Thursday, April 24, 2008
I've already forgotten what that funny bumpersticker said, sorry...
It's been a remarkably busy week for me. I've always been told that you have to go out and look for work, businesses aren't going to try to find you. But that's the opposite of what I've been seeing. Quite literally agencies have been crawling all over each other to get to me, and I've not put out even one application in order to get anyone to look at my Monster.com profile (there wasn't anything to jump for last time I looked). So let's itemize the items on my plate:
• Mentioned last week that I interviewed with Agency #1. Haven't heard another word from them.
• Agency #-3 (the one that helped me 3 jobs ago but never responds when I try to inform them I'm looking) emailed to ask me if I was interested in something, but it was a place I've worked for before so I asked if they had anything else. Through a series of emails, she says she does have something then the next day she doesn't have it anymore, and asks me why the place she's representing churns through techs so quickly.
• Agency #2, which isn't an agency but the HR department of a major domain name registrar, calls me to ask for a phone interview. The next day, we talked and I was invited in to meet face-to-face.
• My friend Illiterate's employer (let's call them Agent #0) calls an hour after #2's phone interview, asking for a phone interview the next day. Let's see, 3 weeks elapsed between my applying and them replying? So at 10am I did a phone interview with #0 and then went to meet #2. They liked me, so invited me to come back the next day -- hey, who's paying for the gasoline here?! -- to do a second interview with a couple managers.
• I get home from that trip and there's a message on the answering machine from Agent #3, asking for a call. But wait, there's more...
• Minutes later I get online and check my mail, and not only is there an email from #3 with some nebulous job details, there's an email from Agent #4 who wants to talk to me. I've responded to neither.
• I had my second interview with the domain people, and half of this process was like no other job interview I've ever been to before. Like mental acuity tests similar to the ones they gave in school ("what's next in the series? 2, 3, 5, 8, 12, __") and some interview questions that challenged my listed experiences (I'm guessing it's a way to see how much grace I have under fire). I wasn't sure what to make of my performance, but I kept it together. They said someone would get back to me before long, not sure when that would be because neither are the hiring folks.
• I get home from that trip and there's a message on the answering machine from Agent #2, asking for a call. But wait, there's more...
• Phone-tag time, and about twenty minutes later she returns my call. With an offer. Which I accepted before she even spelled it out. I start next Wednesday.
So hey, Illiterate, they snoozed and they losed. Thanks for trying! :) Oh, still talking to you -- remember Matt from that place we used to work at, the semi-sullen senior tech from my end of town? He works there. Will let you know what other faces I see, and am told there are several. Am also told the headhunter there goes searching Monster's résumés for keywords like "Earthlink" for candidates, so there are said to be other people I know there. Bonzer!
Above is Jimmie "JJ" Walker, remember him as a lanky guy in a denim bowl hat in the 1970's show Good Times? He was at the Paradise Bowl doing a standup set last night, and he was astounding. He's not the same "Kid Dynomite!" he once was, he's Grownup Dynomite. Fits him well. I don't necessarily have any stupid things to report on this time, unless you consider all these employers cold-calling me when the agencies I have worked through -- and I've been in touch with three of them -- say there's nothing out there for me, even when they contacted me first to ask if I was interested in some job they had minutes earlier.
• Mentioned last week that I interviewed with Agency #1. Haven't heard another word from them.
• Agency #-3 (the one that helped me 3 jobs ago but never responds when I try to inform them I'm looking) emailed to ask me if I was interested in something, but it was a place I've worked for before so I asked if they had anything else. Through a series of emails, she says she does have something then the next day she doesn't have it anymore, and asks me why the place she's representing churns through techs so quickly.
• Agency #2, which isn't an agency but the HR department of a major domain name registrar, calls me to ask for a phone interview. The next day, we talked and I was invited in to meet face-to-face.
• My friend Illiterate's employer (let's call them Agent #0) calls an hour after #2's phone interview, asking for a phone interview the next day. Let's see, 3 weeks elapsed between my applying and them replying? So at 10am I did a phone interview with #0 and then went to meet #2. They liked me, so invited me to come back the next day -- hey, who's paying for the gasoline here?! -- to do a second interview with a couple managers.
• I get home from that trip and there's a message on the answering machine from Agent #3, asking for a call. But wait, there's more...
• Minutes later I get online and check my mail, and not only is there an email from #3 with some nebulous job details, there's an email from Agent #4 who wants to talk to me. I've responded to neither.
• I had my second interview with the domain people, and half of this process was like no other job interview I've ever been to before. Like mental acuity tests similar to the ones they gave in school ("what's next in the series? 2, 3, 5, 8, 12, __") and some interview questions that challenged my listed experiences (I'm guessing it's a way to see how much grace I have under fire). I wasn't sure what to make of my performance, but I kept it together. They said someone would get back to me before long, not sure when that would be because neither are the hiring folks.
• I get home from that trip and there's a message on the answering machine from Agent #2, asking for a call. But wait, there's more...
• Phone-tag time, and about twenty minutes later she returns my call. With an offer. Which I accepted before she even spelled it out. I start next Wednesday.
So hey, Illiterate, they snoozed and they losed. Thanks for trying! :) Oh, still talking to you -- remember Matt from that place we used to work at, the semi-sullen senior tech from my end of town? He works there. Will let you know what other faces I see, and am told there are several. Am also told the headhunter there goes searching Monster's résumés for keywords like "Earthlink" for candidates, so there are said to be other people I know there. Bonzer!
Above is Jimmie "JJ" Walker, remember him as a lanky guy in a denim bowl hat in the 1970's show Good Times? He was at the Paradise Bowl doing a standup set last night, and he was astounding. He's not the same "Kid Dynomite!" he once was, he's Grownup Dynomite. Fits him well. I don't necessarily have any stupid things to report on this time, unless you consider all these employers cold-calling me when the agencies I have worked through -- and I've been in touch with three of them -- say there's nothing out there for me, even when they contacted me first to ask if I was interested in some job they had minutes earlier.
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