Minimum Requirements

I put in for a promotion at my job, but I won't get it. I know, I know… you don't have to tell me- that sounded very negative. But you have to believe me when I say that I'm a glass half full type of guy, really I am. I'm just telling you what normally happens in these types of situations. Let me try to explain without sounding too whiny (if I do, please forgive me, it's not my intention).

The promotion is for significantly more pay- as in everything I've ever wanted out of my life significant (enough income to support my family, debt paid off, fix some problems with the house- you get the picture). Because of the pay grade, the position requires a Bachelors degree- which I don't have. This is where it goes downhill. The promotion is one level above mine- which would make it my current position's supervisor Because it's been vacant for several months, I have been keeping up with a lot of the responsibilities. Granted, there is much more to the job than what I do to fill in, but the point is that I can do the work. I submitted my name because I believe I can do the job. I know I can.

When the HR department receives my resume, they will find listed under "education" that my one and only accomplishment is that I've obtained my GED. Let's face it, in most cases GED is perceived as a fancy way of saying you dropped out of school. I'm not saying that this is what I believe, and it certainly isn't true of my situation. I just don't feel as if my GED is a good representation of my efforts. I can't very well tell my employer that my GED is the result of hard work. I can't tell them that it wasn't for lack of a desire to learn that I didn't graduate high school or go on to college. I was just never allowed to go to school to begin with. I can't tell them that I am very determined to succeed at everything I do, and that for the first time in my life I truly believe that I can do anything I set my mind to. I can't tell them that I've studied on my own for many years trying to "catch up" and figure things out. I can't tell them that I haven't gone to college yet because my math skills are not up to par with entrance standards, despite my best efforts. If could, I would explain that most of my time has been devoted to working two jobs in an effort to pay off debt that I incurred as a teenager while I was trying to survive. I can't tell them that (unbeknownst to them) when they hired me I hadn't a clue how to turn on a computer, much less use it, that in just in a few short years I have absorbed a lifetime of skills simply by paying attention to my surroundings and watching how others operated them- so much so that now they consider me to be computer savvy. I can't tell them any of this. I can't tell them how bad it feels to work so hard for something only to fall drastically short on paper. When the HR department receives my resume, they will reject it, as they have in the past, based on the fact that I do not meet the minimum requirements.

Again, I know how negative this all sounds. Trust me when I say I consider myself to be a very lucky guy. I know how fortunate I am to be where I am today considering where I began. It's just difficult when you feel like you give so much of yourself, but it doesn't amount to anything good.