apartment? No way. Fiat 500? Arrivederci.

Having to job search all day and then watch the New York Mets bullpen blow lead after lead. Had to inject a bit of humor.

Wondering endlessly if there were anything you could have done to save your job. And were you bad at your job? Is that why you were laid off?

Constantly worrying over your rapidly dwindling finances. Will I ever get a job again? Will I end up homeless?

Feeling shame over you jobless state. You’d rather stay inside than have to tell people you’ve been laid off.

You're never quite sure what day it is. Is it Monday? Thursday? Saturday? What's a weekend?

You sometimes think the only thing worse than not getting a job is getting a job. Think on that a bit.

Stressing over how you will pay for health insurance if you don’t get a job, your COBRA runs out and you missed the Obamacare deadline.

Only buying $5 bottles of wine. Just when you need it most...

You become pathologically obsessed with people more successful than you. Anybody with a job is more successful than you.

Realizing how little help there is for the long-term unemployed and how stigmatized you are. You are the 21th Century equivalent of lepers.

Never, ever talking to people about how bad you feel about losing your job. Yet having to spend hours listening to their miniscule problems.

Never, ever having hope. Hope can be crushed so easily.

Joblessness is loneliness.

Those are some of my perceptions of what it’s like to be long-term unemployed. Do you have any others? I’d love to hear them.

How to Find a Job (and Possibly Avoid a Scam)

Many, many moons ago, during one of my previous epic job searches, I went to employment agencies in hopes of finding work. To say I found the experience degrading would be an understatement. It was horrible.

Each time I went, armed with my woefully scant résumé and eager-beaver attitude, I slammed head first into a downright nasty agent who told me every reason he could think of as to why I was not qualified for this or any job. Or he looked past me with a bored expression as I talked. Or he sat stone-faced as his colleagues took frequent cocaine breaks. (This was the ‘80s, after all.) One time, the agent told me he hated New Jersey…as if that were apropos to the job or anything at all.

After about three demeaning tries, I vowed never to go to an employment agency again. Since these agencies make their money when one of their prospects gets hired, I can understand why they would only want to present the most pristine of candidates. But that is no excuse for offensive behavior. Who were they anyway? They worked for an employment agency, the ‘80s equivalent of a call center operator. I left those meetings feeling humiliated and insulted.

So imagine my surprise during my most recent job search that I’ve come across a few employment agencies. Oh, but they don’t call themselves employment agencies anymore. They are recruitment firms now.

Further imagine my surprise when I was actually treated with respect, even when I was not a good fit for the particular job. In one case, the recruiter told me the hiring manager is “very interested” in my background and is trying to set up a time for an interview.

I’m not sure what’s happened in the interim. Did the Better Business Bureau or some government agency crack down on employment agencies after many complaints of their foul treatment of would-be job seekers? Have these employment agencies gone out and hired actual HR professionals, not just anyone off the street? I don’t know, and I’m not sure if it’s the same old scam with a new name. We’ll have to see if I get the actual interview with the company the recruiter has put me up for. When dealing with an employment…ur, recruitment…agency, I remain a bit skeptical.

There are, of course, headhunting firms. However, those are reserved for executives making well into the six or seven figures, not mere peons like the rest of us.

And just a brief update on my search: I’ve been on about 10 interviews since late January but no job offer as of yet. I’m trying to stay positive in the face of mounting rejection and financial pressures. If I think too much about how I’m apparently unqualified to do any job anymore my soul would be crushed. I think my biggest problem may be coming off badly in the interviews.

All this got me thinking about what is the best way to hunt for a job. Do you go through a recruiter? Go to job fairs and networking events? Send out scores of résumés and hope some computerized HR system doesn’t swallow them up?

Does the job searching method depend on the industry? For engineers, perhaps job fairs are the best avenues. For publishing, sending out résumés seems to be the preferred mode and the one I pursue most vigorously. (Yes, I’m résumé spammer. I figure it’s revenge for being laid off twice in four years.)

Or do you try every technique available to find a job? I hate when I read these so-called job coaches say that there is only one way to find a job and it’s usually networking. But what is networking? It’s a rather nebulous term. Does it mean contacting everyone you’ve ever worked with or are connected with on LinkedIn? (I found my former job through a former former colleague.) Going to job fairs and industry events?

I guess what I’m trying to say is that there is no one right way to find a job. Use one or all if you’d like. It also depends on your industry and the method you feel most comfortable with. My only two recommendations would be to get a professionally done résumé (of reasonable cost) and never, ever pay to get on an Internet job board. There are two many free job boards for you to do that.

But what do you find the most advantageous method for finding a job? Tell me, and happy hunting!

A Walk into the Past

This week, I had a preliminary interview for a job. Had to meet with a recruiter first (to make sure I wasn’t a goth princess or had horns sprouting from my head). May have an interview with the actual company next week. Whatever.

As I walked to the building for the meeting, I looked up and noticed a familiar landmark. I was in the neighborhood of my first job in the city.

The meeting was brief and I had nowhere else to go afterward (one of the few perks of being unemployed). So even though the day was chilly and my shoes weren’t meant for walking, I decided to take a walk into the past.

It was quite a long time ago, the mid to late-‘80s, to be exact. A time of obscenely teased hair, high shoulders, cocaine (I never partook) and supermodel strut. You needed actual tokens to get on the subway and the wolves ran amok on Wall Street (well, I guess some things never change). Hard to believe today, but the Mets ruled the baseball world in New York City.

This isn’t to romanticize the past or make it more innocent than it was. Merely it’s about the excitement I felt when I got my first job in the Big City. It can be any city really…Chicago, Los Angeles, Cleveland. There is simply something special about that first job in the Big City.

Since that time I’ve hopscotched between Manhattan and northern New Jersey for jobs. I’ve passed other buildings in Manhattan where I worked and felt no nostalgic tug of the past. But this was my first job in the city, so it represents an excitement, a newness that happens only once in a person’s life. You've broken free from the shackles of your small-minded, restrictive hometown, even if that hometown is a solidly middle-class bedroom suburb about 20 miles from the city.

And since the creamy haze of the past resides both in memory and actual bricks and mortar, I wanted to see how much (or how little) the neighborhood had changed since I first took those apprehensive but eager steps along the same route so long ago.

Long gone was the well-known bookstore where I stocked up on reading material for a daily three-hour commute by bus. Vanished, too, was the outpost of a once trendy restaurant chain where my sister and I had lunch one day.

Yet there was the high-rise apartment building where a stuck-up co-worker who told me I should be ashamed I attended a community college once lived. The grungy Chinese food restaurant where I bought food just one time remains, as does the pizza place where I unexpectedly ran into my ex-boyfriend from college. (He extended his hand as if he wanted to shake mine. I refused. Hey buddy, you dumped me and rather harshly, as I recall. Go scratch.)

There was a corner garden meant to give the impression of nature in an urban circle, and what looked to be several new, only-for-the-1-percent condo buildings that I didn't recall. Yet I recognized many familiar structures, like a church, a TV studio where my mother's favorite, but since cancelled soap opera was filmed, and world-famous concert hall.

As I walked, suddenly, an uncontrollable, palpable wave of nostalgia rippled up from my gut to the tears that almost formed in my eyes. But I didn’t start to cry.

As I neared the office building, I panicked a bit. I didn’t remember this building to my right. Was I on the right street? Then I realized the façade had been altered and soon after the steps leading up to an open-air plaza overhung by the second floor of the charcoal grey rectangular building came into view. There it was, the building where I worked at my first job in the city.

I peered into the lobby, but I didn’t dare go in, lest I be stopped by some officious security guard asking could he help me and did I have business in the building. Way back then, you could walk into almost any Manhattan office building without being stopped or needing a key card. Not anymore.

What floor was I on? I don’t remember. In fact, a quick Google search revealed that the company I once worked for is no longer housed in that building.

I'm no longer in touch with any of those co-workers, either. My tenure ended abruptly and not very amicably after only two years when I tried for and was denied a promotion (one of many missteps in my checkered career path). I took another job, this time nearer my home in New Jersey.

When we visit the landmarks of our past, it gives an opportunity to reflect on the person we were back then and how much our lives and we ourselves have changed. To sum up, I was complete of body but naïve in mind and heart; a person nearly unrecognizable to me now (although thinner).

I do remember a young woman walking tentatively but excitedly to her first job in the city. Yet I’m so different from that person that it doesn’t even seem like she is me at all. Just a ghost from the past, someone I once knew and haven’t seen for many years. It’s almost like she is beside me instead of being me.

I recall walking home one evening in the billowing autumn twilight and seeing shiny bits in the sidewalk. “The sidewalks in the city shine!” I thought to myself. (Don’t judge: I was much younger.)

So much has changed since then: births, deaths, illness, job losses. But that’s what transpires as time passes. Things happen, we make decisions in sliding door fashion, and our lives are altered. We gain wisdom and the ability to endure, but at the loss of innocence and a sense of hopefulness for the future.

So I walked back to the subway station once bordered by two reviled and eventually razed structures. In their place are two gleaming glass-clad high-rises and a vertical mall.

The subway station itself has been spruced up a bit. But enough of its dinginess remains so as to mentally whisk me back to those days I waited for the Duke Ellington train to take me to the bus station and eventually home.

It’s Not 2010 Anymore

…Or is it?

After two solid months of job hunting I can say unequivocally that this time around is much, much different than back in the bad old days of 2010. I mean, this week alone I have three interviews scheduled and two lined up for next week.

One of the interviews is a prized second interview. A real second interview, not one where the snotty HR lady erroneously called me in and then told me it was good thing because “at least it got me out of the house.” Hey, it was her mistake!

I remember I got a call for a job the first day of my search…four hours after I emailed in my résumé and cover letter. Wow! Since then, there’ve been times when I’ve been contacted mere minutes after sending out the résumé. To say I was shocked would be a gross understatement.

Let’s rewind the time machine back to 2010, when it was a full six months – six months! – before I was even called in for an interview and another 10 months after that that I actually got a job.

So I have to say that yes, the job market is much looser now than back then. Yet I’m mystified as to why. The economy is doing better, but no one, except the most optimistic fools, would say it’s going gangbusters. I further doubt the publishing/journalism business is doing all that great. If it were, I wouldn’t have been laid off, right?

So why all this interest in little ole me? I mean, have all the laid-off journalists gone to work in PR or Internet start-ups that package stories like "5 Ways to Make Money from Your Sex Tape." Candidly, I'm not that good.

In the past two years, I’ve gained experience in a new field and learned a whole new skill set in the social media/digital world. But I’ve also gotten four years older (in a profession that values youth…the offices I’ve interviewed at are seemingly populated by no one over the age of 35) and in no way could I call myself a social media expert (whatever that means…I think it’s a buzzy catch phrase meant to make the rest of us feel like dinosaurs). I know more than I did four years ago, but need to learn much, much more. Then there’s the stigma of having been laid off twice in the past four years. Hard to erase that sink hole on my career path.

And for all the interviews I’ve gone on (six so far, two coming up), I know I’ve sent out scores of résumés that have gotten sucked into the black hole of some robo-HR computer system that automatically weeds our undesirables (like laid-off losers).

No job offer as of yet either. In one instance, the company hired an in-house person to fill the position; in another, the firm decided not to fill the job until later this year. In the third instance, I think the company was looking for an entry-level person. Can’t be sure, but that’s the feeling I got. And that’s okay. I'm never angry when I don't get a job. Disappointed, but never angry.

During today’s interview, I’m pretty sure I muffed several answers. So I may have to cross that one off the list (although it would have entailed a hellish daily commute of one hour down the scenic NJ Turnpike).

Still, I’m confused by all this. On one hand, I’m encouraged that I’m at least I’m being considered for the job. But since I’m a bird-in-the-hand kinda gal, I can’t rejoice until I actually get a job.

So why on the days I have a job interview, do I wake up feeling angry and depressed? Perhaps it’s the muscle memory of my long, tedious, rejected-stuffed job search of 2010-11 that prevents me from feeling any ounce of optimism. Even though I keep my salary requirements lower than I should, I know companies would rather pay the lowest rate possible, and that my experience could automatically disqualify me for the job.

I’m also fearful of another job search that stretches past six months (which would put me in the undesirable category of long-term unemployed). I scour the news for any hint Congress will extend unemployment benefits (not bloody likely. Thank you John Boehner.).

It’s for that reason that I’ve tried to expand into new freelance opportunities and one of the jobs I’m being interviewed for next week is for a part-time copy-editing gig. If I don’t get a full-time job, part-time/freelance may be the way to go for me.

Sometimes, I do question whether I want to go back into full-time work. I would dearly love (and need) the steady paycheck and employer-sponsored health care, but at what cost? The trade-off is that your employer can kick you to the curb at any time, for whatever reason. Pack up your desk and leave. There’s always the risk of not being good enough in the new job, too. What happens then? I don’t think I can withstand a third layoff.

I’ve communicated with two former co-workers who have met the same fate, and they express the same emotions: a wish never to be at the mercy of a company’s decision-making machinations again and a lack of trust in any employer.

So you see, when I read how companies are having a hard time filling slots, I think maybe it’s partially their fault they can’t get good workers. They refuse to spend money to train new employees and they have no compunction against terminating hundreds of workers in one fell swoop. It’s understandable that good portion of working age people is turned off by their actions and simply would prefer to be their own boss, if at all possible.

Nevertheless, I will go on every interview I’m called for and pursue any freelance opportunity that comes my way. I’m not giving up, but I’m realistic about my prospects and well aware this could be another long slog of hopeful job seeking and crushing rejection. Months can turn into years so quickly.

Because I remember 2010 very well. Very well.

6 Reasons You Didn’t Get the Job

So you got the call for the interview. Great! So you’re well on your way back to being gainfully employed. Right. Right?

Not so fast there, partner. Hate to pour cold water on your hopes, but simply getting an interview is no guarantee the job is yours. Thinking you have the job after an interview is like believing you won the lottery because you bought a ticket. Then you get the rejection email (or nothing at all), and you are crushed with disappointment. I'm always amused when asked on my weekly unemployment claim if I refused any work. More likely the reverse is true: companies refused to hire me.

Culled from my long and extensive history of job hunting (voluntary and involuntary), here are six reasons you probably didn’t get the job.

You sucked in the interview. You researched the company. You have your job history spiel down pat. You arrive five minutes early. Then, the interview starts and…you crumble in an uncontrollable torrent of nerves. Words tumble out of your mouth in an incoherent babble. Needless to say, it did not go well.

I don’t know of any job hunter who hasn’t endured the dreaded “job interview from hell.” The only thing you can take from such an unfortunate incident is to use it as a learning experience. Was there a question in particular that you stumbled with? Next time, have a better answer ready and waiting. Do better research, and try to stay calm. The more interviews you go on, the better you will be the next time. At the very least, you are gaining valuable rehearsals.

You weren’t a good fit for the job. No matter how much we try to match our skills to the skills outlined in the job ad, sometimes we are not exactly what the employer is looking for, for whatever reason.

Sometimes, the ad is deceptive. A recent example is a job I applied for a month ago. The ad clearly stated “editorial,” but when I went for the interview, it was obvious what they were looking for was an administrative assistant with some digital skills. I didn’t get the job, but the practice is always helpful.

You weren’t the lowest bidder. Yes, you read that correctly. I sometimes think employers are not looking for the best employee for a job, but simply the person they can pay the lowest salary. Why else would companies specify they’d only consider applicants that state their salary requirements?

There are other ways companies leak out their cheapness. Through the wonder that is Google, you can sometimes find out who the company hired instead of you. If they hired someone right out of college whose only experience is an internship or writing album reviews for alternative weeklies, it’s pretty obvious the company wants to pay the bare minimum in salaries.

To an experienced job seeker, I would advise not inflating your wage demands to such a degree that you price yourself out of the marketplace. Yet you are bringing a great deal of skills and experience to the job and should be paid for that. So pick a salary range that is fair and reasonable, but also an amount you can live on. And be real: After I was unemployed for 16 months, I took a job that paid me $17,000 a year less than what I was making before. In this job market, it’s probably unrealistic to expect you’ll net a major raise from your previous job, especially if you were laid off and have been unemployed for a lengthy period.

To employers, I would say this: You get what you pay for.

You weren’t the best candidate. Ouch! That hurt!

In our narcissistic society, nobody wants to hear or believe they are not the greatest thing since sliced bread or dark chocolate salted caramels. But the fact is, sometimes you are nudged out by the better person. Like in sports, sometimes the better team wins.

How do I know this? Again, through the wonder that is Google, I discovered who was hired instead of wonderful me. In some instances, I had to objectively say the person hired had the better skill sets, education and experience for the job than I did.

That doesn’t make you a bad person; it just means you weren’t the right person for that one particular job. There will be others. Also, think about the times you were hired when there were probably scores of other qualified candidates. It all evens out in the end.

You don’t walk on water. Have you read some of the job requirements for certain positions? They want someone with a law or “advanced” degree, a speaker of three languages, a technical wizard and, oh, yeah, about a decade of experience in the same type of job and within the same industry. Not even our Lord could pass muster with these elitist gatekeepers. (Dear Jesus, though your résumé was impressive, we have decided to go with another candidate.)

Frankly, it’s gotten to the point where I don’t even apply for jobs with such ridiculous requirements. I know some career coaches will tell you those requirements are more aspirational and to apply anyway, but I think companies are setting the standards so high so to as weed out mere worker serfs like the rest of. They only want the best of the best, and that typically means at the very minimum, an Ivy League college graduate. Companies are very picky nowadays.

I don’t have a degree from some fancy-schmancy college. I went to a community college for my first two years (a fact I was told by a colleague long ago to leave off on my résumé). I’m just someone who has two decades of hard-fought experience and can do the job without any ego or sense of entitlement. If that isn’t good enough for any employer, well, as my late Italian-American mother would say, They can go scratch.

You came thisclose. There are myriad reasons why you weren’t picked for the job that had nothing to do with your interview performance, experience, educational background or skills. Most of time, you’ll never know those reasons.

Perhaps the company decided to go with an in-house candidate, which makes sense since companies prefer to hire from within. Or the company reviewed staffing needs and for budgetary reasons decided not to fill that job. (Sound familiar?)

Sometimes, I know I’ve come thisclose to getting the job. I remember a rather nice (but ultimately deflating) rejection letter I once received. It was obviously not a standard form rejection missive, but one the lady took the time to personally write.

In it, she explained that I was an attractive candidate, but that they had opted to go with a former colleague. At the time, I remember being miffed. If they were going to hire a former co-worker all along, why string me along for two interviews and a test?

But looking back, I can take heart in knowing that I was qualified for the job, that I did well in the interviews and on the test. Sometimes, that’s the only positive you can take from a lost job interview (rather than thinking you're an unemployable loser). Almost doesn’t cut it when you are looking for a job, but at least it’s better than not even getting the call for an interview.

No one knows better than me how grueling, frustrating and sometimes degrading a job hunt can be. (There is a reason HR people are reviled.) Every time you go on an interview, you are not only putting your career and financial stability on the line, but your entire sense of self-worth. Add to that the anxiety of looking for a job after a devastating layoff and the situation is compounded tenfold.

But giving up is not an option. If you don’t try, you will never work again. And don’t let your ego lead. Don’t think, as some friends of mine have expressed, that you are too good for any job. With that attitude, you will surely never work again. You want a paycheck, right?

Keep trying. Every time you get that rejection email, think to yourself, “Well, that only means there’s a better job out there for me.”

I mean, I hope there is.