Didn't plan it or anything just saw that it it was going on and decided to do it. It was really scary and my legs were shaking but I overcame my fear and did it. Yes!
Have a phone interview with a state university today for an IT position in support of medical/research faculty. I'm so freaking pumped about this interview I could die.
I haven't interviewed in... oh... ten years. So I'm slightly OMFG I'm so fucking nervous!
Interview sucked. Not because of me. Because of them. Awful, brainless questions.
I get that it was just a phone screen, but I was prepared to talk to people with at least some personality. Not boring cardboard functionaries with no fucking inflection in their voices.
It sounds like they're looking for a highly specific doppleganger for the guy who left, which makes me wonder why they responded to my resume which lists NONE of the specific software tools in the job listing. Still, I know analogous tools and have analogous skillsets, so I was pleased to hear from them thinking that they had obviously recognized that. Apparently not... so... wtf?
The guy harped for 5 minutes on whether I know Crystal Reports (I do, but boy did he want to make sure). Jesus Christ.
Got called back for an in-person interview. Despite myself, I'm excited again. I'm a little put off only because I can't fathom how they found that phone interview to be anything but awkward and terrible, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and allow for the possibility that my perception is way off. I haven't interviewed in a looooooong time.
All sorts of excited again at the prospect of working with faculty at a university!!
...of course, I could be 100% right about how bad that phone screen was, and they COULD be calling me back for an in-person interview just to tick a box in the pursuit of an H1B visa for somebody else... but hey, interviewing practice.
I've been a victim of that when applying to Emergency positions at a University Veterinary Hospital. I was called into a job interview to compete against Vets who had been practising specialists in the field for 10 - 16 years and I was just looking to sit my specialist exams.
Then again every other job I've had has been one where I was seemingly under-qualified at first but could adjust to quickly.
Despite all earlier indications, my interview was amazing!
It was literally the best interview for a job that I've ever had in my life. Everything they need me to do, I can do, and everything they need me to do is interesting. I was knocking shit out of the park left and right. Grins around the table. That has never happened to me in my life.
There was one kinda dour guy there that was concerned about very specific toolsets that I don't have, but the other team members kept glossing over/dismissing him whenever he expressed stuff like that.
Amazing.
No offer yet, but I'm told I'm a favorite out of 6, and they have one more candidate to interview next week.
Compensation and schedule may still be an issue, but overall, damn, that was pretty great. Surprisingly so. Stunningly so.
That dour guy unnerves me. He'll turn out to be the guy who is secretly running the place. The others won't understand that, but it's because he is so far beyond them technically that they won't realize he is holding the place together.
My suggestion is, as soon as you get the job, make sure you get the inside scoop from dour guy.
The director (who looks about 12, but hey, I'm getting old) soft apologized for dour guy on the way out and told me not to worry about it, but yeah I've met guys like him before and he's definitely on my list of things to understand ASAP should I be hired.
Yeah Rym, if nothing else, this was great practice for the next one. My first interview in 10 years. The phone screen was SO bad that I was sure I'd never hear from them again. I'm still kinda stunned by how amazingly, incredibly (in the literal sense) well that interview went.
EDIT - One thing he seemed super concerned about (dour guy) was ColdFusion. I mean c'mon. I know PHP. I know ASP. Cold Fusion doesn't scare me despite the fact that I've never touched it. It's syntax.
People seem to be super exited about the [E] Name badges I'm making. I mean, sure, I'm not making cash on the deal, but it's still a really great feeling to see people you tend to like excited about something you made.
During the summer my team and I moved to our Head Office. I told the guys "Hey, every thursday that we are at Head Office we should wear bow ties, we'd never be able to do that on our construction sites!" People seemed to think it was a good idea.
But when it came to it, only I turned up wearing one...
And every thursday since I alone have worn one.
This is the eleventh week since I started doing it and today everyone is wearing one. One guy secretly bought a box of clip-ons on ebay and distributed them to the whole team. This morning was like a surprise party!
During the summer my team and I moved to our Head Office. I told the guys "Hey, every thursday that we are at Head Office we should wear bow ties, we'd never be able to do that on our construction sites!" People seemed to think it was a good idea.
But when it came to it, only I turned up wearing one...
And every thursday since I alone have worn one.
This is the eleventh week since I started doing it and today everyone is wearing one. One guy secretly bought a box of clip-ons on ebay and distributed them to the whole team. This morning was like a surprise party!
My classmates did something similar in one of the most lecture heavy years at University. The 12 guys in the class would wear singlets on "Wife Beater Wednesday", every Wednesday, regardless of the weather and not mention it, slowly the rest of the class started doing it till we got to about 90% of people doing it by the end of the year.
I'm taking a slight pay cut from my current position, but shedding on call responsibilities and overall the systems I'll be working on are just lower impact so I think the environment will be more relaxed (but I'm OK if it isn't.)
The drop in the cost of benefits more than makes up for the pay cut, and I'll be a member of a union and have a state pension etc etc etc.
Overall, I'm pretty freaking pumped. There's a strange sense of loss over my current "elder statesman" pseudo-status here, though. In reality I'm just a grunt but I've been in the same place almost 11 years and that carries a certain degree of credibility, etc. It'll be strange having to justify/establish myself again after so long.
I'm crazy excited about it. I'm getting out of business software support and into curriculum and academic stuff, which is about a billion times more interesting. Anyway I've taken up enough of this thread.
There probably is one. I admit I'm bad at looking for those. I try not to start new threads pretty much ever if I can help it. This forum has a weird culture around that. (ducking the tomatoes.)
Comments
Didn't plan it or anything just saw that it it was going on and decided to do it. It was really scary and my legs were shaking but I overcame my fear and did it. Yes!
I haven't interviewed in... oh... ten years. So I'm slightly OMFG I'm so fucking nervous!
I get that it was just a phone screen, but I was prepared to talk to people with at least some personality. Not boring cardboard functionaries with no fucking inflection in their voices.
It sounds like they're looking for a highly specific doppleganger for the guy who left, which makes me wonder why they responded to my resume which lists NONE of the specific software tools in the job listing. Still, I know analogous tools and have analogous skillsets, so I was pleased to hear from them thinking that they had obviously recognized that. Apparently not... so... wtf?
The guy harped for 5 minutes on whether I know Crystal Reports (I do, but boy did he want to make sure). Jesus Christ.
All sorts of excited again at the prospect of working with faculty at a university!!
...of course, I could be 100% right about how bad that phone screen was, and they COULD be calling me back for an in-person interview just to tick a box in the pursuit of an H1B visa for somebody else... but hey, interviewing practice.
Then again every other job I've had has been one where I was seemingly under-qualified at first but could adjust to quickly.
Good Luck.
It was literally the best interview for a job that I've ever had in my life. Everything they need me to do, I can do, and everything they need me to do is interesting. I was knocking shit out of the park left and right. Grins around the table. That has never happened to me in my life.
There was one kinda dour guy there that was concerned about very specific toolsets that I don't have, but the other team members kept glossing over/dismissing him whenever he expressed stuff like that.
Amazing.
No offer yet, but I'm told I'm a favorite out of 6, and they have one more candidate to interview next week.
Compensation and schedule may still be an issue, but overall, damn, that was pretty great. Surprisingly so. Stunningly so.
My suggestion is, as soon as you get the job, make sure you get the inside scoop from dour guy.
Yeah Rym, if nothing else, this was great practice for the next one. My first interview in 10 years. The phone screen was SO bad that I was sure I'd never hear from them again. I'm still kinda stunned by how amazingly, incredibly (in the literal sense) well that interview went.
EDIT - One thing he seemed super concerned about (dour guy) was ColdFusion. I mean c'mon. I know PHP. I know ASP. Cold Fusion doesn't scare me despite the fact that I've never touched it. It's syntax.
They're a state university, so I understand a certain amount of weirdly anachronistic technical cruft.
But when it came to it, only I turned up wearing one...
And every thursday since I alone have worn one.
This is the eleventh week since I started doing it and today everyone is wearing one. One guy secretly bought a box of clip-ons on ebay and distributed them to the whole team. This morning was like a surprise party!
The drop in the cost of benefits more than makes up for the pay cut, and I'll be a member of a union and have a state pension etc etc etc.
Overall, I'm pretty freaking pumped. There's a strange sense of loss over my current "elder statesman" pseudo-status here, though. In reality I'm just a grunt but I've been in the same place almost 11 years and that carries a certain degree of credibility, etc. It'll be strange having to justify/establish myself again after so long.
Please tell.me someone else thought of this too...
The Dance of Joy, though, will always be cool.
Thanks, Rochelle!