She Can’t Get Her Dream Job Thanks To One Employee Who Doesn’t Like Her

OP applied for a competitive position in a company only to get turned down for reasons she did not expect. She had to move and lost everything as a result.

She Lived in a Small City

The original poster (OP) lives in a fairly small city. It took her some time after high school to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. Around five years ago, she decided to train for a career in a rather niche industry. In her city of 3 million people, there were only 30-40 of these jobs available. She studied hard, earned the qualifications, and completed two internships.

She Wanted To Live Near Home

 While working part-time and freelancing, OP hunted for a full-time job. She was willing to move for work but preferred staying in her town. Both her boyfriend and her family lived there. It would be ideal to stay close to home, though near impossible.

She Had an Interview For The Perfect Job

So when the perfect job opened up in her industry, OP couldn’t believe her luck. “I was stoked last summer when I got an interview for one of the very few entry-level jobs available in my city!”

Though she didn’t get the position in the end, her interview went so well the company encouraged her to apply the next time they had an opening.

Turns out, the company might have misrepresented her chances.

Someone Within The Company Asked Her to Coffee

Shortly after the OP’s stellar interview, an acquaintance who worked at the company reached out to arrange a coffee date. OP felt grateful for the request—surely her acquaintance would want to share tips and tricks for the next interview opportunity. Instead, that hopeful bubble burst.

Give Up Already

“[The acquaintance] told me to give up on ever being hired there — turns out, a girl I had gone to high school with is a real rock star at this company, and she threatened to resign when it looked like I was about to be offered a job.”

There Was No Competing Against Her Former Classmate

“Rock star” might be an understatement. When OP looked into her former classmate, she learned the girl’s resume was beyond impressive. “She graduated from college early and has awards people who’ve worked in our industry twice as long haven’t won. Her public-facing work is top-notch. I’m guessing she’s the kind of employee a manager wants to keep around.”

What Could She Do?

OP found herself facing a harsh reality. There was no way a company would take on a newcomer with a weaker resume and portfolio over a tried-and-true superstar.

She Was Still Hoping For a Second Chance

The acquaintance advised her to look elsewhere. Despite this, OP held on to a sliver of hope until a second opening came and went with no word from the company.

She inquired about the lack of contact. The company informed her that “a staffer had raised some concerns and the company would not be moving forward with [her] candidacy”.

She Had To Leave Her Whole Life Behind

OP debated apologizing but eventually accepted defeat. She found an opening in a town seven hours away.

They were desperate to fill a nine-month fellowship because their prior hire had found work elsewhere. OP took the gig.

“I said goodbye to my boyfriend, packed up my car and two cats, and drove to a town I’d never been to.”

She Hated It

The work itself was a dream, but the town was a major letdown. It was harder to be away from her boyfriend and her family than she’d anticipated. The people her age were at a different stage of life, making it difficult to form friendships.

Her Boyfriend Listened To The Problem

“I called my boyfriend every night crying,” she shared. When her boyfriend canceled his Labor Day visit at the last minute due to a work conflict, she threw together a last-minute trip back home.

“I hopped into my car after work on Friday and drove all evening, arriving at the place I’d been sharing with my boyfriend before I moved a little after 1 AM.”

Caught in The Act

When she arrived, she found him sharing their old bed with someone else. Heartbroken, OP went to her sister’s place and spent the night sobbing on the couch.

Falling into Depression

She drove back the following day to return to work. But she couldn’t work. She missed three days in a row, too depressed to get out of bed. Naturally, she was fired.

She Lost Everything

OP packed her life up again and headed back home. Her hometown job, which had told her that she’d always be welcomed back, had hired a replacement “who was faster and more efficient.”

Jobless and homeless, OP moved back in with her parents. In pure desperation, she sent yet another application to the dream company.

She Ran Into Her Former Classmate

While waiting to hear back, her sister and friends took her out for a nice dinner to celebrate her birthday and distract her.

“This is where it goes from bad to worse. I drank too much wine at dinner and got pretty weepy. I excused myself from the table to try to put myself together … and ran into [my former classmate] and her husband celebrating their anniversary on the way to the bathroom. I ended up yelling/crying at her that she’d ruined my life.”

She Would Never Get The Job

The restaurant threw her out and told her she wasn’t welcome back.

The following Monday morning, she received an email from the company’s hiring manager, informing her that she’d “been removed from the candidate pool.”

To add insult to injury, the manager also told her she would not be considered for future jobs at their shop or any other in the network.

She Found Her Social Media Account

OP’s former classmate tweeted about her high school experience. She didn’t mention the restaurant incident, nor did she call out OP by name.

She “tweeted a long thread about how she’d been bullied in high school and [how] she wishes teenagers would realize that high school ends and it does get better.” She included links to local mental health resources and the National Suicide Hotline. The tweet was shared and liked “many, many times”.

She Blamed Her Former Classmate

“So just to recap,” OP vented, “No job, no boyfriend, no money, no hope of ever breaking into the industry I spent five years preparing to enter.

It’s hard not to feel like some of this is [the former classmate’s] fault, especially given how she rubbed salt in the wound after my whole world had come crashing down.”

Social Media Reacted to The Story

Social media users were quick to make sure OP understood how this was no one’s fault but her own.

Even with the bullying aside, failing to attend work because of a breakup showed a lack of proper work ethic. “She has proven herself to be an unreliable and poor worker. The company is better off not having hired her,” a user wrote.

“Imagine seeing someone you hurt sharing mental health resources and the national suicide hotline info and viewing it as ‘rubbing salt in the wound’”, another commented.

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Conclusion

There are many lessons to be learned here, though it seems OP is not ready to face the consequences of her choices and grow. “This is also a harsh reminder that your actions will sometimes follow you long after you’ve forgotten and ‘gotten over it’”.

This article was produced and syndicated by TPR Teaching. Source.