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Posted on 04/12/07 @ 7:30 pm
I really don't have any qualms now about working on my resume at work (no one comes by my cube) or ducking into a quiet room for a quick phone interview. I'm not getting any respect, so it's time for me to get the hell on. And to do that, I'm getting my network on. I remember reading (or hearing) somewhere how like over 80% of the jobs out there aren't even listed – they're found out through networking. This is important for any job seeker, and especially so for Black gay men (particularly in a state where your sexual orientation, whether overt or covert, can get you fired with no questions asked…and race only compounds that). You've gotta get out there and show your face so people know you outside of a resume and a mannerism. Thing is, my social biorhythm is so weird. There are times when I just prefer to be at home, playing some Wii or writing or lounging on the couch reading a good book and listening to some music and don't want to be bothered. I like the solitude, the time for introspection, and most of all, being cut off from the outside world. And then there are those times when the outside world is a-calling and I want to be around and with people. They're few and far in between, but when they happen, they come quick and hard. I was speaking with Buffy the other day about this; he's planning on moving back to Atlanta (much to the chagrin of his fiancé) but is skeptical about networking, especially when it comes to ways to start his career. Buffy, while he has a degree in finance from Morehouse, has only managed to get positions as a bank teller since graduating. "I'm trying to find a real job. I want to start my career. Do you know about any kinda networking events?" "Well there's sometimes this thing at the the Lotus Lounge…and then I think there's something called Marketing Mondays at the Four Seasons. Oh! And then there's the alumni association." "But that's stuff for STRAIGHT PEOPLE. I can't believe with Atlanta being the Black gay mecca and all, there's no kind of networking event for Black gay folks!" I was hard-pressed to retort. After all, straight people need jobs too, right? As a Black young professional, I somehow get on the invite list to several of these consonance weekday-named quasi-"networking" events (First Fridays, Third Thursdays, etc.), and I've actually been to a few of them. They're usually at some nice, uptown venue, drinks are copious (and sometimes free), and there's a decent selection of talent to look at…but not touch. To say it's a largely hetero-forced affair would be an understatement. The last one of these I went to was a few weeks ago at Toast in Midtown. My intent on going was to just have a drink or two after work, a few crostini, and then stumble on home. Nothing major, and definitely no other intentions than those. Well when I walked in, it was like a seventh-grade dance – boys on one side, girls on the other. Girls were checking out the guys, and vice versa; eventually the two crowds mixed, with most women I chatted with more interested in flirting than networking. The questioning usually went something like this:
STOP. See what I mean? Already leading a brotha down that precarious slope. I remember one of these kinda events I was at a few years ago when I just dropped the hard G on a chick and she went bat-shit, telling other women (who started giving me nasty looks) and men (who immediately backed a few inches away from me if I walked in their direction). "Girl, I ain't think there was gonna be any FAGGOTS up in here…" "Nah man, I don't get down with that gay shit…" Real classy, young "professionals". But back to Buffy. "So there's like no young Black gay professionals group or something?" "Not to my knowledge. I know there's AEN, but it's not strictly Black and gay." "So I guess when I move down there, me and my husband gon' just be sitting up in the house, occasionally searching the want ads and eating beans and weenies." "Geez, you make it sound so bad." "I just thought that by now there'd be something for us down there." "Look, I'm not saying there's not. I just hadn't found it if it does exist." Buffy's convo did get me to thinking. What is there for young Black gay professionals down here in terms of networking events? Technorati Tags: networking, professional, gay networking Filed under: Jobs and Work Comments: 6 Comments |
The job search is back on.|
Posted on 02/02/07 @ 11:22 pm
Ah, 2007. A new year, new policies and unfortunately…the same shit. But this time, it's in a different toilet. Lately at the J-O, there has been an overnight ardent interest from upper management in the well-being of their employees, almost to the point of micro-managing. No, thank God none of them will become Micro-Managers, but to me, this all seems really weird. I mean, going from hands-off to hand-in-back-pocket is a little fast and a lot of people don't like the change. However, I am turning the situation into a positive. One of the new things they've done is start to acknowledge people weekly for their contributions, whether it's getting the highest production numbers for the week or stepping above and beyond for what could ordinarily be seen as a mundane task. So far, I've been production leader for the past two weeks AND I got kudos for a quick response on a hot problem AND I won a contest and got a free design book. Of course, it was all followed with comments like this: "Oh, Karsh won something? Then I don't care." Yeah, a robot that's spanking y'all human asses week after week. Compute that, bitches. Another thing they've been doing is trying to figure out how the designers really feel about their job and such. And instead of doing it in a one-on-one setting where people could feel comfortable venting, they herded us all in one conference room and called folks out to speak. Needless to say, there wasn't much feedback. So they broke that large group into two groups. Still no feedback. They broke those two groups into two groups. Still no feedback. At this point, the shit is so fragmented there's no way the task will be completed. It's like some adverse group mitosis type shit going on. This ended up with me sitting in a sub-sub-sub group with three other designers and Brooding Velma to talk about what's going on at the job. The other three were very talkative and had lots to say. Me? I really didn't. I totally put all that other crap about the job about not being taken seriously because I'm not some art school grad or them not talking to me in File 13. Now, I show up, put on my 'phones, rock out and design and leave promptly when my eight hours are up. No muss, no fuss. But now? Now they want to get to know a brotha. "Karsh, you're so quiet. Why don't you talk?" Brooding Velma asked. "I'm just taking it all in…I listen a lot." "Well it's weird that you don't say anything in meetings." Two days later, she's in front of the entire design group congratulating me for leading production numbers for the past quarter and issuing me a prize. "And Karsh…since you came on the team you have really helped us out tremendously with your skill and speed and passion." Now…let me stop here for a minute. I take offense to being thanked for my passion anywhere outside the bedroom. And it was definitely odd to hear that out of her mouth. How insincere. No matter though. I guess it's just giving the rest of them something else to be envious over. Corporate life. High school. Is there really that much of a difference between the two? Filed under: Jobs and Work Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 01/01/07 @ 6:35 pm
Lean in, children. If you're one of the many unemployed folks out there who are looking for a job and becoming disenfranchised with sending out resumes into the endless void of cyberspace and never getting a response or interviewing left and right but never actually getting an offer, I'm here to give you a little secret. A "by" into the industry, if you will. Want to know the reason why you're not getting a call back? Here's why: Employers don't want good workers. They want sitcom characters. Filed under: Jobs and Work Comments: 4 Comments |
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Posted on 11/25/06 @ 8:43 pm
Fresh off of Brooding Velma's incompetent managerial jackassery, she requested that I be moved to another team of designers. The way things are set up now, there are 30 designers split into teams of three. Brooding Velma is one of the team managers, Fat Bastard is the other manager, and the third one is Grown Not Sexy. Grown Not Sexy is…well…self-explanatory. Perhaps about ten or fifteen years ago, she would've been a contender. But now she's one of these chicks wedged into the drones of middle-management who still has a faint inkling of her past sexiness and thinks she can resurrect it by wearing 4″ stillettos and talking in slang. Memo: It ain't workin', boo. And now, I'm on her team. I mentioned before that we have some new designers here. One of them is Mexican Cher, who a lot of the ladies there at work are gaga over. Tall, light-skinned, good hair…I can see why the chickenheads at work would flock to that cock. But he also has an attitude. Primarily with me, since I did kinda evict him from where he was working. He didn't move far though; his cube is right across from mine. We sit with our backs towards each other, so it's not like we ever have to talk to one another, which is probably a good thing since I can see him in my monitor rearview mirror cutting his eyes at me with disdain. He's also on my team. What I've noticed though is that the managers and other designers have been very patient in making sure he had the tools he needed to do his job. Maybe it's because they realize that as the department reaches critical mass while opening into new markets, its crucial to keep retention high and turnover low, especially going into the new year. Or perhaps he really won them over in the interview with his personality (which in every job I've been in obviously counts more than discernible talent or skill). But the real reason is because while the other designers still don't like me, they now also think I'm a bully for forcing Mexican Cher from my/his cube. Check this out. (more…) Filed under: Jobs and Work Comments: 5 Comments |
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Posted on 11/25/06 @ 11:59 am
Then again, there's nothing worse when you realize one of them is in what used to be your cube. I flew back into town on Wednesday the 15th. In order to give myself a little bit more rest, I didn't roll into work at my usual crack-of-dawn time and opted to come in like the rest of the designers at 10:00am. I called my manager Brooding Velma and left her a voicemail to let her know I'd be in later. I come in, and there's this tall, lanky dude with hair down to the middle of his back in my cube. My nameplate? Gone. The few accoutrements in my cube? Gone. So I walk over to my manager's cube, and she looks up at me like she's seen a ghost. "Oh…umm…what are you doing here?" "I'm here for work…and there's someone else sitting in my cube." "Oh yeah, that's Mexican Cher. We didn't think you were coming back, so we cleaned out your cube." "You didn't think I was coming back? You mean…like permanently?" Her head jittered around her neck like a bobblehead. "I put in my time off and it was approved…how could you think I left the job? Didn't you get my voicemail message?" "I don't check voicemail, sweetie." Sweetie? Oh, this bitch is askin' for it. Filed under: Jobs and Work Comments: 7 Comments |
There's nothing better than coming back to work after being gone for three days to see four new hires in your department. Suddenly you realize that you're no longer the "n00b" and can hopefully strike up some kind of conversation or workplace camaraderie since they're new and you're…well…a pariah. And pariah's usually have to round up converts wherever they can.| « Newer Posts | Previous Posts » |
Name's Karsh. 27. Country-born, city-raised, 
