So it's been an interesting experience of late, what with the job hunt and all. I have been busily trying to find that perfect fit, and am presently waiting to hear on one very good prospect and keeping my eyes open to new opportunities. Finding the right fit is a tricky proposition, but I presently have the advantage of being already employed (even if I am somewhat underemployed) so I can wait for the right fit to come along.
Yesterday, I got a call about a job that frankly turned me off completely. The hiring manager left a message for me to call, so I did. Once I got through, the very first question this person asked was what my salary expectations were. When I answered, I got offered an interview, so I guess my numbers were in the right range.
But here's the thing. Don't get me wrong, salary numbers are important, but by asking that question first, it inevitably gives me the feeling that the only thing important to you is your salary range. Just based on that alone, I'm trying to decide whether to cancel my interview or not. I applied to this company six weeks ago, and the call was to my cell, so I didn't have access to the job description right away. That makes it hard for me to tell you what I expect for salary, especially since even with the job description, you don't always really know what will be expected to you. If this is something that is customarily asked right away, I'm not sure I want to work with your company anyway. And the fact that you instantly offered the interview after that makes me feel like I should have asked for more.
So I'm reconsidering this interview altogether.
What would you do?
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
The Candidate Experience
So far, since being back in Calgary, I've lined up three different interviews so far, with one coming up tomorrow and a couple last week. While the interviewing process is always kind of stressful, I've also found it interesting to see different people's interviewing processes.
Last week, I had two interviews with the same company for one position. The first interview was with the woman I would have been working directly under, and it went very well. I liked her, and the sounds of the position; it was a breakfast interview, very unstructured, but it gave me a feel for the company and for her, and I was eager to continue. The next stage in the process was to interview with someone else, via Skype, and I was told she would be in touch to set something up.
The breakfast meeting ended about 11:00, and I got an email very quickly after that form the other woman asking when I was available to speak to her. I replied, telling her I was free all day, and to let me know when would be a good time. I think my reply went out maybe an hour after she sent it, but I'm not sure. In any case, when I hadn't heard anything by 1:30, I sent another reply in case there had been some problem with the first email, because it had been sent from my phone, which was new, and I wanted to ensure I got this process going, as I was very excited. An hour later, I got a reply saying that she had gotten the first email as well, and that she would get back to me 'a bit later' with a time for that night.
I then didn't hear back from her until 7:30. At this point, I was already starting to wonder a bit about the job; I had just essentially spent my whole day waiting to hear from this woman, and she was now wanting to put it off until the next day, though she did leave it up to me to decide, and I asked if we could do it that night still, as I wasn't going to be available the next night. At this point, I was feeling like my time didn't really matter to this woman, and hoped that the interview might show me differently.
Based on the earlier interview, and with the knowledge that both of these women are HR pros, I was expecting to see a more structured interview in the second round, or to be asked to participate in some kind of behavioural assessment, but that didn't happen. Instead, the woman spoke mainly about herself and her position in the company, and when asking about me, actually stopped listening partway through and replied to something else on her screen! This was extremely apparent because we were talking via Skype on her laptop, and I saw her eyes move across the screen, and then heard the mic pick up the sound of her typing very loudly, while I was trying to answer a question about my career background.
Needless to say, the second interview did not go well.
I was very disappointed. By the end of the interview, I was strongly reconsidering even accepting the position if it was offered, and was also fairly sure it was not going to be offered to me. I don't know exactly how I came across in the second interview; I know I was very thrown off by the whole experience, and the first, positive interview was definitely overshadowed by the second. Chances are it wasn't my best interview, but I'm still wondering how much she even heard of what I had to say.
Ultimately, I was right; I wasn't offered the job. Frankly, that made things easier all around. While I admire and respect what the company does, I just couldn't get past my interview experience. I don't really want this blog post to come across as bitter, either; I have other options to explore, and I'm not really sure how good a fit I would have been there, anyway. After all, I'm not just trying to find a job, I'm trying to find the right job. So all in all, I don't regret it, I just think it was a good learning experience, and I'll move on to the next one.
My next interview is tomorrow. We'll see how that one goes. After all, the candidate is assessing you as much as you are assessing the candidate.
Last week, I had two interviews with the same company for one position. The first interview was with the woman I would have been working directly under, and it went very well. I liked her, and the sounds of the position; it was a breakfast interview, very unstructured, but it gave me a feel for the company and for her, and I was eager to continue. The next stage in the process was to interview with someone else, via Skype, and I was told she would be in touch to set something up.
The breakfast meeting ended about 11:00, and I got an email very quickly after that form the other woman asking when I was available to speak to her. I replied, telling her I was free all day, and to let me know when would be a good time. I think my reply went out maybe an hour after she sent it, but I'm not sure. In any case, when I hadn't heard anything by 1:30, I sent another reply in case there had been some problem with the first email, because it had been sent from my phone, which was new, and I wanted to ensure I got this process going, as I was very excited. An hour later, I got a reply saying that she had gotten the first email as well, and that she would get back to me 'a bit later' with a time for that night.
I then didn't hear back from her until 7:30. At this point, I was already starting to wonder a bit about the job; I had just essentially spent my whole day waiting to hear from this woman, and she was now wanting to put it off until the next day, though she did leave it up to me to decide, and I asked if we could do it that night still, as I wasn't going to be available the next night. At this point, I was feeling like my time didn't really matter to this woman, and hoped that the interview might show me differently.
Based on the earlier interview, and with the knowledge that both of these women are HR pros, I was expecting to see a more structured interview in the second round, or to be asked to participate in some kind of behavioural assessment, but that didn't happen. Instead, the woman spoke mainly about herself and her position in the company, and when asking about me, actually stopped listening partway through and replied to something else on her screen! This was extremely apparent because we were talking via Skype on her laptop, and I saw her eyes move across the screen, and then heard the mic pick up the sound of her typing very loudly, while I was trying to answer a question about my career background.
Needless to say, the second interview did not go well.
I was very disappointed. By the end of the interview, I was strongly reconsidering even accepting the position if it was offered, and was also fairly sure it was not going to be offered to me. I don't know exactly how I came across in the second interview; I know I was very thrown off by the whole experience, and the first, positive interview was definitely overshadowed by the second. Chances are it wasn't my best interview, but I'm still wondering how much she even heard of what I had to say.
Ultimately, I was right; I wasn't offered the job. Frankly, that made things easier all around. While I admire and respect what the company does, I just couldn't get past my interview experience. I don't really want this blog post to come across as bitter, either; I have other options to explore, and I'm not really sure how good a fit I would have been there, anyway. After all, I'm not just trying to find a job, I'm trying to find the right job. So all in all, I don't regret it, I just think it was a good learning experience, and I'll move on to the next one.
My next interview is tomorrow. We'll see how that one goes. After all, the candidate is assessing you as much as you are assessing the candidate.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
It's Moving Day!
Well, we're finally here. That means that hopefully I should be back to paying my poor neglected blog a little more attention from now on. Because it is moving day, though, this one's gonna be a pretty short post.
This whole move has been one of those experiences that just goes to show that things never go according to plan. First, our storage unit where our stuff was going to live for two weeks until we could move in was initially supposed to be part of a Uhaul one months' free storage deal. Upon our arrival, we found out that this particular storage place is not actually a part of that promotion, despite being featured as such on the website. This did not impress us much, although the folks at Lo Cost Mini Storage here in Calgary were totally awesome about it, and apologized, and only charged us two weeks storage instead of a month because they wanted to make us happier. I still wasn't impressed with Uhaul, because why list the storage as part of that promo if it isn't? However, what really annoyed us in this moving process was when we realized on the 30th that Uhaul had lost our reservation for a truck to do an in-town move. By this time, of course, there were no trucks available, either. Lo Cost Mini Storage came through for us again, though, and gave us a number to call. Got us a truck and three guys to help move stuff- more expensive that Uhaul would have been, but it got us moved on the right day, so we're gonna class that one as a win, and are again quite happy with Lo Cost for helping us out.
Of course, this morning, the truck got loaded no problem, but then we got to our building and the elevator was out. After an hour, we got it working, but that hour adds considerable extra cost to this whole process, so all in all, I'm glad we like the place we got, because I don't think we can afford to move again for a while!
So, if you need storage in Calgary, we recommend Lo Cost Mini Storage on Burbank Rd. They were very nice, and very helpful. So far the best part of the whole experience.
This whole move has been one of those experiences that just goes to show that things never go according to plan. First, our storage unit where our stuff was going to live for two weeks until we could move in was initially supposed to be part of a Uhaul one months' free storage deal. Upon our arrival, we found out that this particular storage place is not actually a part of that promotion, despite being featured as such on the website. This did not impress us much, although the folks at Lo Cost Mini Storage here in Calgary were totally awesome about it, and apologized, and only charged us two weeks storage instead of a month because they wanted to make us happier. I still wasn't impressed with Uhaul, because why list the storage as part of that promo if it isn't? However, what really annoyed us in this moving process was when we realized on the 30th that Uhaul had lost our reservation for a truck to do an in-town move. By this time, of course, there were no trucks available, either. Lo Cost Mini Storage came through for us again, though, and gave us a number to call. Got us a truck and three guys to help move stuff- more expensive that Uhaul would have been, but it got us moved on the right day, so we're gonna class that one as a win, and are again quite happy with Lo Cost for helping us out.
Of course, this morning, the truck got loaded no problem, but then we got to our building and the elevator was out. After an hour, we got it working, but that hour adds considerable extra cost to this whole process, so all in all, I'm glad we like the place we got, because I don't think we can afford to move again for a while!
So, if you need storage in Calgary, we recommend Lo Cost Mini Storage on Burbank Rd. They were very nice, and very helpful. So far the best part of the whole experience.
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