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[at-l] Thruhiking - Coming home
Episode 8 maybe? -
In any case, someone came up with more questions :
>1) What do/did people at your work think, assuming you
> returned to the same job?
>2) How difficult was it to return?
>3) Obviously, corporate America (and most employers
> for that matter) probably couldn't care less about
> an AT thru hike? A six month gap on a resume -
> what should I expect?
All I did to this was to remove the names of the innocent.
Walk softly,
Jim
--------------------------------------------------------
OK - same caveats as before. Those are pretty much constant.
I think the easy way to answer your questions is to tell you
about my experience.
First, some background - I'm an aerospace engineer with a small
problem - I'm growing older in a shrinking, highly specialized
industry. The short version is that I've spent 30 years in
spacecraft ground system development and operations.
I finished the AT on 23 Sept 92. My kids picked me up at Katahdin.
A week later I was at a Job Fair in Virginia - it was a really
strange transition. Went to the Gathering on Oct 8, and was laid
off on Oct 15. Some explanation - I was working for GE before
the AT. Took a 6 month Leave of Absence to do the Trail - that
stretched out to 7 months. When I left, my boss told me I probably
wouldn't have a job when I got back. He was right. Partly because
I'd advertised what I was going to do a little too loudly before I
left - and he took it personally. Mostly because the job was a
contract slot and they had to fill it.
On Oct 22 I got a job offer - at a 10% pay cut. On Oct 29 I got
another job offer - it was shift work - 12 hour shifts. I turned
them both down. Partly because of the conditions, partly because
I just wasn't ready to go back to work yet even though the checking
account was getting really low. Truth is that if I'd had enough
money and my knees weren't so bad, I'd have yoyo'd at Katahdin
and headed south. Anyway, in November, I spent a couple weeks
in Haiti doing mechanical work at a medical mission in the northwest
highlands. It gave me some time to get my head together. Didn't get
another job offer until late January 93. Things were beginning to
get really tight. Then I didn't start work until March 1. And it was
with GE in NJ. I lived in NJ when I was a kid - hated it then, still do.
All this time I wasn't even sure I wanted to go back to work as
an engineer. My heart just wasn't in it. A month after I went to
work for GE - it became Martin Marietta! This wasn't an
improvement. After 10 months (Dec 93), I was caught in the
great layoff game - Merry Christmas. I was one of the last in,
so I was one of the first out.
The next 13 months were no fun. Sent out 800 resumes - had
6 interviews. No one was hiring aerospace engineers. Finally
got an offer from AlliedSignal in MD. What the hell - it's a job.
It's better than no job and I like the people and the work, so
here I am - at least for now.
OK - now let's try to answer your questions. First, the people
I work with now think it's pretty neat that I did the AT. The
people at GE were really pissed that I left to go do it. When I
came back, they wouldn't even talk about it. People get really
strange about it - some of them would like to do it, but don't
have the guts to leave their job, house, family, etc. That's not
bad - it's just that they sometimes get spiteful about you doing
it. And that can be bad if it's your boss that feels that way.
Second - It wasn't easy to go back to work. Took a long time
for my head to get back into the BS. Wrong - I never did get
back into it. I've developed a rep for cutting through the BS.
I've stopped a number of meetings dead in their tracks by
asking questions that either no one knows the answers to, or
that everyone knows the answers to, but don't want to face.
Third - some prospective employers react badly to the Trail,
some don't. My attitude is that if a company's antagonistic
about my doing the Trail, I don't want to work there anyway.
Had an interview with ITT in NJ. I liked the people, was interested
in the work, the money was good - but the HR type who interviewed
me was really irritated that I'd taken 6 months to do what I wanted
to do rather than keep my nose to the grindstone until I died of old
age at a desk and they rolled in the coffin to take me out.
The resume - for a 1 month gap, nobody even notices (usually).
For a six month gap, my advice would be to be aggressive about it.
I got sandbagged by a headhunter. He told me to not mention the AT,
that it wouldn't be a positive factor. Guess what was the first
thing they asked - after I'd gotten my head programmed to not
talk about it. It was a disaster. Didn't use that headhunter again.
On the other hand, I had another headhunter put a really positive
spin on it. He looked at it in terms of my being persistent, flexible,
determined - a finisher. I liked that man.
Bottom line - it's a mixed bag. You probably won't be really ready
to start work for some time (2 weeks? 2 months?? who knows??).
And when you do, you won't fit the way you did before. You'll need
some time to explore the new dimensions of what you are. It'll be
better (I don't know anyone who isn't better after the AT), but it
can also be depressing because you're re-learning things about
yourself that you learned years before - but they're not quite
the same as they were the first time.
You'll run into people/companies that think what you did is useless,
a waste of time and energy, etc. And you'll run into those who
think it's good (shows character or something). Personal opinion -
1/ don't let it bother you - it's their problem. 2/ Don't EVER
apologize for it - then they'll know they're right. And you'll feel
bad about it (not good). 3/ Even those who think it's good will
never really understand. They don't have the knowledge or
experience to understand.
One thing - if you're a software type, you have an advantage.
If you want to change careers, that's possible. But if it gets
really tight, finding a job to survive might be a lot easier
than it was for me.
I'm not sure I actually told you anything useful here. If you want
more, just holler - I can always try again.
If you decide to go, let me know. I've been talking to someone else
on the backchannel and given him a lot of information that might -
or might not - be useful. If you want it, I'll try to condense it and
send it to you.
Walk softly,
Jim
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