Guardians of the Gates — Part 1

There are too many guardians of the gates in this culture. Too many key masters. Too many people with too much power that can decide your fate, can make you or break you.

Any jobseekers know exactly what I’m talking about. They post on a job board and we all virtually climb over one another to earn the chance to kowtow to them, in hopes that they’ll choose to give us further consideration. And it’s often one single person who makes this initial decision.

I had a Zoom job interview on Saturday that went, I thought, extremely well. I found my answers flowing and focused, and the interview lasted twice as long as initially intended. I even made the interviewer laugh several times. I figured at the very least I had earned a spot in the second round, when I would interview with a committee and might really get my chance to shine.

Then I received that gut punch email saying “I don’t believe this is a good fit.” This coming from a woman who specifically said they were looking for someone who thinks “way outside of the box,” and “who is comfortable with change.” Good lord, if you think more outside of the box than me, then you should get some kind of certificate. Regardless, I wasn’t afforded the opportunity for the committee interview. Because this one person decided so. Granted, she was the “head honcho” of the organization — but shouldn’t someone looking specifically for unique thinkers be open to the idea that they themselves might not be able to glean all the pertinent information from an interviewee in a mere 30 minutes?

Likewise, I had an initial interview with a Human Resources Director a few weeks back. Again, I thought the interview went well, but I haven’t heard back and assume my name wasn’t put in the pipeline.

Often in these situations, it’s less about qualifications and more about “memorizing the right answers ahead of time,” isn’t it? So, I have a stellar resume but I simply lack the necessary interviewing skills to impress enough upon someone that “I’m worthy.” Christ, I’ve only worked full time at TWO organizations — both churches. So, I simply don’t have interviewing in my wheelhouse. I was literally at one church for 20 years, which ended solely due to the pandemic. So, to say I’m a little rusty at knowing the correct answers needed to nail an interview is an understatement.

This is why I originally launched this Patreon, as I was convinced I’ll never land another job — because I have never really been in the practice of landing jobs. I’ve been an absolute PRO at DOING the jobs I’ve had — I like to think of myself as an “administrative rockstar.” But all of that lands on deaf ears when you don’t know “all the right phrases” that you’re supposed to memorize and regurgitate in order to impress someone enough to choose you.

Isn’t that the same style of learning we were discouraged from utilizing in our educational upbringing? Because once you’ve regurgitated your answer, you tend to forget that information. And I don’t believe that makes for fully formed educated beings. It makes for automatons who used to know things for brief periods of time. But I guess if we want our workers to just show up and push the same buttons every day, then critical thinking skills become passé.

I hate this culture. I should have just joined the Peace Corps when I graduated seminary 20 years ago. Or moved to Costa Rica to work with Habitat For Humanity for free in exchange for room and board. Oh, how I would have flourished in that scenario.

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