Chapter 7: New Positions

Jackie was doing a great job. Austin no longer felt like he was the captain of a ship going down fast. There was still a lot of work that needed to be done, but it was starting to feel borderline manageable.

Beep. New email.

“Hey Austin, I opened two reqs for junior positions on your team. Attached are eight resumes that already came in. Take a look and let m know if you want to talk to any of them next week. Rachel.”

Austin clicked reply.

“Great timing. Just hit a stopping point so will review and get back to you shortly.”

Austin opened the first PDF and was greeted with a document headed by the candidate name in 36-pt, purple, Comic Sans.

“What the hell?” he muttered to himself. “Next.”

The next file was not as graphically glaring, but started with, “Im an energetic go-getter that’s worked on many high profile porjects.”

Another exclamation from Austin, “Holy shit, doesn’t he use the spell check?”

There were no glaring errors in the third resume, but the candidate was literally just finishing her degree. Her cover letter explained that her final class was remote and could be done in the evenings if she got a full-time position. Austin marked the resume for a follow-up phone call.

Of the five remaining resumes Austin selected two more for a phone call. Based on the experience listed, one seemed to be a woman later in her career that was looking for work that did not entail the responsibilities, or hassles, of a management role as she coasted into retirement. The other was a young man who seemed to be just the opposite. A one-job career thus far, but wanted something with “upward mobility.”

Austin replied to Rachel with the names he selected and then turned to the next item on his to-do list. Before he could start his phone beeped.

“Aunt Tess and Uncle Bobby are going to be in town tomorrow so mom asked if I could hold off returning home until Sunday. Get your work done and we’ll be home on Sunday in time for dinner and a movie.”

Disappointed, Austin replied. “No problem. Have a good visit with T&B. See you on Sunday.” A moment later Tonya replied with a thumbs-up emoji.

Austin again turned his focus on the next item on his list when his messenger app rang. Rachel. Because Tonya was out of town he wasn’t using his headset and answered the call with a click.

“Hey Rachel, what’s up? Just sent you three names.”

“Yep, I got them and wanted to ask about a name you did not include. Denise Robertson?”

“Denise?” Austin pondered. “Oh, wait, was she the one with the purple, Comic Sans resume?”

Rachel laughed. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Then that’s your answer,” said Austin.

“Did you read her resume?” asked Rachel.

“No, of course not. If the most professional resume you can make uses Comic Sans I’m not going to make it past the name.”

“Can you give it a quick read? I think she has some good experience. And, to be transparent, she is the daughter of a friend.”

Austin grunted. “Yeah? If you think she’s got the creds, then go ahead and add her name to the list. When I talk to her I’m going to tell her she got lucky that someone made it past her name.”

“Just be nice, but yes, she does need to be told that a new header would help her cause immensely. I’ll talk to HR and get the four phone calls scheduled for early next week.”

“Sounds good,” replied Austin.

“Great,” Rachel went on, “have a good weekend and I’ll be in touch with HR to get these interviews scheduled ASAP.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Austin. “Have a good weekend yourself.”

Austin had just settled into his recliner to watch the start of the second football game on Sunday afternoon when he heard the garage door open. He stood and rushed to the garage.

“You made great time,” he said as Tonya exited the car.

“Yeah, the kids were asleep for most of the trip so I only stopped once.”

Austin collected one of the twins from a car seat and followed Tonya into the house. She handed the other twin to Austin and said, “Here you go. Play with your daddy for a minute while I get our bags.”

Austin put the kids down and rolled around with them on the living room carpet as they both tried to get his undivided attention. When Tonya returned they took the kids into the backyard to continue playing in hopes of burning off some of their energy before settling down for dinner and a movie.

Tonya sat on Austin’s lap in the over-sized Adirondack chair they had on the back porch as the kids clamored over the jungle gym.

“So how was your week?” she asked.

“Mostly the same as usual. Very busy. But Jackie has been great. And I got some resumes to review to fill two reqs that have been opened on the team.”