Even though I own Zynga stock, there’s a story there that makes me bitter. I swear, I’m giving up anger for Lent because I am so easily enraged about stupid little things.
Zynga was looking for a Director of Investor Relations which I applied to. In addition to applying, I saw on LinkedIn that someone I went to school with (remember I went to a school with around 400 students total) worked there. This person I went to school with was not some random person that I never talked to. He was one class above me and we were in student council together. Let’s just say that what tied us together was not negligible!
I sent him an email describing that I’d already applied through the normal process. I indicated that I currently do Investor Relations. It’s not like what I’m currently doing with my career is a stretch from the position. It’s like apples to friggin apples! Aside from the job banter, I went on to talk about our shared background, who I still talked to from high school, and I included a picture of my wedding party. Why? Because we were all friends back in the day. That email could not have been more personalized!
No response.
Let me preface that I can understand if he felt I was not qualified. I can take that, but I would hope he’d have the dignity to at least respond. And puhleeze, my resume is highly-credentialed so not sure why he would have any misgivings about referring me. Especially since he knows I graduated near the top of my class, we both went to Cal together, and I fit the job description that was posted!
It makes me really sad because I do so much for people who aren’t even my friends. I will meetup and advise strangers who happened to go to my same business school. When a former coworker got laid off, I reached out to him and put him in touch with valuable contacts. He has his job now because of a recruiter I directly put him in touch with.
When I emailed him to let him know I was searching for opportunities outside of my company and was wondering if he could put me in touch with the same resources he used, he emailed back that they had moved on. So unhelpful! He didn’t offer one bit of additional assistance—even though I’d gone out of my way to meet with him and introduce him to my network.
Very very sad. I wish these people the same unassisted karma that they deserve.
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