The Seeker

Until the dream, Nathan Raines had imagined that when he submitted his résumé to an online job post, his encapsulated career would land like a life preserver on some fatigued hiring manager’s desk. Nathan’s precisely selected action-verbs would bloom in the glow of the office fluorescents, an unexpected burst of ...more +

9 years ago

“It was great to meet you, Nate." As the elevator doors closed on Nathan Raines, the tiny room smelling of ancient cigarette smoke and a fading whiff of perfume, the phrase kept repeating in his head like an animated GIF, an echo that never degraded. “It was great to meet ...more +

9 years ago

Nathan stared at the drop-down font menu and thought of his grandfather—particularly, the night Grandpa Cecil took him out for a drink two days after his 21st birthday. Sitting in the booth at Holman’s, back when Holman’s had more grandpas than cool kids, Cecil said, “Nathan, you’re a man now, ...more +

8 years ago

“So tell me, where do you want to be in five years?” Nathan stared at the interviewer and wondered whether she was a serious. Five years? That’s a measure of time in geology, not corporate life. Nathan thought about presidential elections—if there was no expectation that the leader of the ...more +

8 years ago

As they stared into each other’s eyes, the world slipping out of focus, time dissolving, all Nathan could think was, “this interview is getting weird.” It had started out well. As the interviewer explained that the job involved creating concise summaries of penny-stock companies that enabled investors to quickly make ...more +

8 years ago

Nathan didn't want the job. It sounded good when the recruiter described it over the phone–in his pay range, on the train line, neckties optional–but not so good when he looked at the firm’s sprawling, verbose website. Page after page of dueling bullet lists and densely packed blather about helping ...more +

8 years ago

Nathan was told LinkedIn would help him get jobs. That’s why he’d created his account several years ago–by loading his profile with SEO keywords, he’d enjoy a steady feed of job opportunities customized to his career experience. He typed a long list of projects and collateral types, connected to past ...more +

8 years ago

What Nathan remembered most about the guy conducting the interview was that he was a dick. He and Charles had worked in different departments at the same company a decade before, the only overlap in the Venn diagram of their jobs being a weekly status meeting. One hour a week ...more +

7 years ago