At age 35, having recently been laid off, I found myself at a career exploration workshop run by the Jewish Vocational Services. [ed. note: The Jewish Vocational Service now serves people of all races and ethnicities. It is as identifiably Jewish as the star of Dennis; that is to say, not.] Coming from a lucrative yet unfulfilling career in Computer Sciences, I was looking to marry my other talents with my career or perhaps start a new career altogether. Other classmates were either seeking career guidance or training. Whatever our immediate goals, we were all in the same boat, fighting against the tide of layoffs and restructurings unleashed in this latest economic maelstrom. My shipmates flew the flags of many diverse nations, had charted the courses of many differing careers and hailed from all ages and walks of life. Just the same we found common steerage on our upstream battle for employment or fulfillment or perhaps the confluence of both.
Our first day consisted of pen and pencil cognitive tests adding numbers, mentally folding boxes, and figuring out which way a submarine will go when its control surfaces were adjusted. Rudely, I knew exactly where I’d like that submarine to go upon first inspection, but there was no entry on the form for my proposed destination. Despite the continued assurances of the counselors that these tests were only a part of the overall equation, they were a shot across the bow for many of us since these tests are becoming ever more popular in interviews. I personally lost several points on one test after falling into a daydream where I asked: “If I took a five pound weight and used a 10 meter lever, would it be enough to crush the infernal 5 minute timer which callously and repeatedly told us we were out of time?”
Were we out of time? Were we too old, too obligated to family, short on funds, or too far removed from Canadian culture to find the employment and fulfillment we sought? Despite healthy doses of gallows humour about the testing process and the general state of the economy there was a palpable weight on people’s shoulders. While we all smiled and shrugged off the indignity of the return to school days, we all feared that the next spatial visual acuity box we might fold might very well be a coffin in which we would be forced to bury our dreams.
Fortunately the rest of the program returned our egos to an even keel. Patricia, a course facilitator guided us through assessments of personality where the only wrong answer was to have no personality to speak of; fortunately this was a fate suffered by no one. She is a veteran of many lands, many careers and I imagine many recessions who seems to pay them no mind. Her right and proper British manner seems to remind us of Mary Poppins who would advise us all to take “a spoon full of [optimistic] sugar to make the [recession] go down.”
Then there was Derek, the course facilitator with a coy and sly smile which hinted at his razor sharp interviewing style sure to eviscerate any unsuspecting and inauthentic candidate. While we would rue having him on the opposite side of the interview table, luckily for us, he was on our side and was willing to share his insights. He built our confidence and ability to market ourselves and revealed some insider interviewing secrets such as having his secretary work on his behalf as a covert agent. Candidates be forewarned: be nice and polite to the secretaries – while you cannot remain silent, everything you say can and will still be used against you.
Career change is never easy, under any financial climate. I note that some attendees proudly claim that they can do anything while others are more reserved about their dreams and ambitions. Our facilitators would quickly point out that the differences in expressions were due to the different personality types we had studied that week. Both types of expression however are a defense against the underlying fear that our high flung ideas will run aground on McDonald’s Island where we’ll be forever enslaved serving cheeseburgers to other people who somehow managed to make it. There was tremendous talk among attendees of the economic climate and other external factors which the course could not possibly change. The course however, spent precious little time on the economic situation and instead looked to what it could adjust, our attitude and direction. Ultimately we all cast off and sought our own safe harbours but we did so with the benefit of a true and straight compass. For the beacon lighthouse JVS offered me in navigating a foggy and tumultuous job market, I am truly grateful.
