[History of the Pendulum; Hospital Series 1] Until I Stepped Behind the White Coat 1

The hospital I was hired at was
a specialized psychiatric hospital in a core regional city.

It was a private psychiatric hospital
established in the Showa 30s (1955-1964),

and there are four other hospitals in the city where I live
that were built around the same time.

At the time I joined, it had about 200 beds.

It seems the only psychological professional who had worked there before
was one person who worked part-time
in the Showa 50s (1975-1984),

but because they commuted from far away,
they apparently quit before long.

From then on, for many decades,
the position of psychological professional remained vacant.

The one who wandered in there
was me, a novice fresh out of graduate school.

At the time, I didn't have a specific field
where I wanted to work,

and my motivation was just something like,
maybe I'll go with a medical institution
because it seems stable.

I was rejected by another medical institution
I tried applying to.

As those in the same field know,
right after graduating from school, you don't have
any qualifications yet.

Indeed, just having a few years of experience
is enough to be considered ready to work immediately,

and I felt that there were few places
that would hire a new graduate

and provide thorough training.

Around the same time,
my classmates from school were also struggling to find jobs.

Only one person barely managed to get a job
at a local clinic.

I wondered if everyone would really be able to find a job,
and not just me, but all of my classmates
were spending our days in a stagnant,
heavy atmosphere.

To begin with, there were few job openings for psychological professionals,
and since multiple applicants would apply for each one,
the competition was always high.

Yet, I had no weapons of my own.
That was when I thought:

This won't do.
It's no good doing the same thing as everyone else.

So.
I pondered if there was any good method, and
after thinking for about two nights, it hit me.

“I see. I’m at a disadvantage because I’m applying to places
that have many applicants even though I don’t have any decent weapons.”

“If I apply to places that aren’t hiring,
there surely won’t be any enemies (other job seekers).”

So.
With that, I suddenly brought out the Town Pages and a map,
and first, I drew a circle around the map with a compass.

The center was my home.

The inside of the circle was the range I could commute to,
and I checked the medical institutions there with a marker,
starting from the north.

Not just psychiatric clinics,
but internal medicine, pediatrics, and everything else.

When I did that,
about 20 medical institutions emerged.

“With this many institutions, I should be able to get to an interview somewhere.”

Thinking that,
I next looked up the phone numbers of the medical institutions in the Town Pages,
and called them one by one starting from the north.

“Sorry to bother you while you’re busy.
I am someone who will be graduating from a school called ○○ next March,
and I was wondering if you are
considering hiring a psychologist?”

However, the answer that came back was

“I’m sorry. Psychologists are not eligible for recruitment.”
“Sorry. We aren’t thinking about it.”

Just blunt replies like that.

It’s just a feeling, but
I was rejected over the phone about 80% of the time.
The remaining 20% were passed on to the director or the person in charge of personnel,
but I never made it to an interview.
The list that had nearly 20 places

reached the bottom in the blink of an eye.
Among them,

“So you are graduating next year.
I hope you find a job!
Good luck.”

I was given warm words like that,
and was greatly encouraged.

After that, the losing streak continued,
to the very end of the list.

“If this place doesn’t work out, I’ll have to think of another plan…”

I thought, while
calling the last medical institution within commuting distance from my home.
It’s a strange thing,

when you lose every single time, you don’t even get nervous.
Through the experiences up to that point,


“losing was a given”so it had become that way.

“Sorry to bother you while you’re busy.
I am someone who will be graduating from a school called ○○ next March,
and I was wondering if you are
considering hiring a psychologist?”

When I asked that,
the office staff replied,
“Hmm… please wait a moment.
I’ll check with the office manager now.”
I received that reply.

While the hold music was playing, I thought,
"How many medical institutions ago was it
that I was finally put through to someone like this..."
and so on, when suddenly,

"Sorry to keep you waiting.
If possible, we would like to interview you,
so would it be alright if you came
to the hospital once?"

I was so surprised that I instinctively replied,

"Are you sure?"
"Oh, thank you so much!
I would love to come!"

With that,
I, the person who had asked, managed to set up the appointment
while stumbling over my words.

I felt like a baseball player who had hit a grand slam
at the very last moment.

A few days later,
when I went for the interview, the board chairman, the hospital director, and the administrative director
all took time out of their busy schedules just for me,
and spent about an hour listening to my story.
Looking back now, it felt less like an interview and more like
they were just curious about this young nobody

who had called them out of the blue.

They really listened to all sorts of things
(my master's thesis topic, the difficulties I had in finding a job, etc.).
Toward the end of the conversation, the board chairman asked,

"So, you say you want to work here, but
are you looking for a full-time position?"

I was honestly flustered by this question.
After all, I was a complete novice.

I interpreted the true meaning of this question as,
'Isn't it a bit presumptuous to ask to be hired full-time
when you have no experience to offer?'
and I shrank back,

"No, please let me start as a part-time employee.
Please observe how I work,
and if you still feel that you need me,
then please let me work full-time."

I replied.

Thus,
I began my career in psychiatry
working one day a week as a part-timer.

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