Job Talk

"Caroline, I'm so happy to hear from you!" Lillian's voice beamed over the phone. Her enthusiasm was just as strong via phone as it was when I met her in person.

"It was great to talk with you at the conference," I responded. I felt kind of awkward but tried to just speak slow so I didn't come across like an idiot. Whenever I get nervous or excited, I tend to speak really fast and my speech becomes hard to understand.

"Yes, I'm so glad I got a chance to see your poster. When I saw your research in the program, I was intrigued, but it wasn't until I talked to you that I really knew I wanted you on board with us. Have you given any thought to working for Web Matcher?"

Had I? Of course! It's not like I had any other job prospects at the moment and why wouldn't I want to work for a company with such a great reputation? I actually checked the internet for employee reviews and everyone that worked there, regardless of department, seemed to be happy with the way the company treated its employees.

"I have," I responded in an enthusiastic but not overly eager tone. "I remember you said there would be a new service provided by the company. I was interested to hear more about that."

"Of course," Lillian replied. "Well, we're basically adding an 'extra' feature to our site. As you know, we are a matchmaking service and we have very specific formulas for matching our customers. However, the one complaint we get from users who have a hard time meeting someone is that the formulas aren't personal enough. So, we're looking for people with psychology or counseling experience to be part of this service that will be offered to individuals who pay a higher monthly cost for membership. That's where you come in. Part of the reason I was at the conference was to meet candidates like you! I think you'd bring a really interesting perspective to some of our younger clients."

"So would I essentially be a matchmaker?" I asked.

"Sort of," Lillian cautiously replied. "Individuals would still be matched based on their questionnaires. The algorithm works, Caroline. We just want to offer an extra personal touch for individuals who are willing to pay for it. I met my husband on the site!"

She paused after that so I felt the need to congratulate her to fill the silence. "Oh, thank you," she quickly said back. "Are you seeing anyone?"

I was really enthralled in the details of what was really shaping up to be an awesome job description, so this question definitely caught me off guard. "Um," I began, hoping that I didn't suddenly start stuttering. "I actually am. I didn't meet him on a dating website, but my single friends who do online dating said they find Web Matcher to be by far the best." A little sucking up and lying couldn't hurt, right?

"How does he feel about the possibility of you getting a job with us?"

This also struck me as an odd question. I understand that Lillian was interested in hiring me to work for a dating website, but what were questions about my romantic relationship doing in the preliminary phone conversation?

"He's been really supportive of my education and excited for me to find a fulfilling career," I replied back. I know this is the most politically correct answer I could have given, but I couldn't really tell her the truth for this one, since the truth was that I hadn't even told Scott I had met Lillian.

It wasn't that I wanted to hide it from him. I was dying to tell him. Scott had really become my best friend over the past few months. Sure, Anna had brought up a good point. We were boring, but I liked being boring with him. He supported me. He laughed at my stupid jokes and his laughter was only, like, fifty percent pity. He challenged me. We got along really well and the passion was still there. Of course it's not all rainbows and butterflies (shout out to Adam Levine), but when I hear about some of the issues my friends endear in their relationships, I consider myself really lucky to have found Scott.

"Well, he sounds like a keeper," Lillian responded. "I mean, I can't imagine most boyfriends encouraging their girlfriends to take a job three thousand miles away."

My heart stopped. I felt like a zombie just walked past my line of vision because that's how much the comment caught me off guard.

"Right," I managed to say. I felt like a ballerina who just fucked up on stage but had to continue on and hope the audience wouldn't pick up on the fault. "He knows that I'm really career focused, so if a great opportunity presents itself, he would never dream of standing in my way. So, um, what would be some of my responsibilities?"

Lillian answered my question in an equally enthusiastic manner. I tried to pay attention as much as I could, but my mind was racing. How did I miss that this job was not going to be in New York. I patiently finished up the conversation so that I could run back into work and do some more digging on the company.

I was still able to comprehend the rest of the job description and it seriously sounded awesome. As we neared the end of the phone conversation, Lillian told me she'd send me an email later in the week outlining the next steps.

"We're going to have to set up at least a phone interview, but I'm hoping we can fly you out here for an in person interview. Would you be available for that?"

"Yes, I think it'd be possible to arrange that," I replied.

Once the call was over, I Googled the headquarters of Web Matcher. There it was. Santa Monica, California.