California is burning!

It’s 3 am and there’s a faint knocking on my door. I hear it through a sleepy haze. I pull myself out of bed, nearly trip on my two kittens and make my way to my apartment door. When I get there, I hear Peggy my neighbor saying, “Rachel, please wake up you need to get your kittens and get out of here. This place is burning!” As I open the door my senses are overwhelmed. There’s heavy smoke in the air, I hear sirens and what sounds like an explosion. I see Peggy, have a short conversation with her and shut the door. I am overwhelmed, sleep deprived, and a little frozen by fear. I grab my phone and call my family, waking them up. I pack a bunch of useless things in a bag, grab my 5-month-old kittens, and run to my car. The smoke is heavy and it almost looks like fog. I turn on my car and go. As I make my way to the highway, I am in a daze. There's a steady flow of traffic for 3:30 am in the morning. As I drive away from Santa Rosa and the Tubbs fire, I see a car on the side of the highway on fire. It feels like Armageddon.

I was lucky. Most folks I know were lucky. So many others were not. Businesses and neighborhoods less than a mile from me were burned to the ground. Over a year later, that night and that awful October week still haunts me.

Now it’s happening again. My beautiful love, California, is burning. My heart breaks for all those in the mist of this madness now. We pray for containment and fast. The Camp Fire is said to be the size of Atlanta. It's already the deadliest and most destructive in state history. Forty-eight people are dead and over 6,500 homes have burned to the ground and this beast is not contained. Fire is unpredictable and hops kind of like tornados. The Woolsey Fire in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and the Hill Fire in Ventura County rage on. 

When the fires hit last year, I was at a low point in my life. I had just left my job and was starting to fall back into depression. I am so grateful that I had a place to go and people to look after me, while I waited to hear about my home. I hope that those in need will find the same care I did. California may be burning but her spirit is strong and her people kind.

If you’re looking to help and donate please go here.

A store .5 miles from my Santa Rosa apartment.

We’re impressed by your background…BUT

Breaking into a different industry is hard at any age and stage in your career, even when you have those transferable skills. What’s hard to swallow is rejection but even worse is inauthentic rejection. I spent the last six years of my life in the market research and consumer insights world. I know consumers better than I know myself. I know them in all shapes and sizes and I understand and empathize with them. After all, consumers are just people like you and me and they are human. If advertising and marketing executives understood human nature, they would be able to sell those humans a ton of more shit they don’t need.

After years in this industry all I want to do now is use my knowledge about human nature to do good things. Things like making sure all employees are set up for success in their jobs and find happiness and balance at work. I want to create an environment where humans enjoy coming to work and are productive and efficient. I’m trying to break into the HR world and remind folks that HR actually stands for HUMAN resources. I’m also not looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. I know HR is not all puppy dogs and ice cream. It’s a challenging world where you need to balance your empathy with cold hard facts and lots of data.

I’ve been looking for work for a couple of months now and the rejections that sting the most come from the very department I hope to be part of. If you’re applying for a job, chances are many others are vying for that same job. It’s just common sense. The best companies tell you in an auto response after you apply that very thing. They thank you and tell you lots of qualified applicants are applying and state that if your background fits their needs, you’ll hear from their HR department. That is the right and human way to handle the situation. It’s exactly how I would handle things if some smart company hired me. The wrong way to do things is to send someone an automated email (sometimes weeks later) that says, “Thanks for your interest in whatever role you applied for at whatever company. Although your background is impressive, we have decided to move forward with a few other candidates who are a better fit for the role. We wish you the best in your job search and keep in touch!” Don’t say your impressed by my resume and background. If that were true,  I would have made it to round 2. Don’t wish me luck in my search. This is not Vegas, although lately it feels like the house always wins. Don’t encourage me to apply to other jobs with you, so you can deny me more than once. Don’t use an explanation point after you told me I was not good enough to move onto the next round of interviews.

If I were on the recruitment team at that company I would treat all applicants in the most human way possible. I’m not gonna name names but the most ironic unnecessary rejection I got was from a company who claims to help folks find work. That is their product. 

Please follow me on my journey to find the right “fit” for me. I promise to always be authentic and say what I mean.