Experience? We Got No Stinkin' Experience!

After four years of college, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that employers were lined up just waiting for me to offer myself as the ideal employee - educated - fun -interesting - adaptable - hard working - family man - actually an ideal catch! Guess what?

I had quit my job at the Nazarene Book Store (shipping & receiving plus janitorial) two weeks before graduation. Too much going on with the end of the school year and my college days. Now here I am with diploma in hand and out giving these companies a crack at hiring me. I was married to Ann and we had a two month old son, Rick.

EVERYWHERE I went they wanted that nasty old "Experience". After lots of interviews I got an opportunity to sell my skills and personality to C. F. Braun & Company in Alhambra. They were builders of refinery plants, asphalt plants, etc all over the globe. Very nice brick buildings with individual offices and apparently doing very nicely. I interviewed with the manager of a department that secured bids and submitted them on equipment being part of the company bid for a major project. They bid on any job over $25 million. They wanted someone to develop a system of files of various items they were needing so the buyers could review and make their selection.

I'm their man! But all of the sudden the manager said "we are looking for someone with experience and you don't qualify for this job". That did it! With nothing to lose I got out of my chair and banged my fist on his beautiful wood desk and looking him in the eye said emphatically "how do you get experience? Everyone wants it -- how do you get it?"

His next statement came out differently than I expected. He asked me if I could start on Monday! I found out that they paid once a month and that was last week! So I had three more weeks of no money for my family at a time that was critical for us.

I had my own private office with a glass door. Worked very hard for $350 a month and nine months after I was hired I found out the economics of this type of work. When they lose a job that they bid on, layoffs were the next step. Since I was the last one hired on this staff, I was first to go. They brought someone in from another department and gave me one day to train him. With one week severance pay, I was once again on my own but with one secret ability --experience!

I went to a competitor called Fluor Corporation in Maywood and was hired in the Expediting Department (because of my experience). It was our job to get the purchased materials to the jobsite on time. The job that C. F. Braun & Company lost, Fluor got. Unfortunately this job only lasted 11 months and I was once again out of work. But with "more experience".

See my posting on "50 Years Ago Today" which tells of my next job which became my career of 37 years and how "experience" helped me get $5 more a month than people hired without experience. Whoopteedoo!

An Anniversary - 50 Years Ago Today

Today, March 3rd, I celebrate another milestone anniversary. It was 50 years ago today that I started my job at State Farm Insurance in Santa Ana, California. It's an interesting story about how I got that job.

I was working in Maywood (Los Angeles) at the Fluor Corporation in Expediting of materials to the various jobsites that the company was working around the globe. They built refineries, asphalt plants, etc. The year was 1958 and we were experiencing a recession in America. Work was very light - in fact if I had all that I would be doing that day at 8:00 a.m., I could be done by 8:45 a. m. You can see it was a very boring time for employees. Layoff time couldn't be very far away.

The manager called me into his office that week and said that I would be laid off in a week and that I needed to find another job. I could use my sick days (hadn't been off in the 11 months there) if I had an appointment. Just call in that I did indeed have an appointment and do my best to convince the people that I need to come to work for them. I went to an employment agency (if you get a job, you pay a fee) and they sent me to Allstate Insurance Company for an interview. The person I saw said that he didn't know why they sent me as there were NO job openings at all at Allstate. He suggested I go to State Farm Insurance and see if they have anything. I said "State Who?" At that time I didn't recall ever hearing about State Farm.

I called and got an appointment for an interview at State Farm the next day. Since the employment agency wasn't involved, I didn't have to pay for the job. I got hired that day and had to take a physical the next morning. Two days out of the five that week I was off my job at Fluor and returned the last three days to complete my work record with them. I started the following Monday which was March 3, 1958, at State Farm Insurance, 1727 West 17th Street, Santa Ana, California.

I was hired at $5 more a month because of "my experience" and that brought my monthly gross salary to $326 a month. Quite a drop from the $390 I was making at Fluor. You know what? That day as I started my training as a Service Trainee in the Los Angeles Auto Division they offered me up to 20 hours a week overtime at time and a half! So for the next six months I was able to get my regular hours in plus 20 extra overtime hours which paid the bills for my young family.

At the time my family consisted of Ann, Rick (age 23 months) and myself (age 23 years). Brenda came along in 1959 to complete the family.

I spent 37 years with this "job" and retired July 1, 1996. I took 16 months off State Farm after I had been there 11 years to try my luck at personal investment and insurance selling which was a disaster. Returned to State Farm and completed my working years. I will tell you how to change a "job" into a "career" in another posting.

The picture above was taken on my first day at State Farm for my Personnel file.