How to Land the Best $100,000 Job in America (eBook)

Chapter One

My Story

Chicago, 1984

The borrowed moving truck pulled up to a small rented house in Romeoville, IL, located twenty-six miles southwest of Chicago. Our new house on Kingston Street was a small white ranch-style, not particularly well-built, with a family room added to the back as an afterthought. That family room was never even close to the right temperature, as the thin windows and insulation were inadequate to ward off the piercing Chicago winter winds, while in the summer, the air conditioner had no chance of keeping up.

At the time, Romeoville was a somewhat dingy working-class neighborhood, but it was the only place we could afford. The town is framed by a sprawling prison complex on the south side of town called Statesville (the site of the 1948 Jimmy Stewart movie, Call Northside 777) and a smoke-spewing oil refinery on the east. Not long after we arrived, the refinery had an accident and exploded in a huge fireball. The reverberations ripped through the small town, breaking windows and rippling the sidewalks under our kids’ feet as they played outside. I heard the explosion at work. Although ten miles away, it sounded like it was right next door.

President Reagan kept talking about the Shining City on a Hill. The Bears were dancing to the Super Bowl Shuffle. Kathy and I drove into town searching for a new start, hopeful that the big-city karma Reagan was talking about would rub off on us. We prayed that we could find some new life.

At age thirty, we came with heavy hearts and empty pockets. The insurance company I worked for had been sold, and my job would not survive the change. Although Springfield, Illinois had been a great place to grow up, the past few years had been difficult. There was an energy crisis, interest rates had spiked to over 20 per cent and job opportunities were limited. This was an enormous disappointment for me because I had always assumed Springfield would be the place Kathy and I would raise our children, cultivate successful careers, and find happiness. Instead it felt like the opposite was happening.

I found work in Chicago with a family-owned retailer that sold tools, furniture, and knick-knacks. My job was to help run one of their retail stores and do some outside marketing for the business. It was a disaster. The goods were cheap and customer returns were piling up. The husband and wife owners fought often. I was miserable, and the personal and professional pride I so desperately craved was rapidly draining away. I was unhappy with all of it… the products, the work environment, the neighborhood, and my own work.

One day Kathy came to meet me for lunch at a local Arby’s. That’s all we could afford. I just unloaded. “How in the world did we get here? Why are things not going right? What was I doing wrong?”

I asked but there were few answers. In that moment, we both recognized that the move to Chicago—which we hoped would bring a better future for our family—was not going as planned.

I was unhappy and depressed, and my work reflected both. Finally, things came to a head. After just over one year on the job, I was terminated with three weeks’ severance pay. That was now two jobs in a row that led to a dead end. This track record did not exactly inspire confidence, and the feeling that my life was spiraling slowly out of control was overwhelming.

Immediately after receiving the news, I ran into a friend. After absorbing the news, the friend said to me, “That’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

My reaction was swift… “What? Are you crazy? I have a family, no money, no savings, no job prospects. I’m drowning here.”

He responded, “Yes, you are drowning… in negativity, lousy work on the job, and a poor attitude. But this is your chance to turn your life around. This will give you an opportunity to search the job market and find something that fits your talents, abilities, and aspirations. You hated that job, anyway. Now you’re free of it.” He smiled big and shook my hand. My jaw dropped.

This little sermon was not what I wanted to hear. Thanks a lot… Rent was due in two weeks. The credit cards were maxed out and the gas tank was empty. I could not bear to face Kathy and tell her this news.

However, the tough love was 100 per cent right. I just did not know it at the time. We gave notice to terminate our lease on the little white house on Kingston Street. Kathy and the kids packed up and moved to her parents’ home on the farm in Ohio and I moved in with her brother in their spare bedroom in suburban Chicago. Because there was no income and no money to pay rent, we simply had no choice. On weekends, I would drive to the farm to visit the family and then trudge back to Chicago to search for work. Good times.

When you arrive at a place like this in your life, it’s humbling. It also can bring humiliation, sometimes shame. Either way it moves, momentum is a powerful force. Positive events can propel you on to extraordinary achievements but negative events can equally kick your butt right down the steps. In fact, I believe negative momentum is often a stronger force than positive momentum. That is why a majority of people live on the negative side and stay there. Negativity is a powerful vortex that pulls you down into the abyss and I went straight there.

There are few words to describe the angst and anxiety one feels with failure. It can be in the form of a bad grade, broken relationship, or a job failure. They all come at a cost. It is difficult to escape the pull of lowered expectations and negative thinking. I searched for months while parents, family and a few friends carried us through financially.

A big problem was, I did not know what I wanted or could do. After my last experience, retail was definitely off the table. Selling insurance was also out because I had done it before and did not enjoy it in the least. But what to do?

I started doing research. Where are the great jobs that pay $100,000 a year or more? What I found out didn’t help my cause.

The list of the top twenty $100,000 jobs in America is dominated by the medical profession. In fact, three-fourths of the top-paying jobs are medical. The other one-fourth is made up of software, sales, engineering, legal, and CEO positions. This only depressed me more. Oh wow… those all take huge amounts of money and time to get the education. How can a 31-year-old with a family and no money possibly start over in one of those jobs?

There was always a high ambition inside me to succeed. I thought I could do it. Now there were doubts. My confidence was shaken, and my sense of direction confused.

Since a young boy, I had decided that the Christian faith would play a big part in my life. Even before I was fired, Kathy and I had been praying. But there was no answer for months and months. Maybe God was not listening because the sound of His silence was deafening.

The classified ads continued to be my daily reading. In the beginning, I only searched for employment in a profession I could pursue as a career. After many months, it did not matter. I just needed a job. Desperation was setting in. I sent letters and job resumes to companies for which I had absolutely no qualification. One such ad took up just three lines in the Chicago Tribune. A company I had never heard of was looking for a commercial property manager. I was not even sure what that meant. In all my job experience, I had never even worked in a commercial office building, let alone manage one. But off went the resume and cover letter.

To my surprise, they called me for an interview. A gentleman named Jim Runnion, who was the General Manager of Madison Plaza, met me in the reception area of an exquisitely appointed office in a tall steel and glass tower in downtown Chicago. The two-year-old tower was home to well-heeled tenants, including the world headquarters for the Hyatt Hotel chain. Hyatt occupied several floors at the top of the 45-story tower. The Hyatt reception area was a multi-story area built inside the office building to resemble their hotel lobbies. It was magnificent! Another tenant was the personal office of the one of the richest families in America… I mean rich as in ‘Top Ten Forbes List’ rich.

The negative side of my brain said, “You do not belong here.” The positive side was fighting to stay in the game and said, “You have nothing to lose…go for it.” The question was, what exactly was I going for? I had absolutely no idea. The negative side answered back, “Yeah right. This is just another dead end.”

Jim immediately put me at ease. We had a good, extended conversation. He explained about the company, the business and the job. To my surprise, he even said he was not concerned with my lack of experience as a manager.

What?

Rather, they were looking to see if I could demonstrate that I had other qualities they were looking for. “Besides,” said Jim, “We prefer to teach you our way of doing the business.”

I went home buoyed by the conversation. Even the veneer of negativity began to wear off and rays of hope began to peek through. Shortly thereafter, Jim called me to schedule an interview with John Derby, who was the vice president in charge of property management. I was thrilled by the callback! I started to think I might actually have a shot at this.

John was gracious and had an infectious personality, complete with a crooked Irish grin. With a true gift for storytelling, he told me more about...