Last week Devin Silvernail, 21, decided to get the hell out of town and enjoy some free food at his parents’ place in Chelan. He’s still there, still out of work, still applying for jobs online and, like other note writers, still talking back to the comments.
This past week has been nice and relaxing, filled with much less anxiety than some others. I have just kind of taken in the small town life over these past seven days.
As always, I have been sending out resumes, applying to jobs, updating resumes on internet job boards, and combing CraigsList. I have also tried networking a bit more. It’s been mostly more of the same. I am very familiar with the motions now, and I embrace them. Hell, I am making more on unemployment than I made working as a baker a few years back. So I am actually not as pissed as I have been about this job situation.
I do have to admit, though, that after my post last week I was a bit bothered by some comments I received. Now, in general I have a relatively thick skin, but I was still just a bit bothered. This feeling subsided fairly quickly. I have been spending time with the locals here. These are people twice or three times my age. They are people who live in a city with a population not much larger than that of my neighborhood in Seattle. Some have lived here their entire lives. We may have differing views, but they are some pretty genuine human beings and I have found myself conversing with many of them and really enjoying it. They do not judge me based on my background, where I am from, or what have you. You will be hard pressed to find many people like that in many other places. I have a bit of a renewed sense of humanity again. (Much like I did after hitchhiking from CA.)
Trust me, anyone that knows me can tell you that I am an incredibly modest person, but I feel the need to clarify some things every once and a while: I am applying for jobs that I fully know I AM more than qualified for. I am applying for jobs that I could do flawlessly. My previous job and title were something that usually requires a degree in business. I have met people twice my age with a much higher education level who hold the same position at other companies. I do not feel bad saying that I did a damn good job running WaMu’s only peer-nominated monthly employee recognition program. I did a job that, based on my age and education, I should not have been doing. I did a good job and enjoyed it. I did a good job period, and no one can make me feel otherwise. If someone cannot understand the importance or impact of what I helped do, then so be it. I have thought to myself over the past few days about how people can be so judgmental. It is something that cannot be avoided.
I have also come to realize though that these people really know nothing about me and have no clue what I have accomplished or the connections and accolades that I have received in my professional life (OR personal life for that matter). I was doing a job at WaMu that an entire group of people (15-20 years older than me) at Chase does, and I am damn proud of myself. I know I can do the job right. I know I can outperform a lot of people, but I am certain that I will not be awarded the chance in the near future, so I continue applying for administrative and office assistant jobs with a smile on my face, knowing full well that I can accomplish a great number of things in any position that I am finally hired on for.
In the interim I have taken the advice of some Slog commenters and I have applied to volunteer at SAM. I spent many lunch hours at SAM and I really enjoyed it. I feel that I should give back a bit to a place that has been my retreat many many times. I love to volunteer, but have only done it a very small bit within the past year, so I greatly anticipate this opportunity.
I am also excited to say that I plan on enrolling in school for spring quarter this year.
Devin
“…anyone that knows me can tell you that I am an incredibly modest person…”
By writing that sentence, you have proven that the content of the sentence isn’t true.
There are a lot of judgmental assholes on Slog. It’s kind of a prerequisite. Don’t let it get to you, you seem like a decent guy.
This post could have been 10x better if the author left out the tirade against commenters.
You shouldn’t be offended by the reality that you were an expendable employee. An “employee-recognition” program is not something that requires considerable tact nor strategy to maintain — in fact, I’m suprised that at an organization that was so focused on automation and its information systems, that your job wasn’t replaced long-before the recession by a machine.
I hate to sound like an asshole here, but the loss of your job (like many of those currently being “laid off”) was related more to the nature of your position than to your performance. I don’t doubt that you were a great employee and did your job well — the simple matter of fact, though, is that your position was in no way a “critical” to the revenue generating side of the business. As the stock market plummets and organizations face tighter budgets, positions like that which you held will naturally be downsized. Its what many economists are calling “trimming the corporate fat” that has accumulated with overvalued stocks and plentiful capital obtained via equity.
I think its great that you’re pursuing further education — this is exactly the mentality the unemployeed need to maintain. Seek out additional education allowing yourself to become a more “valuable” contributor to a businesses operations (again, not saying you didn’t tackle your job with passion and commitment — just saying that now is the time to perfect your skills and make yourself that much more qualified for a job that contributes directly to a businesses revenue generation). I’d highly urge you to avoid pursuing a degree that sets you up for a “middle-management” style position and would instead urge that you seek out a set of skills that makes you a direct contributor to a businesses operations.
you people disgust me
When there’s a lot of “I” in a story, it’s fun to do a search and replace, substituting the word “me.”
Me know Me can do the job right. Me know Me can outperform a lot of people, but Me am certain that Me will not be awarded the chance in the near future, so Me continue applying for administrative and office assistant jobs with a smile on my face, knowing full well that Me can accomplish a great number of things in any position that Me am finally hired on for.
Unless you’re hiding some secret experience, the only administrative assistant and office assistant jobs you’re qualified for are entry-level temp jobs that pay about $11/hour in a good economy. You’re not qualified for bank teller jobs. You’re not qualified for nanny jobs or gardener jobs or elevator mechanic jobs either. If a hiring manager looks at your resume, when they see you were an awesome HR assistant working on some bizarre project at WaMu, all they see is that you can probably use Outlook. HR assistant experience means you have experience for HR assistant jobs — nothing else.
You do realize that in a couple of decades people will look at the picture of that guy with the same sense of irony that we see Martin Landau in the photo two posts down.
#4 I don’t completely agree. Universities and trade schools can be an expensive racket, taking the students out of the workforce and into poverty to attend them, then saddling graduates with years of student debt, only to work in jobs that didn’t require degrees. A few months ago 20/20 had an interesting story questioning whether college is always a good deal for everyone. We’ve been taught since grade school that college is The Plan, but it appears some are re-thinking that.
Oh those simple small town folks! They are so quaint and REAL, you know?
I don’t get the “I’m definitely qualified for many of these jobs, but they list an MBA as a prerequisite” comment. If they list a degree you don’t have as a requirement, you’re not qualified. That’s why it’s listed as a requirement.
You might convince me you’d be able to do an adequate job even without the required degree–a lot of requirements are more about certifying that the applicant isn’t an idiot than they are directly applicable to performance–but my first reaction, looking at your resume, would be that if you don’t even have an undergraduate degree, you probably aren’t qualified for a position that lists an MBA as a prerequisite.
It’s great that you got lucky and had a sweet job for year. (According to you, your WAMU smiley department existed for just a year.) It’s possible that it will end up being the best job of your life. Or it’s possible that you’ll create the next google.
In any case, it is a bit tiring to read about how awesome you were over the course of one year and how you sadly had to apply for a job as personal financial rep, which was “many tiers below” where you worked.
Also, these two segments don’t totally mesh:
Original post: “Of course Chase already had a program. They didn’t need me. They didn’t even need my larger team, or department for that matter.
Latest post: I was doing a job at WaMu that an entire group of people (15-20 years older than me) at Chase does, and I am damn proud of myself.
@9: Devin is convinced that he can excel at any position he finds himself in. A degree isn’t a great deal if you’re going to be doing the same work after as before, but in many industries, it’s required even to attain entry, as Devin is finding out.
So, it depends on your goals. Devin said previously that many of the positions he’s looking at require MBAs. The best thing Devin can do to guarantee he will be considered more qualified for those jobs is to get an MBA.
It may not pay off in terms of income, but if it enables you to take a job you wanted, it’s worth it, no?
Volunteering is great because it boosts your self esteem and you feel more useful, plus you end up making contacts for a great job down the way.
Everyone has their own path.
@7: I was not an HR assistant. I wasn’t part of HR. I was a project coordinator when I was hired and I was doing the job of a project manager when I finished. It is also like I said in prior comments, I have more than just my WaMu experience. I have server admin certificates, but I got these certifications about 7 years ago. I did freelance work for that, but I still really cant do that work and stay sane. The reason that I talk about my WaMu job is because I am proud of what I did and it was my most recent position. I was also asked to talk about my unemployment dealing directly with the acquisition of WaMu by JPMC.
To everyone else I guess: I know it’s easy to pass judgment about people that you do not know. I do it. We all do it. It is just something that I strive to try not to do. I genuinely feel bad when I judge others. I really do. It’s completely understandable if you do not believe me though. I try to be as good of a person as I can be. I know this means nothing to many people, and that is fine.
I do believe I can do many great things. I do believe I can do a good job at many things. I know I can do more than my age and education will qualify me for. I do understand that having confidence in my abilities is a bad thing. If you doubt me, fucking hire me.
I remember after the acquisition when I was approached by a Times reporter. He asked me how I felt about losing my job. I wanted to ask him the same thing. I was angry that he could be so heartless.
In my last week someone from HR came in and talked to my team about grieving, and how to deal with it. I did not believe that losing my job would cause grief. It does.
I am just frustrated. People do not understand things until they happen to them.
It’s easy to criticize. And we all have a bit of amnesia into what it felt like when it happened to us.
Amen, Will.
You sound like a nice guy that did a great job, a job that made people happy. You should be proud, and you deserved better. Perhaps you could set up your own business to do this for other companies.
I hate comments on websites; the Internet was way better without them. The comments on SLOG are almost as bad as YouTube, and, for your own sake, Devin, you should stop reading them. Reading these comments, yet alone responding to them, is just asking for a world of hurt, and it serves no positive purpose.
I wish you all the luck in the world.
Devin:
Not only is it easy to pass judgment, it’s also fun. If it bothers you that people make fun of you on the internet, you have two options:
A) Don’t broadcast you personal business on the internet. This is the easiest one.
B) Don’t read the responses to what you’ve broadcast on the internet. This requires a lot of willpower.
A lot of people have said you seem like a nice guy. I have the opposite impression, you seem like a self centered tool. But hey, you probably wouldn’t like me if we met in a bar, or, god save me, you were giving me a peer-initiated moral boosting Mylar balloon. Some people just don’t mesh. That’s life.
When you start talking about your life on an anonymous public forum, you WILL get flamed. That is also life.
People do not understand things until they happen to them.
I’m sure a fair number of people reading these comments have been a situation at least a little like yours. Sure, they may not have gotten their server admin certifications at age 14, been a baker at 19, and created the Smile Maker department at age 20/21, but they’ve lost great jobs that they were quite good at. They’ve been frustrated, they’ve grieved.
I think you and the porn woman should get together and make some sort of movie.
What the hell is Devin holding in his hand? It looks like a bit of weed. Or perhaps it is one penny, without another to rub together.
Hears to hoping Devin does not begin every sentence of his cover letters with the word “I” as he has done in these – what to call them? – self-defensive confessions.
Best of luck to you, but really if you want anyone to take you at all seriously you should do something about that ridiculous picture.
What worked for me in this economy was taking a job that seemed far below my skills and abilities as an administrative assistant in a very small local business. Since it’s a tiny office, once inside I was able to prove myself and make the job my own by taking on more advanced and more interesting job duties. Now I dig my job, and I actually look forward to going to work again. The problem with this strategy is that for the time being I am still being paid what an administrative assistant should make, not what a college graduate with my level of experience and skill ought to make.
Good luck, Devin!
The whinyness of this article and Devin are excruiating. The word “shallow” comes to mind.
And yes, I’ve been unexperienced and unschooled etc…..You’ll live.
I have to agree with #7.
Its going to be hard with your experience to even land an interview for an administrative position. There are just too many qualified applicants in the job pool right now.
My advice… Be realistic, find a job and then plan your next move.
To those who seem to think Devin is a “self-centered tool” or “uses ‘I’ too much” or whatever… um, HELLO. The article is about HIS experiences trying to find a new job and HIS feelings about everything. The “Notes from the Unemployment Line” articles are showcases for people from different walks of life struggling in this economy, not cover letters.
@22 – What did you hear? Maybe you should learn which homophone to use before telling someone else how to write.