I recently signed a contract extension that will keep me (potentially) employed at my current job for at least three more years.  This extension coincidentally occurred in the same month I was fired from my previous job, with another radio company, three years prior.  Did you follow all of that? 

What a difference just a few years make in a lifetime.  It’s crazy to think where I was then compared to where I am now.  Both physically and mentally.  Sort of symbolic that they just happen to fall days from each, but poetic all the same. 

I’ve been in broadcasting for more than twenty years and it’s the only post-college job I have ever had.  During the 115 days I was unemployed, I had the opportunity to interview for jobs that I never would have imagined.  I don’t necessarily mean that in a good way.  Some people are cut out for these jobs, whereas people like me, would have accepted them just to pay the mortgage and keep the family fed till I found something more in tune with my goals.  When you are forced outside of your comfort zone, life often presents you with unique perspective and validation….or in this case, some pretty interesting stories.    

I will keep the names of the companies and the people involved anonymous, so that nobody looks to sue me down road.  You never know might come out of the woodwork!

Job interview #1-Selling insurance widgets.

I had absolutely no interest in this job.  I was randomly applying for positions in an effort to satisfy the government’s need for documentation of me seeking employment and for possible interviews that would get me out of the house.  When you are out of work, you look for excuses to shave, put on good clothes and go somewhere that isn’t the grocery store. 

The nameless company (the word “Life” was in the title) reached out to me on LinkedIn, asking if I was interested in meeting with one of their VPs about possible employment.  After I looked her up, I found that she was an attractive woman and appeared to be very successful.  Anytime you can connect with someone with these qualities, for the very least a networking opportunity, you do it.  According to Facebook, we e even knew some of the same people, so I had some opportunities for small talk if needed. 

I arrived at their office about 30 minutes prior to the interview, checked in with the receptionist, and took a seat in the lobby.  I was out of the house, wearing a suit, flipping through a dated magazine, carrying a briefcase (with nothing pertinent to the meeting inside) and interviewing for a job I had no interest in; but curious to learn more about a world outside of broadcasting.  Seriously, the briefcase was 100% for looks.  A year later someone stole that briefcase from my car and I have yet to replace it. 

The receptionist rang the office to let the VP know that “Chase Patrick Murphy is here to see you”.  I could hear her respond because the office was just 15 feet from the front desk and her door was open.  She knew I was there and was finishing up a conversation with someone else.  Our meeting was scheduled for 9am and it’s now 9:20am and I still haven’t been invited into her office.  The receptionist then calls the VP again, reminding her that I was there waiting.  Another 10 minutes goes by and the attractive female VP comes to the lobby and says “I’m so sorry for your wait, nobody told me you were here” and then gave the receptionist a dirty look. She then apologized for the receptionist (again) and closed the door behind me.   

It would not have mattered what the job was, I was pretty confident that I would never enjoy working in that office.  After forty-five minutes of banter and learning about insurance and investment related widgets, we shook hands and I carried my useless briefcase out into the lobby and then into the elevator.  I also got a free bottle of water out of the deal!  Score!  Apparently, I was impressive because she and three other people from that office called to talk about offers and potential start dates.  I let them know that I was entertaining multiple offers and that I would get back to them when I came to a decision.  Four weeks later I was offered my current job, so I didn’t have to come to true terms with working in that strange environment.  First impressions are important. 

Job interview #2-VP of Marketing.

This job rang all the bells and all the carefully placed “keywords” on my resume, which gave their corporate recruiters reasons to call me.  It’s funny that sometimes you have to dumb down your resume in order to get people excited about what you can bring to the table?  When you are in college looking to start out in life you padded your resume in an effort to make you look more qualified and attractive to hiring managers.  Yet, as you get older or maybe it’s a sign of the times, you have to remove REAL things from your resume in order to cut through the stack of applications.  According to the application website and from conversations with the recruiters, this job would satisfy my financial needs and give me opportunities to work with media on an agency level.  I made it through to the forth recruiter, which is the next to the last step before meeting with the person who does the actual hiring.  Again, not a job that I was excited about, but it was certainly better than anything I had interviewed for prior and still in the sphere of what I have been doing for years prior.  

Something happened with the forth recruiter that, to this day, I am still confused about.  In radio and most broadcasting/media companies, you are asked to wear many hats and be educated on the practices of many departments.  For example, as a Program Director or Operations Manager of a radio station or group, you need to speak many business and industry “languages”.  Any given day you are dealing with sales, marketing, clients, digital, talent coaching, imaging, record companies and sometimes executing a show or program of your own.  To put things into perspective, twenty years ago, five people would do my job.  Guess who doesn’t understand that?  People who are not in broadcast media.  I almost got into an argument with the recruiter because she found it “impossible” that one person would be able to successfully accomplish all of those things in a day.  There was no convincing her that I knew that much about so many things.  I am not trying to come across as a martyr here, just understand that no two days in this industry are like.  She said, “Mr. Murphy, you want me to believe that one person can do that amount of work?  We have 10 people in this company to cover all of that.  It’s just not possible and I am having a hard time with this”. It’s one of the few times I have ever been at a loss for words or stymied by someone’s response.  The conversation ended about 5 minutes after that exchange and they sent me a rejection letter a few weeks later.  Shame, I would have been a rock star at that company… till I got a better job.  Their loss.      

Job interview #3-WTF?  I still have no idea. No really.

When you are out of work and watching the money you saved for the future go towards bills and needs, you start scattering and broadcasting your resume about and apply for things just for the hell of it. Sometimes you get contacted about one job because you applied for a different job and sometimes they find you on one of the many job search engines out there.  In short, somehow this company got my resume and emailed me for an interview.  The subject line was something like “VP of Marketing”, and it fell under the list of job titles I was considering, but I had no idea what this company marketed or how they got my info.  Shady, but I was looking for work and an excuse to leave the house.  We set up an interview time and I arrived at their offices before 10am. 

I walked into the very hip and trendy offices and gave my name to the receptionist.  She handed me an IPad and asked me to answer the questions provided.  There were about 8 other people in the reception area doing the same thing I was doing, and although I thought this was strange, I just assumed that they were doing some sort of cattle call run of interviews, since they were a new company and likely needed to hire multiple positions?  A young man came out from the office area and asked us all to follow him.  The guy was fresh out of college and seemed sharp, but I was more concerned as to why I was heading into a room with 8 other people. 

This is where things started to become a blur for me because nothing in this scenario made sense.  They reached out to me, it was a company that I had never heard of and here I am walking into a small conference room with a bunch of random strangers and the meeting would be led by a guy that was maybe 23 years old.  He introduces himself and then goes around the room asking us our names.  At that point I knew it wasn’t an AA meeting, because the second “A” in that group stands for “anonymous”.  He then starts asking us questions like “What was the most money you have ever made” and “What industry are you leaving”.  I got passed up on the first question, but on the second he pointed at me and asked.  Even though I was no longer on the radio in that city, I didn’t want to say what I did in fear of someone making the connection.  So I answered “talent coach”, which is part of my job, but not the actual title. 

He then started a slide show and as we watched, I still wasn’t learning anything about the company.  How can I be the VP of Marketing for a company that still hasn’t told me what they do?  Before the 6^th or 7^th slide, the young moderator says to the group, “After I show you this next slide, I am obligated to tell you that you can leave at any time if this isn’t for you”.  I was so confused!?  Is this where I get offered to do porn?  Will I be a drug mule?

He flips the slide and says “this is an outdoor sales cable marketing company”.  Everyone sprung up out of their chairs and walked to the door.  Myself, I followed the herd of interviewees and began processing that the job was for people that would go door to door selling 3^rd rate cable packages.  “VP of Marketing” might have been a hook to get people in the door?  As I walked out of the building, one of the other interviewees (maybe 23-24 years old and wearing a cocktail dress who had answered the first question with “$14,000”) asked me if I could give her a ride home because her sister wasn’t coming for another hour and she didn’t want to wait around.  I decided that this was probably a bad idea and informed her that I had somewhere else to be in 15 minutes.  Which was a lie that I still don’t feel bad about telling.  Still don’t understand what that company was, but it made for a good story and gives me the opportunity to tell people that I once walked out of a job interview.  Makes me sound cool-even if it wasn’t porn.  Ha!

Life gives you moments of pause for a reason.  You are supposed to take them in, observe and learn.  I was excited to go on those interviews and others that didn’t make this list-my hope was to learn something new and educate myself on what other people do for a living.  Did you know there’s a pretty good paying job and all you have to do is sell rubber washers to businesses that need them?  There’s someone out there selling milk to schools.  Who knew?  Didn’t know those were vocations, but I hope to run into the people who do these things at a future cocktail party. 

Do what is necessary to survive, but also understand the need to move forward and flourish. Take the interview.  Even if you know you are not going to accept the position if it’s offered.  You never know what you may learn or what story you will collect from the experience.

My son’s favorite band right now is a group called AJR.  They are three really talented brothers that I have been fortunate enough to interview a few times over the years.  There’s a line in one of their songs that goes…

“ A hundred bad days made a hundred good stories
A hundred good stories make me interesting at parties
Yeah, no, I ain’t scared of you
No, I ain’t scared of you no more”

 #Tryharder to collect more stories because you never know if you’re going to need them to write a book one day.