J looked utterly frazzled when I got home. He had stuffed his brain for weeks, and now it had all spilled out. He looked simultaneously at peace and completely nuts.
The interview went well, he knew he'd made mistakes but seemed pretty optimistic. We should know something in the next week, but until then J's got to work on this dissertation and put in more applications. I don't mean to keep saying this because I don't believe in him, but I really do believe that even getting this far is a real accomplishment. Like really big. Just like when I wrote that every rejection letter is at least a step forward, this is the same. Plus, Google is huge and everyone wants to work there. If you've made it this far up the interview process, you're already a good fit, now it's culling applicants down to a manageable number. If you get culled, you can rest assured it's just numbers or they didn't like your handshake.
As for me, I told my boss about J's graduation, which she definitely saw coming (she knew he was a PhD student when I interviewed). Well, it's been four years since his Master's graduation, so here we are. It was scary telling her, but Human Resources had my back and it was decided that not telling was a lie of omission. Why is it scary? Because it's pretty obvious that when he gets his big ol' degree, he's going to look for a big ol' job. And, statistically speaking, there more jobs outside of Arkansas than in. My boss immediately made that connection (or had been waiting to voice it) and I handled it gracefully. Seriously, it is a weird situation when you're not the one who is looking for a job. But I feel like telling her about his graduation is like handing in my [X]-week's notice for a job I'm not even applying for. I am afraid I'll be treated like I've given my notice already, and in some offices that isn't a pleasant place to be.
This is one of those situations where not having control makes things rather sticky. I told her last week, but so far things are good.
Yay for J!
ReplyDeleteI hope things continue to go smoothly at your job--you don't need that kind of stress. At my last job before grad school (admittedly a long time ago, and it was waitressing, not office-type work), I put in my two weeks' notice at a place that stressed me out horribly with constant nagging and poor management. I was really worried that putting in my notice would make for a worse environment the last few weeks, but management stopped nagging because they knew I didn't care anymore. Anyway, not exactly like your situation, because like you said you haven't put in your notice, but I think sometimes letting bosses and managers know that you have other options isn't always a bad thing.
I'm chiming in to say - Yay! And I say this coming from an IT set-up, your reasoning about the interviews is pretty solid. Good luck on that!
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, good luck with the workplace stress too. I hope it stays at bay.