Thread by @Pieta05906150

When I was 25, I went to a job interview with the director of a small IT company in St Kilda, who insisted on meeting at his office at 6pm, outside work hours. As I walked in, the last employee was walking out, and I was left alone with the owner, a very large man of...

... about 6’5”, and easily quadruple my weight. We sat down together in the conference room, and at once I felt I was not in control of my situation.
He asked about my resume, and I explained that I had sent a fresh version to his receptionist earlier that afternoon, with...

...the additional information they had requested. I had called her immediately afterward, and she confirmed receipt of it.
Now, he flipped the papers in front of him this way and that, and said “this isn’t the right one”. I advised him that his receptionist *had* received the...

... fresh copy. He called me a liar. I said I wasn’t. He asked if I was going to argue with him about it. I suggested he print it off her computer to prove what I was saying was correct. “Why should I? Are you saying my staff are incompetent?” he bellowed...

... My mind sped up, wtf was I meant to say here? “Not at all, sir” I mumbled. “It’s probably just a miscommunication, these things happen”.
“Not at my company, they don’t!”. His voice had become frighteningly aggressive. Every instinct told me to LEAVE THE FUCKING BUILDING...

... but he was closer to the door than I was, and honestly I don’t think he would have let me leave.
My brain split into two after that, one half nodded and answered his interview questions, the other begged for it to be over, looked for escape routes, and prayed I’d left...

...the address where I was so someone would find me if I didn’t come home.

Finally the interview was over by 7pm, I shook his hand, thanked him for his time, and he unlocked the front door and let me out. My body wanted to run, but I walked casually to my car and locked it...

...as soon as I was safely inside. I drove around the corner, so he couldn’t see me from his shopfront, and I sobbed for 10 minutes, thankful I had gotten out ok. It’s been 20 years, and I can still feel the terror of that experience...

... He called the next day, and left a message to say I had won the position and to call to arrange details. I emailed his receptionist by forwarding the update resume email I had sent her the day before...

...(as proof that I did not lie to him, knowing she would print or forward it to him), and I explained that I’d been offered something else. 
Thanks, but no fucking WAY!!

*THIS* is why the idea of a #DobberHotline #DobSeeker fills me with white hot rage.

#auspol #jobseeker

It’s already hard being unemployed. Having no control, or agency, about your own future. Feeling deeply desperate is soul crushing enough.
Imagine if I’d had no choice but to accept this job? I think it would have ruined me.
The job I did accept later lead me to a great career...

...that has seen me succeed and flourish. Twenty years of learning and growing that I likely would never have experienced had I worked for that creepy asshole.
#MichaeliaCash perhaps doesn’t remember what unemployment is like, but I never have.
#job #jobseekers #Cash #80aDay