It Took Me 6 Months To Find A Job

6 months. It took me 6 months to land a full-time recruiting job in Los Angeles. I was in Cleveland, job hunting from 2,341 miles away.

I traveled to LA with my wife for an interview with BP in Long Beach.

Prior to leaving for the flight, Johnson Controls out of Whittier emailed me requesting a phone interview, which I accepted. It was going to be completed while I was still in Tinseltown.

Funny thing is, while there, after the BP interview, and while looking for apartments, Johnson Controls called me…for that scheduled interview.

I missed the call. Totally forgot. Call it a brainfart. Call it mass confusion of the mini-vacation, or the apartment hunting itinerary, but it happened.

So I called back and chatted with the Head of HR for the Western region, explained what happened, and he was totally cool.

He even offered that I come in for an on-site meeting, which I respectfully declined due to time constraints. I explained that I would have to fly back out to make that work.

Talk about being a crappy candidate.

But hey! It worked! Literally, about 30 minutes later the manager called and made me an offer! I said I’d let him know soon, still had to find out what BP was going to do.

BP made an offer and now I had a bargaining chip to see if I could squeeze anything more out of those 2 companies.

BP said that’s the best they could do. Johnson Controls said they’ll add in relocation and $5K more.

Sold!

I started my way west, covered on the dime of Johnson Controls, and with a couple of weeks’ salary more.

The moral of the story? Don’t be scared to negotiate. Employers expect it more often than not.

Every single raise, bonus, etc. comes off of that initial starting salary. Thousands of dollars are at stake, especially when you’re talking about 5, 10, etc. years later.

Get what’s yours. But be prepared to tell those employers just why they need to make that investment in you. Show them your value!

Need help with salary negotiations? Ping me, I can help!

Also here are some photos from my ole’ LA days including my audition for Nip/Tuck at Paramount, audition for Old Dogs at Disney and audition for iCarly at Nickelodeon (which I booked!).

Want to join the conversation? Chime in over here, let’s hear your input.

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