A little ditty about Jackie and Dan, two young professionals working in the same great land…
In 1995, a couple graduates from college and gets married. Dan is a military officer and Jackie is a teacher. As new teacher, Jackie enters the workforce making $19,600. She has a position waiting for her after graduation; she just needs to relocate. Her spouse Dan, however, fresh out of the academy, is relocating with her. He knows no one in the new location and has to send out a minimum of 50 resumes to find an Ensign position that fits his “certification.” His starting salary is $21,500.
For the next 23 years…
1998: Jackie gets promoted to department head; she relocates with a position waiting (along with some classmates from college). She scores a pay raise of 7% and is given an award and accolades on her last day for a job well-done!
Dan sends out 47 resumes to the new location, gets 4 interviews, and gets one offer. Remains Ensign.
2001: Jackie is promoted to curriculum specialist; she relocates with position and cubicle waiting (some classmates from college are in adjacent cubicles). She also receives pay raise of over 6.3%. An engraved plaque is presented to her on her last day for a job well-done!
Dan sends out 72 updated resumes, gets 5 interviews and is offered a part-time job. He also has to make new friends. In order to be re-certified in the new state, he has to take a personal day and pay $250 for a test and go through new ensign training. His pay actually goes down because they moved south. He must create a “binder of proof,” including documentation, that he is a professional within his profession. Remains Ensign.
2004: Jackie is promoted to assistant principal; she relocates with her position waiting (along with a bunch more classmates from college). This time her pay raise is a pretty substantial 7.9%. Her boss gives her a special award and honors on her last day for a job well-done!
Dan sees tons of open positions in a great office and they are having a job fair in May. Dan takes a 3 personal days, pays for a flight, hotel room, and rental car. Drives through an unfamiliar town to the job fair. He gets in front of every CO he can, only to find out that all the posted positions were only there for legal purposes and that there aren’t really any openings in his field. Goes home defeated and sends out 39 redesigned resumes, gets 1 interview, NO offer. Remains (an unemployed) Ensign.
2009: Jackie is offered a promotion to principal; she relocates with the position and a big new office waiting (along with some college classmates she’s not seen in forever). The new position comes with a pay raise of 7.3%. Her former school and colleagues throw her a farewell party and bestow another 2 awards on her the last day for a job well-done!
Dan sends out 97 (no exaggeration) resumes, interviews 10 times, and gets 2 offers. Has to pay $199 for a test to be re-certified in the new state and sits though 3 days of new ensign training (again). Breaking into an established office community with little turn-over is very difficult, but Dan persists. Finally, a small bump in pay for years of service. Remains Ensign.
2012: Jackie gladly accepts an offer to become district department head; she relocates to a new office, along with some other classmates from college, (see the pattern here) and now even has a secretary. Her pay raise is 8.2%. Her old school gives her a handmade placard and the boss gives another 2 awards on her last day for a job well-done!
Dan sends out 61 redesigned resumes, gets 1 interview and is lucky to receive a call back the day before he must report for duty. He spends the next 18 hours prepping a workspace that was once a hallway, while his new colleagues have had ample time to prep their spaces and are home for the night getting rest for the hectic next day. He has to pay for yet another test to be re-certified in the new state and sits though 5 days of new ensign training (again). Plus, a monthly 5 hour evening training on how to be a new ensign. Just 10 months before his wife relocates, he is finally frocked for a dream position. However, he keeps Ensign pay…
2015: Jackie is promoted to deputy superintendent; she relocates to a shiny office, with a secretary and part time aid (along with a crap-ton of old college classmates). Pay raise 8.7%. Jackie is delighted and humbled to receive a framed and matted certificate for her achievement and an award on her last day for a job well-done!
Dan sends out 83 redesigned and updated resumes; he gets 4 interviews and one offer for part time work. He has to pay for another test to be re-certified in new state and sits though 9 days of new ensign training (again). But yay! Another small bump in pay for years of service. Then he is placed in a portable office with no running water and a hand-me-down computer while given the hardest assignments, because of the “expertise” he has gained. Remains Ensign (who now has 20 years more experience ensigning than his first year counterparts).
2018: Jackie is promoted to superintendent and relocates for the last time. The position comes with an amazing suite of offices and an entourage (to take care of the minutia). And guess what! Some old classmates and some fellow teachers she’s gotten to know along the way are there, too! She is proud to say that she has now increased her earnings by another 8%. Everyone is super sad to see her leave the last job and planned an award ceremony, giving her an engraved doohickey for her ever-growing wall of awards for achievement on her last day for a job well-done!
Dan sends out 95 resumes, gets 2 interviews and one offer, which he accepts, but has an hour commute each way. He has to pay for 1 more test (that he could probably have written) to be re-certified in new state and sits though a week of new ensign training (AGAIN). He receives a small bump in pay for years of service. Dan remains a depressed, under-appreciated Ensign who knows more than his bosses and is SO over everyone’s crap…
Summary:
- Jackie was expected to create a document showing her bosses all that she accomplished each year.
- Dan was expected to create a document binder defending himself each year.
- In 20 years Jackie never wrote a ‘resume’.
- Dan rewrote his 200 times.
- Jackie‘s pay increase was built in.
- Dan’s pay varied per state and position, if he was hired.
- Jackie has yet to interview for a job.
- Dan is considering being an interview consultant, because he’s become a professional.
- Jackie’s professional development is built into her work day.
- Dan is expected to take days off and pay for them out of his pocket.
- Jackie has the structure of familiar faces each move.
- Dan has to expend massive amounts of energy getting to know new people, only to leave them behind.
- The procedures and acronyms have not changed for Jackie.
- Dan has had to relearn each system every move and is looked down upon for not knowing said system.
- Jackie‘s bosses appreciated and utilized her expertise.
- Dan’s assumed he had none.
- Jackie‘s salary has increased 6 ½ times
- Dan’s has only gone up 2 ½ times… in 23 YEARS.
- It would appear that Jackie works harder or is worth 3 times what Dan is.
- Dan would probably disagree.