Tuesday, March 17, 2009

You only want me for my husband

I can't tell you the number of people who have called me about getting a job at my husband's firm.  Actually, I suppose I could count them: four.  For those of you new to WAD, my husband Mile High Guy and I are both healthcare architects, and we worked at the same firm, Design Associates, for six and a half years together.  He left and went to another firm across town, Acme Architects.  DA, my firm, is privately owned by several partners, while Acme is a nationwide architecture and engineering firm (one of many), and Guy works in the Denver office of Acme.

Back during the first round of layoffs happened in September, both Ethel and Sarge asked me about working at Guy's firm.  Sarge, being our CAD manager for the past three or four years, would have been very good at Revit, but in such a large office he would have been stuck doing CAD management again instead of really working on architecture.  Guy attempted to dissuade Sarge from applying, but he did anyway.  He wasn't hired, which is fine--he got a better opportunity elsewhere.  Ethel asked me to have Guy run interference for her more than once.  That's right, she applied twice for an architect position at Acme as an unlicensed architectural intern, and she wanted Guy to say great things about her.  When asked, Guy was as honest as he could be.  He said she was a good person and an okay intern, but she wasn't what they were looking for.

What they're looking for is another Guy, a licensed architect with lots of healthcare experience who can run large and small projects without having a meltdown or dropping the ball.  Thing is, DA hasn't let go of anyone like that until last week.  Elliot asked me about Guy's firm just as Guy emailed me to say, "Tell Elliot to send me his resume and I'll pass it on to my bosses."  Then today, I got a call from Jacqueline about the position.  She mentioned that she'd applied for the job on Acme's website, and that she'd be glad to say that Guy referred her in case she got the gig and was able to get him a referral/signing bonus.  I mentioned that Acme, like many architectural firms, is going to Revit from AutoCAD, so she should be prepared to describe her skills in it.  Elliot is better at Revit than Jacqueline, but she has more big-healthcare-project experience.  We'll see if they both get an interview.

I mean, I had a lot of friends before, but now people really want to be nice to me.  Guy asked me if Wayne had called or emailed yet, and I responded no.  Guy's next comment kinda surprised me, because it was a little snarky and he's not usually a vindictive bastard, just a standard-issue bastard.  He said, "Man, I hope he contacts me.  Then, I can say, 'Hey, remember when I left Design Associates?  Yeah, that was due to how much Gregg favored you over me.  Hope all that ass-kissing in lieu of getting licensed really paid off for you, pal.  How'd that work out for you?'  Then I'd hit 'send'."

Rrowr!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I (HEART) Guy.

I could totally see that!