Company that wouldn’t give me the time of day 12 years ago during the 2008 recession cold called me and attempted to recruit me. Here’s how I shut them down.

I finished my PhD just in time for the 2008 recession to hit. I managed to land a postdoctoral fellowship, then once that was over started looking for jobs in my field; at this point it was 2011. The next town over from where I went to school had a biotech company start up that grew rapidly, and has done well. I sent so many resumes and applied to so many jobs with their company, never even got a call back let alone an interview. That was my experience with almost every biotech company I had applied to. I moved on with my life and got a job in a completely different field while, maintaining a consulting side hustle in my field.

 

After about 10 years of being underpaid in full-time shitty jobs to maintain health insurance, and continuing the side hustle, I landed a job with amazing benefits, time off and work/life balance.

 

I am at said job when my cell rings.

Recruiter: My name is Amanda, I am a recruiter for . May I please speak with washedupcynic?

Me: Speaking

Recruiter: has an opening for a cell culture quality control analyst. Is this something you would be interested in?

me: I'm currently employed and I love my job, so much so that you'd have to pry it out of my cold dead fingers. I'd only be interested if you can meet by bottom line. $40 an hour, 4 weeks vacation, insurance benefits without a deductible, and mandated overtime to be paid at 3x the hourly rate.

silence

Recruiter: Our maximum pay rate is $30 for this position.

me: I know. click