1.15.2013

IS LANDING A JOB HARDER WHEN YOU'RE ENGAGED?


so, i'm back in super-job-search mode. it's a downer because i really, really love my job here. but, to seattle we go and i'm ready to work.

obviously, it takes quite a few steps before you get a job interview, but as i mentally prepared to enter that world of apply, hear nothing, lose hope, get a callback, sweat with nerves, go in for the interview, etc., i recalled an article i read a while back: "should women wear engagement rings to interviews?" i think it was published in one of my fav mags. of course, at the time, it didn't matter to me. i wasn't engaged, and i landed my job now mere days before b popped the question.

the authors argument is that women with engagement rings may seem like they'll leave the job after they get married or when they have babies. worse yet, some speculate that if you rock a large... rock... that interviewers may think you have plenty of money and don't NEED a job. yikes. not that i think my ring is giant, but it is beautiful and larger than the average. {and for what it's worth, we totally need me to work! if not only because i would be bored out of my mind... but also because, hello, i pay half the bills.}

my main problem is that in seattle, not only will i be wearing an engagement ring, but b is a huge part of my story. "what brings you to seattle?" will no doubt come up. i am not one to combine the personal and professional {especially in the interview phase!}, so that makes me really uncomfortable. but, what are my options? don't wear a ring? lie about why i moved to seattle? there is no way that i'm starting out a relationship with a new company by presenting a false me.

ladies on a popular wedding board voted overwhelmingly that they'd wear their ring. and, i guess that's what i'll do. because, in the end, my ring - my relationship with b - is a key component of my life. plus, i think they might catch on when i change my name to katelyn baker in a few months.

2 comments:

  1. I hope not. I mean, I'm not engaged anymore, but I'm newly married and hope to find a job after April. I think that's a crazy shitty thing for women to have to worry about. I agree with you though. Wear your ring. You don't want to work for a place that would judge you for something like that anyway!

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  2. I agree, be you. Be honest. Though I'm married now, I will soon be relocating for my husband and on a job hunt. Its apart of your story. If they grown upon it then that's not the right place for you. I see it being no huge obstacle though, it happens all the time.

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