This might be a long read but I’ve been harboring this for about a year and I’m still kind of angry about it.
I worked at a good job for over two years. I was well liked and I did my job well. I left on good terms after giving over a months resignation notice. I came back to this employer after several moves and while my old position had been filled, which I expected, I was able to take an entry level lower paying job just to get back in the door. I figured I’d work my way back up over time. While there had been big staff turn over in the time I was gone, a core group of people I used to work with everyday was still there, including my previous manager.
When a new position was created in my original department, I applied and got an interview with my previous manager and the new director. The interview didn’t go that well even though I have a good rapport with manager. The new director made me very uncomfortable and asked odd questions not at all relevant to the job duties. The manager came to me when they made a decision to inform me I wasn’t getting the job. She seemed genuinely bummed and gave me pointers on how to get back into her department.
Those pointers included things like making eye contact with the director during interviews and smiling and chatting with the director when we meet in hallways. This was for a position that does NOT require phenomenal people skills. The core group of people that had previously worked with me know I’m not a chatty social butterfly and I lack social graces at times(likely ASD).
I continued to work my entry level role until another position in that department was created. I applied again. This time, I tried to make eye contact and improve my social skills. I was put through two interviews and at the end of the second interview, the director asked me if she makes me nervous. I don’t know the “correct” response to that so I made a joke and left the interview with a sour taste in my mouth.
I didn’t get the job again. The manager apologized and said she knows I do my job and I do it well. Later, the director changed departments so she was leading my current department. She pulled me into her office because she wanted to talk about the “elephant in the room”, aka me being repeatedly rejected. I had remained professional at work. There was no reason for this. Eventually, I quit because I obviously wasn’t going anywhere there despite my skills and experience.
It’s been a year and I’m still bitter, honestly. This was a career I was passionate about and I’ve put so much of my life into developing my education and skills. There aren’t many opportunities in this field so unless I want to move, which I don’t, that’s pretty much it.