My Post Graduation Job Journey -
A Testimony of God’s Faithfulness
God told me to quit every job I got after graduating college…
Yep. Every last one of em. Let’s start at the beginning…
I graduated from Kennesaw State University with a degree in Information Systems in December of 2015. When I first got to college I was a quiet, awkward, shy introverted(which in my case, meant I was scared of people) dude. I chose IS because I honestly wanted to make a lot of money easily and not have to deal with people. I discovered my passion for creating music and performing during my trek throughout college and I began to genuinely love interacting with people. I loved to be able to express myself and see how my voice and gifts were able to impact people in a positive way so I began to decide to pursue music and a people focused career.
My encounter with Jesus Christ in the summer of 2015 definitely shifted my heart in the direction of a people centric career as well. When I was entering my last semester of undergrad, I was in a bind. I had already completed 90% of my coursework yet was not completely passionate about the major I chose. I didn’t want to spend more money to stay in school nor did I want to just drop out…nor did I want to have a career in something that would drain my energy and push me away from my passion. I thought I was stuck.
In late October, I got a job offer from a large prominent company in IT for a role as an Application Developer. It was a full blown job offer; Full-time salary, signing bonus, benefits, the whole 9. It seemed like a “good” gig and I actually got this job offer before our campus wide career fair. If I accepted it, I wouldn’t have to deal with the stress of searching for a job in that frantic season of college life. So, I had about a week to decide on if I wanted the job or not…and I declined it. Yep. I declined it. I just didn’t want to do development and I was confident that I could find a better role and I didn’t want to damage my reputation by accepting a role and rescinding it, so I declined it.
In hindsight, I feel that it was foolish. I put myself through the unnecessary stress of trying to find a job, when I had one on the table. I could have accepted the offer just in case something else didn’t come up. I could have also used my job offer as leverage in other interviews too but you know, you live and you learn.
After several interviews with great companies, and I ended up getting a job offer the day that I graduated college. Woot woot! God was right on time, as always! I entered into the new year with a new career and a salary and whole new way of life or so I thought.
I got to my first job out of school and I was completely miserable. I had college withdrawals like crazy and felt like I was living inside of a corporate nightmare. I awoke when the sun was down, drove an hour or more to work, stayed in my cubicle for 8–9 hours, and then left when the sun was down. It’s safe to say that wasn’t the formula for success or happiness. I didn’t fit into their culture at all and felt like I was dying internally there. The job itself wasn’t difficult at all, but the environment was eating at my soul because I know it isn’t where I was supposed to be…and my work performance showed it.
One day I was in my car reading before work and God told me to quit. 🤔🙃😬😩 Excuse me? Yep, He said quit. Although I hated the job, I stayed because they paid me a great salary coming out of school and that provided security…but God told me to quit…so you know… I stayed.
Up until that point, I never had to depend on God to be my provider because I had a job since I was 17. I believe in that season God wanted to show me His faithfulness and how much He is really able to provide for my needs. I enjoyed the comfort and stability and didn’t want to risk being unemployed, so I told God, “I’ll think about it” and we all know what that means.
The very next week I told Him that, I got laid off. 😩😣 ! God wasn’t playing around!! I was escorted out of the building and my journey to finding another job began.
In the months that I spent unemployed, I spent a lot of time in my prayer closet trying to find out who exactly God is. He still provided for me abundantly in that when I was laid off, I was still given generous severance pay so I got to pay my rent and do other things I wanted to do. It wasn’t that bad of a deal. However as time went on, I got more and more discouraged and I began to lose hope in finding another role. I would interview and interview but nothing was hitting.
I ended up landing a job as a Jr. Business Analyst at one of the top companies in the state later that summer. That was God’s favor indeed because I didn’t deserve to be there! Everyone was so smart and I struggled a great deal with the imposter syndrome. Nonetheless, I made it work and things were going alright.
Not long after I got the job, God told me to quit again! I was in dismay! I just got there a few months ago and He told me to leave…so you know, I didn’t.
Turns out the company didn’t have the budget to keep my contract going so, I was laid off and unemployed yet again.
A few months later, Jesus blessed me with a job at a company that I previously interned for. I was doing random work but it paid the bills and wasn’t a bad company however I was still unfulfilled.
God eventually told me yet again to quit and go work on my website(this website) so of course…you know… I didn’t do it. I didn’t think it was really God. I didn’t think He wanted me to do something I actually wanted to do…so I was told at the end of my contract that I wouldn’t get an extension. Oh joy…
After this job, I didn’t enter the corporate world for about 11 months. I returned to one of my old jobs and then became loss prevention officer which turned out to be a blessing because I was able to exercise my faith in some crazy ways! I saw God do some great things there. One day, I was patrolling the hotel and God told me to quit yet again…
Now, I reasoned with myself and with God this time. The last 3 times I heard this command and I disobeyed, it didn’t end well…so I took a logical step and asked God to confirm it. I specifically said, “Okay God, if this is you let ‘X,Y and Z’ happen tonight” and in a way that I wouldn’t have expected, “X,Y,and Z” happened!! So I just went ahead and put in my two week notice. No plan. NO severance pay. No nothing. I just dipped.
After resigning from this job, I got a role as a server at a local fast food joint. I’ll be honest with you, I felt low. Here I was, a college graduate who had internships and jobs at some of the most prestigious companies in the state and now I’m serving tables and barely making it. I was humbled. Boy, I was humbled.
I couldn’t show my face around my old friends or colleagues so I isolated myself and nobody knew about my job ordeal. I kept silent and that is honestly what I feel kept me in my situation. If I’d have reached out and asked more people for help I don’t doubt that I’d have gotten it. I just didn’t want to humble myself and ask.
Eventually, once again, God told me to quit. I asked God for confirmation again and He responded, so, I did it. I quit again and this time I resolved to follow my mentors advice and driving for Lyft for a while.
Twas an interesting experience and I met some really cool people driving. I eventually found that I needed to get back into my field of study soon so I began to go back on the hunt….
Let’s backtrack a tad bit.
When I was still in school, my last semester I met a recruiter from a company called MailChimp. The recruiter was really engaging, kind, and noticeably genuine. She informed me of the roles available however, at the time, I didn’t have the experience for them. Fast forward to when God told me to quit my first job, MailChimp contacted me about a role I was interested so I applied, and got an interview! I think the interview went pretty well but I didn’t get the job. As I took the tour of the facility, I just KNEW that I was supposed to be working there so I continued to keep my eyes peeled for an opening.
I got another interview a few months later and once again, no dice. I wasn’t done yet though. I probably interviewed 3 or 4 times with MailChimp that year and the last time I did I was almost certain that I would get the job, but I didn’t. It was probably my best interview I’ve ever in life and I still didn’t get the job. I was discouraged, I won’t lie..but I wouldn’t stop applying.
Later on the next summer Jesus put it on my heart to reach out to recruiters on LinkedIn to see if they have jobs available and I decided to contact the people whom I interviewed with and see if they had any positions available…and they didn’t…HOWEVER… they put my in contact with the manager who is over the position that I desired.
The manger added me on LinkedIn and let me know that he heard about my prior interviews and wanted to meet with me and get to know me more. I ended up going in for an informal interview later on the next month. After the interview I was told that there would not be a position open until January of the next year(this year) and that was good enough for me.
I figured I would get a temporary contract job until Janurary when I could re-apply, BUT God…
One day in November, I decided to apply to another role and work my way into the role I wanted, so I asked the recruiter I knew if it would be a wise decision.
At the time I emailed the recruiter, I got a message from the manager saying that they were opening up the role I desired! As God would have it, while I was emailing the recruiter, they were already meeting about offering me the role and I was offered the position that SAME day!
I went through unemployment for months at a time, was humbled to several degrees but was never completely broken. By the grace and favor of God, I was raised back up.
The main lessons I learned during this experience were:
OBEY GOD
Be humble
Be patient
God’s timing is perfect
Trust God and His process for you
The process to attaining the job was over but the journey of growth has just begun. I hope this encourages any recent graduates or anyone going through a similar process. God is faithful and He won’t fail you.
Continue to Ask, Seek, and Knock.
God bless!
