Matt’s Mission – Lessons On Effort and Determination

Matt Riebel at work

People lose jobs all the time. In the environment of the past couple of years job loss in nearly every sector has become the norm. We all know this, but unless it’s us or someone close to us losing that job, the impact is modest. Admittedly, when your business is focused on establishing opportunity for careers and someone with whom you have worked closely loses it, it hits closer to home.

When Matt Riebel, nAblement consultant, University of Illinois honors graduate, data analyst, and math wizard – yes, wizard –  was let go after a very successful tenure which featured multiple extensions on his contract, it affected many of us. His managers were effusive in their support of his abilities and effort as an analyst. They were natural mentors for him on the job and were vested in his success. The fact is that his area of expertise is specialized, and sometimes with specialization comes vulnerability.  You see, Matt’s not a typical consultant. Although in fairness, few of the nAblement consultants are typical from my perspective. Each manages disability along with their career. Over the past six years or so I’ve had the honor of getting to know and support a very diverse group of candidates. We were afforded the chance to profile several of them in The forerunners, a documentary film that we recently debuted at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Matt was among the subjects of the film, and provided some outstanding commentary on the challenges and advantages to living with Asperger’s, frequently referenced as mild or high-functioning autism. While Matt notes that he has never been officially diagnosed with Asperger’s, it’s clear that for all intents and purposes he’s living with the perception of having the condition – whether officially or otherwise. He is the first to note that truth.

I met Matt a few years ago at a busy job fair in the south suburbs of Chicago. I remember vividly noticing this well-dressed young guy standing a bit off to the side of my table and holding his resume out toward me, but not making eye contact. Even without his saying a word I perceived he was nervous and awkward. I tried to make him comfortable, introducing myself, commenting on his sharp suit and asking him if he’d like to sit down so that I might take a look at his resume. My first impression? Wow! He graduated Magna Cum Laude as an undergraduate – with highest honors in statistics, a nearly perfect GPA in his graduate statistics study, and Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

For all of his extraordinary accomplishments, as well as paid internships and an early, brief position as a new professional, Matt was overtly uncomfortable with this face-to-face exchange. I applauded him for the extraordinary work he’d done as a student which seemed to encourage him to relax a bit. It seemed evident to me that he was most comfortable speaking of his abilities and passion around statistical inquiry, and I encouraged him to elaborate. My resume in this realm consists of six hours of statistics for business as an undergraduate longer ago than I care to note. But my effort on that morning wasn’t to try to match wits with Matt around the nuances of statistical analysis - I’d as soon challenge Michael Jordan to a game of horse - but to provide him an opportunity to express his passion and knowledge in a discipline that he had worked so vigorously to master.

It would be easy for me to suggest that on that morning I forged a clear and comfortable relationship with Matt, but that wouldn’t be accurate. If you’ve  had the opportunity to get to know someone with Asperger’s you know that it takes a lot of work and trust to forge that relationship. Matt relates to things in very concrete terms and struggles with abstract concepts. Our relationship is straight-forward.  Matt and I haven’t had the deep relationship of a parent-child or siblings, but we have developed a trusting and respectful dialogue over the past few years.

Fast forward to Matt’s transition after his contract ended. This is the real moral of this post – and alluded to in the title – effort and determination. Even before his final week on the job, Matt was engaging me, his manager, another mentor from within the client, and a member of the alumni association staff from U of I to give him our thoughts on updating his resume, strengthening his profile on Linkedin, joining networking groups, attending evening application groups within his field, and on and on. Matt would copy all of us on any inquiry, treating us as his personal support entourage. I think he figured that we should all be as vested in his success as he was, and he was right! We should all be vested in the success of exceptional candidates like Matt. Even if I didn’t know what an extraordinary mind Matt had, his commitment to securing his next career opportunity alone justified a like effort by me and anyone purporting to support him in career development.

As of today Matt is planning on accepting a position which he’d been offered some time ago with the National Security Agency (NSA) in Baltimore. If he takes the job it will be a big life transition for him, but he’s preparing to make it and is planning diligently – as he plans everything. In the interim, if you are reading this and would like to see Matt’s skills remain in the Chicago area, feel free to reach out to me. If you’re a candidate wondering how to optimize your efforts to position yourself for success, reach out to Matt on Linkedin. Maybe he’ll connect with you. Maybe you’ll learn something.