That second cousin and a job

My second cousin left me a phone message on Friday, Sept 14. "I'm looking for a job and I know you work for Company X. Can you help me in my job search." I did a little research via our job website and then contacted HR. I called him up on Tuesday, Sept 18, leaving a detailed message about contacting a specific person in HR. Then on Tuesday, Sept 25, I decided to call him up again between band set breaks at The Key Club. I hadn't heard anything from him so I decided to see what was up. He picked up the phone and told me he had just had an interview at Company X that day. I found this a tad irritating. Why wouldn't he tell me I'd gotten him an interview? So along comes Friday, Oct 5, and I get an e-mail from my mother, "Your aunt [his grandmother] would like to thank you for getting Cousin J a job at Company X." Hmm, I didn't get him a job, I only got him an interview. Why am I being sent a thank you e-mail? I decided to look up his name on the company e-mail database. There his name was.

I'm a bit irritated with my second cousin. We're not necessarily close, but we do know each other and see each other at family gatherings. I went to his high school graduation. I would have gone to his college graduation party except for the fact that it was mid-week and I had some work deadlines that day. So it isn't like he randomly called some distant relative for a job. Why wouldn't he tell me that he'd interviewed for a job? Why wouldn't he tell me that he got a job offer? Were we just going to randomly run into each other some day on the Company X complex? At the least, I'd think he'd have called me when he got the job offer? "Hey Notes from Vivace, I got a job offer. The offer is for $$ salary amount. Do you think that is fair? Have you heard of my new boss? Do you think I'll get along with him? Do you think the position has upward mobility?"

Oh well. I'm happy he got his first job out of college. For a lot of people, me included, finding that first job after graduating is a very stressful process. For him, it took him four months after graduating to find his first job. I hope he does well at Company X. He better say "hi" when we run into each other some day.

Notes from Vivace