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This cringe story isn't really entrepreneurship but it was the start of me trying to turn my life around...
Quick context:
- Studied construction management and engineering in Uni > graduate during Irish property recession, zero jobs
- Teach kids water sports for two years to save up enough money to leave the country
- Move to Canada where I hear there are "oil jobs" - All I know about drilling is the space movie "Armageddon"
- Land in Canada with no idea how to get a job and zero contacts
Okay so with the context set I am now living in Edmonton, Canada and trying to find myself an oil job. I have a few hundred dollars to my name and a bicycle from the 70s to get around. it looks something like this...
In Edmonton, there are some transit systems to get around the city but a lot of the oil business offices are outside the main city meaning you got to drive out to them. But without a car, I have to bike out there - this usually takes 1-2 hours each way.
So the usual day is to get up around 430am - start working for a landscaping business super early, finish around 3pm - and then try bike out as fast as possible to a few of these offices before they close.
If you just email them or try to call you don't really get far... "come visit us in person and we can talk".
So anyway one day I cycle at least an hour out to one of these offices and manage to talk the receptionist into letting me have an instant job interview with the head of drilling operations.
I get walked into his super fancy office with a massive glass desk. He has this huge "I am clearly the boss" chair and the whole office looks like it costs at least 100k. Everything is custom and it's full of expensive stuff.
So I am sitting in this little chair in front of the desk as this guy reads through my resume. Also, this guy looks like a bear - I am guessing he has worked his way up from years of hard work to now be the head of this business.
Boss:
"okay engineering degree... very good"
"okay... you got all the needed certs - good stuff"
"okay, you are looking to start in any position... I like the attitude"
"Look we might have a position for you to start in next week - it is a leasehand position"
Me: "Ya sounds good - no problem"
Boss: "Okay - you got some wheels to get to work?"
Me: "Ya I got a bike"
Boss: "Nah - you aren't allowed to have a motorbike on-site and anyway it is around a 1200km drive"
Me: "No not a motorbike - a bike"
I actually stand up in the office and point out the window at my bicycle chained up around the light pole in the middle of their carpark. It is "parked" between about a dozen new Dodge Rams and Ford 150s.
Something like this if you can imagine my bike in the middle...
So he swivels around in his chair, sees the bike, swivels back to me, takes one second to see I am serious, and then holds the whole resume in front of his face and he tries to talk without laughing his a$$ off.
He was trying not to laugh so hard he could hardly talk...
"Well...I will... give you... a call... if we need... you"
He pressed some button the secretary came in and kinda signalled that was the end of the meeting.
When I walked out of the office and the glass door closed I could hear him literally roaring laughing.
I remember getting on my bike so defeated and not even wanting to look back once cause I knew he was in there looking out at me starting to cycle home.
Looking back it is a funny story now (I laugh at this a lot) but at the time it was one of my first interview chances after weeks of cycling out to these offices and I basically looked like a total idiot.
I ended up getting a job a few months later after I got an old F150 truck for $500 and learned more about what to say (and NOT say) to get hired by an oil business.
Looking back these days were super tough but also it teaches you a lot about how to deal with rejection/cringe failures and that it's just "whatever". Every time you decide to act and take a big risk is a moment on the journey where 100 other people decided to quit.
Quick context:
- Studied construction management and engineering in Uni > graduate during Irish property recession, zero jobs
- Teach kids water sports for two years to save up enough money to leave the country
- Move to Canada where I hear there are "oil jobs" - All I know about drilling is the space movie "Armageddon"
- Land in Canada with no idea how to get a job and zero contacts
Okay so with the context set I am now living in Edmonton, Canada and trying to find myself an oil job. I have a few hundred dollars to my name and a bicycle from the 70s to get around. it looks something like this...
In Edmonton, there are some transit systems to get around the city but a lot of the oil business offices are outside the main city meaning you got to drive out to them. But without a car, I have to bike out there - this usually takes 1-2 hours each way.
So the usual day is to get up around 430am - start working for a landscaping business super early, finish around 3pm - and then try bike out as fast as possible to a few of these offices before they close.
If you just email them or try to call you don't really get far... "come visit us in person and we can talk".
So anyway one day I cycle at least an hour out to one of these offices and manage to talk the receptionist into letting me have an instant job interview with the head of drilling operations.
I get walked into his super fancy office with a massive glass desk. He has this huge "I am clearly the boss" chair and the whole office looks like it costs at least 100k. Everything is custom and it's full of expensive stuff.
So I am sitting in this little chair in front of the desk as this guy reads through my resume. Also, this guy looks like a bear - I am guessing he has worked his way up from years of hard work to now be the head of this business.
Boss:
"okay engineering degree... very good"
"okay... you got all the needed certs - good stuff"
"okay, you are looking to start in any position... I like the attitude"
"Look we might have a position for you to start in next week - it is a leasehand position"
Me: "Ya sounds good - no problem"
Boss: "Okay - you got some wheels to get to work?"
Me: "Ya I got a bike"
Boss: "Nah - you aren't allowed to have a motorbike on-site and anyway it is around a 1200km drive"
Me: "No not a motorbike - a bike"
I actually stand up in the office and point out the window at my bicycle chained up around the light pole in the middle of their carpark. It is "parked" between about a dozen new Dodge Rams and Ford 150s.
Something like this if you can imagine my bike in the middle...
So he swivels around in his chair, sees the bike, swivels back to me, takes one second to see I am serious, and then holds the whole resume in front of his face and he tries to talk without laughing his a$$ off.
He was trying not to laugh so hard he could hardly talk...
"Well...I will... give you... a call... if we need... you"
He pressed some button the secretary came in and kinda signalled that was the end of the meeting.
When I walked out of the office and the glass door closed I could hear him literally roaring laughing.
I remember getting on my bike so defeated and not even wanting to look back once cause I knew he was in there looking out at me starting to cycle home.
Looking back it is a funny story now (I laugh at this a lot) but at the time it was one of my first interview chances after weeks of cycling out to these offices and I basically looked like a total idiot.
I ended up getting a job a few months later after I got an old F150 truck for $500 and learned more about what to say (and NOT say) to get hired by an oil business.
Looking back these days were super tough but also it teaches you a lot about how to deal with rejection/cringe failures and that it's just "whatever". Every time you decide to act and take a big risk is a moment on the journey where 100 other people decided to quit.
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