by Ruth
Our son, Jon, majored in biomedical engineering in college. When he graduated in 2017, he joined his church’s short-term mission trip to Asia and spent three months there. After returning to the US, he had a tough time finding a job in his target city—Minneapolis. Being in the biotech industry for 30+ years, I told him most of the biotech jobs were in the East or West Coast. He replied, “Our church is planting a sister church in Minneapolis. I’m sure God wants me to serve there.”
Truth be told, we didn’t have a harmonious relationship back then. Surprisingly, he landed an entry-level position in a large medical device company in early 2018, right in Minneapolis. I admitted to him that his faith was stronger than mine.
But his job was to process FDA documents in front of a computer all day long, which wasn’t his cup of tea. One year later, he said someone recruited him to join a small Contract Manufacturer organization (CMO). This time, I learned to give him encouragement. He likes his new job a lot. Working for a CMO, he gets to study many different projects. In less than three years, he was promoted to program manager. With eleven people reporting to him, he’s responsible for four programs with a yearly budget of 1.7 million dollars, and his salary jumped to six figures.
Meanwhile, headhunters tracked him down. He asked me whether he should go to the job interviews arranged by the headhunters. I told him it was nice to explore different opportunities from time to time because he’d get to learn more about his industry. If the opportunities are good, he should consider them. To my surprise, he gladly took my advice. Last week, another company approached him. After the initial phone interview, the hiring manager arranged for him to meet the management team this week. At around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, he called me from his car, “Mom, I’ve just finished my job interview and am on my way back to my company.”
When I asked him how it went, he said, “It went well. Everybody loved the donuts I bought for them.”
Huh? “What do you mean?”
“Oh, I bought 50 donuts from the high-end Columbia Heights Bakery. Their donuts are $1.40 each. But it’s worth it. Everyone loved it. They said they’ve never had such good donuts before.”
Okay, 50 donuts at $1.40 each. It meant he spent $70 for the interview. “Did you bring the donuts to appease the interviewers? Have you decided to join that company if they offer you a position?”
“Not really. I haven’t decided yet.” He chuckled. “I just want to bring some sweetness to people’s life there. I think I achieved my goal.”
“Did you do this in every one of your interviews?” I couldn’t help asking.
“Well, in most of them.” He laughed again. “I’ve arrived at work. Mom, talk to you later. Love you.”
Warmth crept into my heart. Our typical kind-hearted Jon! In high school, he once made friends with a homeless person and bought him food every day for a few weeks (using money he made as a summer intern at my company). Years later, he is the same, always thinking about how to cheer up others.
Two hours later, Jon’s email pinged me. The company has made him a job offer!
Maybe his donut strategy worked its charm. Now, he just needs to pray hard for God’s guidance on whether he should accept the job offer.
