I'm sorry, you don't have the experience required for the job.
That was it. I had it. I'm going to graduate in 4 weeks and I'm still jobless. I had to go home this recent weekend already to attend Esther's open casket viewing. So, I might as well continue my job hunt. but at this point I was even willing to drive to South San Francisco if I could be a pharm tech so I did something I had never done on Friday afternoon when I got back home from school. I went onto Longs Drugs, typed in my zip code, and found the closest 40 Longs Drugs in a 20-mile radius of my home. I picked up the phone to make the phone call to 22 different Longs Drugs and said:
Me: "Hi, I was wondering if the pharmacy manager is available at the moment?"
Reply: "Yes, hold on a moment/Call back at ____."
Me: "When is the best time I should call back? / Thank you. Hi pharmacy manager, I was wondering if you had any current or future openings for pharmacy technicians?"
Reply: "No, goodbye. / Not at the moment, but we are hiring in June. / You could try the _____ location. / Call the hiring district on Homestead. / Actually, we might be looking for someone. Why don't you come in and fill out an application?"
After taking notes of what happened with each phone call at each location of Longs Drugs, I narrowed down the stores with the only chances of me getting hired...which was only like 5 out of the 22 I called. By the time I got to the 22nd Longs Drugs, I'm getting tired and my brother is wanting to go to the mall. And only 3 of those Longs Drugs asked anything about me beyond the 'hiring in June or a later month' response. My brother finally made the phone call to his gal friend about her parents being pharmacists and if they could help me out. That ultimately fell through as well. The next day, I printed out three copies of my resume and revised huge chunks of it that I realized the career counselor at UOP did not pay much attention to.
I was worried at this point. Really worried. I don't have any experience of being a pharmacy technician and I have no idea what to tell the pharmacists when I knew they were going to ask about past experiences. My parents encouraged me to go to Gilroy to them but I told them that I had to drive to a few Longs Drugs to fill out some applications. A new Coach handbag seemed tempting in my mind but I had to finish this. This was my original plan and goal:
Drive to 3 Longs Drugs, fill out 3 applications, and come back home by 2:ooPM.
So my goal began to fall through when I drove to the first Longs Drugs on my list. The pharmacy technician there was super nice and tried to help me out but the pharmacy manager was gone for the day even though she told me to come in to fill out an application, and the store itself ran out of job applications. I left my resume with them anyway.
Now, here's the good part. Yahoo Maps decided to taunt me by taking me to Homestead Road by giving me the names of 3 streets that did not exist. As a result, I had to call my parents asking them how to get to Homestead Road, because that's where the Longs Drugs Hiring District was. After driving around in circles to find Concord Drive that doesn't exist, trying to call my brother to give me directions but he didn't pick up, and calling my parents who were on their way to Gilroy, I managed to find eventually make it to Homestead Road. Before I continue on my time at Homestead Road, this is the conversation that went on between me and the person on the phone that worked in the hiring district.
Him: "Bring in your resume and we can see where you're needed at which Longs Drugs in this region.
Me: "What time are you open tomorrow?"
Him: "Uhh tomorrow, 10AM to 10PM."
Me: So I can come in tomorrow anytime between that?"
Him: "Umm, yeah."
Slightly disheveled and upset that it took me so long to find Homestead Road, I go inside and spoke to the pharmacy technician.
Me: "Hi, I heard the hiring district is here?"
Pharm Tech: "Yeah, it's closed though. You have to come back Monday. It'll be open then."
Awkward silence.
Me: "OK, I'll figure it out. Thank you."
I turn and was about half-way through the store on my way out when I realized, why don't I just leave my resume here so they can hand it over? I turn around and go back to the pharmacy and just as I go there, I have to wait for the pharmacy technician to finish speaking to one of the patients. For some reason, the pharmacy manager in the back noticed me for the 2nd time and came out asking if there was anything I needed help with. Just when I was about to ask about leaving my resume, I forgot my question so I quickly tried to recover asking:
Me: "Hi, I was wondering if you had any current or future openings for a pharmacy technician?"
Ugh, I could not believe I just asked that. I asked that on the phone yesterday when I called this location and I didn't get the response I wanted. A brief pause of silence settles in and then the pharmacy manager replied:
Pharmacy Manager: "Actually, I think we might need someone. How much experience do you have? Are you still in school? When are you available to work? Do you have your license?"
My jaw was about to fall out of my mouth. Are you kidding me? Oh my goodness, I could not believe what I was hearing but I had to answer honestly and expected the worst. I have no experience, sir, but I really need some experience. That's what I wanted to say but I couldn't so I thought of everything I could to sell myself as a candidate. I'm going to be here all of next year so this won't be just a 2 or 3-month job. I'm going to available on weekdays, weeknights. I can do full-time or part-time. Whatever is most convenient for this pharmacy. And his reply?
Pharmacy Manager: "Let's get the store manager here and have you take the personality test. If you pass that, we can put you through a drug test because it's protocol here and then we can deal with paperwork. We can definitely use you."
I literally wanted to jump up and scream for joy. I'm totally indebt to this pharmacy because they're so willing to give someone out of the blue like me a chance to prove that I can be a good technician despite my lack of experience. I wanted to thank him and jump everywhere and mess things up to show happy I was, but I don't think that would've left the best impression so I simply thanked him and left.
And when I walked out the store, I got to my car, and saw the car keys lying in my front seat.
For the first time in my life, I was so excited about getting a job.
For the first time in my life, I locked myself out of my car. FML.
| Initial Goal | Final Goal |
=)
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