(no subject)
So my work is required by law to get rid of all of its contractors by the end of the month, so they've opened up several permanent positions to replace them. In my area, that means there is one such job open. I applied for it last month and have been eagerly awaiting the results, since this would mean much better pay, benefits, stability, etc. Norma, my fellow contractor, has already taken herself out of the running with a series of mistakes ending in a stolen laptop.. they say they like me, they want to keep me, the users like me and send emails to my manager saying so.. sounds good, right?
Well, in order to be "open competitive", my peers review the applications minus personally identifying information. This process is normally completetly tainted anyway because they specifically look for people they know, but in my case, they (being 3 independent reviewers) pitched my application. Why? As I've been told many times today, because it contained the word "helpdesk". They skipped past "Microsoft certified" and the "other shit I know" section, even the "I'm already working the damn job!" section (right at the top). I've heard "oh, that was yours? well we just don't like helpdesk people..", but I really don't believe it happened that way.
Either way, I am apparently not qualified to interview for my own job. Norma, who cost the department $1000+ and is not being considered anyway, is permitted to interview. This really irks me, considering that it's been 10 years since I've seen Novell and I routinely teach my coworkers new things about it they've never seen.. and some in windows.. and linux (which is like black magic to them). I felt like complete shit for most of the day until I spent 45 minutes bullshitting with one of our developers. It was a good, intelligent technical discussion that I kept up with and had a lot to comment on.. and so reminded myself that I must know something.
So, if the helpdesk bit is as they say, my resume will probably never be considered for any deskside jobs. I have an offer from my contract company to place me at another helpdesk.. can't help but think "yay, I'll have lots of money to spend while I wither and die there..". At the same time I'm afraid to ask them to find me another deskside job, since they will probably either lose interest or leave me hanging for a couple months. If I take the helpdesk job, it would look really bad on my resume for deskside.. "did deskside for 3 months, failed and went back to the helpdesk". Either way I have 7 more working days before money stops coming in... :-(
I need... Ben & Jerry's.. Chocolate Therapy.. *poof*