Adjustments

Jamie bailed, again. I've given up with her. She's cancelled on me 4-5 times, and I told her in an e-mail that I wouldn't be asking anymore. She never responded. Have a good life, Jamie.

I'd still like to find someone else with whom to make music. Margie can sing better than she realizes. If only.

Big news on the job front: Allstate is interested in me. After several phone calls, they brought me in for an interview on Monday. Allstate is located in a fairly swank suburb of Chicago, about 25 miles from my house. They have massive amounts of land and many building on said land. One of the buildings is their life insurance department. Most of the others are dedicated to P&C: property and casualty, such as homeowner's insurance, auto insurance, etc. The guy with the gruff voice that plays other people (or things) is part of their market push, but that has nothing to do with life. Allstate's life department isn't in the top 10 in size, but it's still big enough to have lots and lots of people working there.

My interview was very long. Chris met me and sat down with me for a few questions. Then he proceeded to chaperone me through the morning, as I went on four separate 45-minute interviews with managers in windowed offices. Again, that three solid hours of interviewing, with Chris in between asking me the occasional interview question.

The first interviewer, Mario, asked me the hardest questions, ones that I'm currently in no good position to answer. How am I supposed to know all of the important factors in rolling out a block of 20-year term life insurance plans? Still, I thought out loud and came up with most of them, or so Mario said.

The second, Dawn, didn't ask me anything that really stands out, but I know we bonded well. (Dawn's my age, but I feel as if she looks older and I look younger. In reality, it's likely that we look the same age to the unacquainted observer, but it's hard for me to picture myself as that old, despite the gray hair, smile lines and mustache.)

The third, Phil, was likely younger than I, which is hard to take as he's accomplished and apparently driven. Still, we got to talk shop a lot, and I don't remember any questions asked that I didn't handle well. \\

What I remember the most from the fourth, Jeff, was that he asked me three logic questions. Ones that involved probability and problem-solving. I had heard of one before but didn't remember the answer, so I had to figure it out again. And I did. None of them were very difficult for me, but I impressed. I made sure to showcase my problem-solving while doing it, so that he could see my ability to explain things to others.

Then I had lunch, a long lunch at Benihana (my choosing) with two other guys, and though I feared it would be yet another interview, the purpose was to let me ask questions to contemporaries in a relaxed environment. I chose Benihana because there was an obvious distraction. We didn't talk that much, myself and the Brians, as they were both named. But it went about as well as could be, for a guy pushing 40 to be be friendly with two guys who were about 25 and already more successful and wealthy than I have ever been. One guy drove us to lunch in his Infiniti coupe, a recent purchase after his Pontiac Solstice couldn't hold the road in the winter.

All in all, I don't think the entire interview could've gone any better. Still, I can only have guarded optimism. It's likely that I won't know for at least another two weeks if the job will be offered to me. They had at least one other interviewed candidate last week and will likely have several others. But I did what I set out to do: show them that I have a strong background for the job, can learn quickly and independently, can work well (or at least converse well) with others, and has a lot to offer to company that's smart enough to hire me.

This Allstate connection is likely the last bump I'll get from the mass e-mail I sent to all of the chief actuaries in the area. If this doesn't pan out, I probably won't be landing a job in the field anytime soon, perhaps for another year. I can start volunteering at Lombard Town Center, expressly there to help our struggling downtown area. I can start tutoring more through the on-line company, or maybe pick up some tutoring jobs through Digger. I can try out for the summer Shakespeare play in Batavia, directed by Julane, an old friend of mine. (I founded Batavia's "Shakespeare on Clark" with her way back in 1999, when I was looking to do something to make a positive imprint on the world around me.) And I can start studying for my next actuarial exam, likely the Life Contingencies one.

I'll possibly do all of that to fill the painful void that any professionally unwanted person has to deal with. Man, I'm tired of these voids. And I'm no longer happy with my varied, unique, eclectic resume. I'm ready for my last occupation. Let's hope it starts very soon.