“Hey sweetie, how are you?!” My dad energetically said as he picked up the phone.
After a good ten-minute catch up conversation ranging from school to friends to vacation and covering a lot of other topics as well, I slowly made the transition into asking him about his perspective as a father in my brother’s job hunt process.
“Did you feel that you played a large role in Ben's success or were you more of a bystander?”
“Well, you see Laur, it’s funny because as a parent you want to help so much, you want to be able to give your child everything, but at the end of the day, there’s only so much you can do. Ultimately, it’s up to the child to buckle down and get the job done. With Ben, he took on the process 100% by himself. He was very determined and focused, so it made my job all the more easy. I would say that I contributed by giving him words of advice from one businessman to one “soon to be” businessman. I think he took some of the things I said to heart, and used my advice when he found necessary.”
As there was a slight pause, I kept silent hoping that he would continue since I knew that there was more to be said.
“I think the biggest part of it for me and mom is the emotional connection we have to anything that you or Ben do. Win, lose or draw, we just want to see you guys happy in the end. In regards to Ben’s job hunt, it was a process, and Ben matured tremendously throughout the entire way. I was extremely happy to see him grow, and the endless hours of interview experience that he now has under his belt will only help him in the future.”
“Dad, do you think you and Ben got closer during the process of him looking for a job?”
“That’s an interesting question you ask, but In fact I do! Ben and I have always been close, but we just added another layer to our connection. After all of his interviews, Ben would call me and give me a play by play. It brought us closer and made our conversations even deeper. We would send each other business articles online via email that we found interesting to share with one another and he was intrigued in learning from my years of experience and I was more then thrilled to share my knowledge with him.”
“If you could pick your favorite moment from the entire process, what would it be?”
“It would have to be the day Ben called me and told me he got his dream job! It was a phone conversation so needless to say I couldn’t see his physical emotions, but I could tell through his jubilant and exstatic voice that he was on top of the world. I was so proud to see all his hard work pay off and I was smiling with excitement to see what the future has to hold for him”
And with that, the conversation came to its conclusion. Only the future knows what's in store, but its exciting and I cant’ wait to find out!