I have been at my new job now for 5 months and it is just as interesting as I supposed it would be. The pay isn't fantastic, and I still have to wait another two months for benefits but the environment is really great. I've made fast and close friends with several of my coworkers; I think if I lost the job tomorrow that I've made worthwhile friendships at the very least. My 6 month review is scheduled for right around the beginning of April, along with the start of my benefits. I'm so looking forward to having health insurance again.
So far 2009 has been fairly dreadful though, I'm afraid. My maternal grandfather had a heart attack and was in the hospital for about 2 weeks, undergoing a quadruple bypass. I needed to fly to Florida at a moment's notice, and my supervisor at work was incredibly kind and understanding about the matter. I'm glad that I went to see my grandfather before he went in for surgery. He was around my entire childhood, and if anything would have happened to him in surgery... well, let's just say I'm not into regrets. My grandfather made it out of surgery just fine, and he is still at home recovering.
I then got back from Florida and two weeks later, I got into my first ever car crash. Luckily I wasn't hurt, and no one else was either. It was just me, my car, and a very sturdy guardrail. The bad news is, my car is undrivable. The good news is, the guardrail and I are just fine! My car was towed to a shop, and I'm still waiting to hear back about how much it will cost to get the car back on the road. The extra bad news is that this is the first year I took collision off of my car insurance policy. You know, because I finally paid my car loan off, I'd never had an accident, and the car is only worth about $3k. Ugh. Getting paid what I'm paid, I absolutely can't afford to repair my car, let alone replace it. I'm hoping it's going to cost less than a grand to repair the damages. The boyfriend thinks it'll cost just about that, if not more just to make it drivable. It certainly isn't going to look pretty, though.
Then there's the 10 pounds I've put on since Thanksgiving. That's not really bad luck as much as it is laziness. I've just got to get organized and motivated to get in to the gym. That's something my grandfather talked to me about when he saw me last. He said I looked fantastic (probably I'm 15 pounds lighter than the last time he saw me) and that I should keep at it. He said he wished he had started eating right and exercising much earlier in his life. I need to break the self-destructive cycle I've been in with my health for the last, oh, 12 or so years of my life. Easy, right? Well...probably not. Definitely not. I've tried before, and I've failed before. More times than I care to count.
So, that's my last 5 months in a nutshell. I do plan on writing more often; I think I need this sort of outlet somewhere in my life.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Friday, August 29, 2008
Resolution
I want to thank HR Maven for keeping track of me, and for advice given to me privately via e-mail during this second leg of my job search. Also, another thank you to HR Wench for initially connecting me to a wealth of inspiration and information. I still have not had resolution about any of the university-based jobs I applied for--even the one I had applied for almost 2 months ago. That particular one, I've contacted HR twice, but the online status still hasn't moved from "Review in Progress", in spite of being told they were going to make decisions about interviews nearly two weeks ago.
While it's a little sad I haven't heard back about any Higher Ed jobs, I think my news about the job with smaller Company B is most excellent. I got a voice mail late yesterday afternoon (I missed the call) from my HR contact at Company B. She had just come from a meeting with the CEO et al., and was pleased to inform me that they would love to extend a job offer to me. She wanted to talk to me about the details before drawing up an offer letter. I spoke to her today, and the particulars haven't changed: $28k/year to start, benefits start after 6 months. What I did find out that I hadn't known was that it is a salaried position (as opposed to hourly).
After discussing with her who I will be working under, and where I will be located initially in the office, she asked when I could start. Because of my situation working for my folks, I can start next week. She needs to run a background check before I can start, and she set my start date set at Sept. 8th. She also said she would draw up the official offer letter and send it to me via e-mail before she left the office today.
I am beyond excited. This company really does seem to be just what I was looking for, and I can't wait to start. I expect it to be challenging, but in a very positive way. It's so funny to me that I've spent months agonizing over not having a job, wallowing in self pity, and stressing myself out. This company found me on Monster, this company came along at the perfect time, and this company is everything I was looking for. Yesterday, after I found out I was being extended a job offer, I had a phone meeting with the diet coach/nutritionist I'm working with.
This nutritionist had postponed the phone call from Monday to last night, and it worked out to be perfect timing, too. She happens to live 10 minutes from this job, and has a room I can rent from her while my boyfriend and I find an apartment. I was going to have to drive for 3 hours a day to work here, while my boy and I wait for an apartment to open up October 1st. Everything came together all at once, just as it was supposed to. I'm a big believer in God. When I forget that He's looking out for me, everything suddenly falls together out of nowhere, and He reminds me.
I don't regret that I spent months looking for a job. I think it was really excellent experience, and it is experience I may have need of again in my life. I've been on interviews (both traditional and non-traditional), I've experienced the black hole that online applications can be, I've been rejected, I've had a taste of companies big and small, and through it all, I've managed to survive. I also realized that the largest roadblock keeping me from getting a job was me. There is always something more you can be doing on the job search. I can do it again, and I might have to some day.
I do plan on updating still, with news from my new job. Also, I haven't forgotten my series about Restaurant-going. I'm scheduled to work Saturday-Monday this holiday weekend, so I'm sure I'll be filled with ire enough to continue the series!
While it's a little sad I haven't heard back about any Higher Ed jobs, I think my news about the job with smaller Company B is most excellent. I got a voice mail late yesterday afternoon (I missed the call) from my HR contact at Company B. She had just come from a meeting with the CEO et al., and was pleased to inform me that they would love to extend a job offer to me. She wanted to talk to me about the details before drawing up an offer letter. I spoke to her today, and the particulars haven't changed: $28k/year to start, benefits start after 6 months. What I did find out that I hadn't known was that it is a salaried position (as opposed to hourly).
After discussing with her who I will be working under, and where I will be located initially in the office, she asked when I could start. Because of my situation working for my folks, I can start next week. She needs to run a background check before I can start, and she set my start date set at Sept. 8th. She also said she would draw up the official offer letter and send it to me via e-mail before she left the office today.
I am beyond excited. This company really does seem to be just what I was looking for, and I can't wait to start. I expect it to be challenging, but in a very positive way. It's so funny to me that I've spent months agonizing over not having a job, wallowing in self pity, and stressing myself out. This company found me on Monster, this company came along at the perfect time, and this company is everything I was looking for. Yesterday, after I found out I was being extended a job offer, I had a phone meeting with the diet coach/nutritionist I'm working with.
This nutritionist had postponed the phone call from Monday to last night, and it worked out to be perfect timing, too. She happens to live 10 minutes from this job, and has a room I can rent from her while my boyfriend and I find an apartment. I was going to have to drive for 3 hours a day to work here, while my boy and I wait for an apartment to open up October 1st. Everything came together all at once, just as it was supposed to. I'm a big believer in God. When I forget that He's looking out for me, everything suddenly falls together out of nowhere, and He reminds me.
I don't regret that I spent months looking for a job. I think it was really excellent experience, and it is experience I may have need of again in my life. I've been on interviews (both traditional and non-traditional), I've experienced the black hole that online applications can be, I've been rejected, I've had a taste of companies big and small, and through it all, I've managed to survive. I also realized that the largest roadblock keeping me from getting a job was me. There is always something more you can be doing on the job search. I can do it again, and I might have to some day.
I do plan on updating still, with news from my new job. Also, I haven't forgotten my series about Restaurant-going. I'm scheduled to work Saturday-Monday this holiday weekend, so I'm sure I'll be filled with ire enough to continue the series!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
More Job News: Chess vs. Twister and What I've Learned About Myself
Round 2 with both large wireless Company A and smaller Company B are finished. I managed to do both the interview with Company B and the "online assessment" with Company A while battling some sort of flu. I have to say that like the phone interviews last week with these two companies, my experience at their places of operation were also like night and day.
Tuesday I went to smaller Company B. I was expecting anything, as their hiring process up to that point had been delightfully eclectic. I arrived at 1:50 PM (my appointment was for 2:00), and the receptionist gave me a visitor tag and directed me to a room. I knew immediately that the dress was very casual, and I felt completely overdressed in my black pantsuit and blue collared shirt. This would continue as everyone from the receptionist, to the HR rep., to the CEO were in jeans and T-Shirts. She gave me a manila folder with an application, some variety of logic test, and a writing test. I was given as much time as I needed to complete it, and she kindly told me that if I needed anything, to let the people up front know.
The logic test wasn't nearly as scary as I had been anticipating. I was thinking SAT-style, and I was petrified of all the potential math questions. I was an English major; math has never been my forte. The logic test wasn't so bad. There was one question about a fish at the end that I could NOT figure out. I remembered the problem, because I tried to solve it for SO LONG. I called my friend the Physics major the day afterward and we figured it out. I'm glad we did, otherwise it would have bugged me until I knew the answer. The answer is 72". That fish is 72" long, by God! And now I know.
The writing part was what I found most challenging, surprisingly enough. I feel that I'm usually good at writing things, but I don't think I finished that part to the best of my abilities. I've never written "marketing copy" before, and it threw me a little bit. I also was writing in a designated space with a pen, and I generally use my computer for writing. I'm not worried about it too much, but the perfectionist in me is chiding.
The most singular aspect of the day involved all of the interviews. I was interviewed 5 separate times that day, by 6 different people. Half were from the Content Writing department, where I would be working. The other half were from Marketing, who I would be working closely with. I also spoke to the CEO in person. I felt very at ease with all the people I spoke to, including the CEO. There were no pretenses, no puppets in suits going through the motions in canned interviews. They were real people trying to get a feel for me, and I feel that as a result, I got a feel for them and for the company.
I actually enjoyed the afternoon of interviews. I spent a total of 4 hours at Company B between the writing tests and the interviews. Even if they don't end up hiring me, I'm sincerely glad I met each of them. They're a great little community, and I think they've got it right when it comes to hiring practices. Hire people for smarts, who play nice with others, and are self-reliant. When you have intelligent people in harmony with each other working toward a goal, you're going to achieve your goals.
The CEO asked (as he did after our phone interview) to think about the day carefully, consult my loved ones, and get back to him in two days about whether or not I want the job. I knew that day, after meeting all the people I met, and just based on a gut feeling about the environment, that I wanted the job. But, I waited, and e-mailed him today. He said the next step is gathering together all the people I met, having an honest discussion with them about me, and that they would let me know.
------------------------
Yesterday, I went to Company A and took a computer assessment. It's a call center job, so it modeled a call center environment--complete with staged phone conversations, forms to fill out while "on the phone" with a "customer", etc. There was also a personality test at the end. A couple of people left before I did, but I was the first person finished who "passed the test", according to the proctor, and she scheduled an interview with me for next week. It's apparently a 2-step interview, where I would interview first with a couple of people, then (if I'm acceptable) with another supervisor. It was very much a huge corporate building, with the buttoned-up, starched corporate types, which was an amusing contrast with the previous day's experience at Company B.
------------------------------
I've never felt more cliched in my life. You hear about people all the time being "at a crossroads", or at "two roads diverged in a yellow wood" (thank you, Mr. Frost), but I really felt like I was. What did I want out of life? If I told Company B's CEO today that I want a job, and he gives me a job, I'm going to be in a completely separate universe than I would have been at Company A. I had to ask myself: "Self, of those two universes, which one is the career move that will make you happy?"
It was something to ponder. There are positive aspects to both a very rigid corporate structure and to something much more casual. In a rigid structure, you know where you stand. If you're a call center jockey, you know you're not going to be important until you're a team leader, then a supervisor, then a (insert poncey title here). You know where you are on that great corporate totem pole, and how you can progress. Things are spelled out for you plainly. In a less structured company, where you "stand" probably doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things.
If you like to play your life like a game of chess, then large Corporate America is probably where you should go. You can strategically plan your moves and execute. If you like to play your life like a game of Twister, where winning is the part where everyone collapses into a pile and laughs, then large Corporate America probably isn't the best place to be.
I like to think of myself as being strategic and analytical; but I think that any day of the week, I would rather scramble to put my right hand on yellow.
Tuesday I went to smaller Company B. I was expecting anything, as their hiring process up to that point had been delightfully eclectic. I arrived at 1:50 PM (my appointment was for 2:00), and the receptionist gave me a visitor tag and directed me to a room. I knew immediately that the dress was very casual, and I felt completely overdressed in my black pantsuit and blue collared shirt. This would continue as everyone from the receptionist, to the HR rep., to the CEO were in jeans and T-Shirts. She gave me a manila folder with an application, some variety of logic test, and a writing test. I was given as much time as I needed to complete it, and she kindly told me that if I needed anything, to let the people up front know.
The logic test wasn't nearly as scary as I had been anticipating. I was thinking SAT-style, and I was petrified of all the potential math questions. I was an English major; math has never been my forte. The logic test wasn't so bad. There was one question about a fish at the end that I could NOT figure out. I remembered the problem, because I tried to solve it for SO LONG. I called my friend the Physics major the day afterward and we figured it out. I'm glad we did, otherwise it would have bugged me until I knew the answer. The answer is 72". That fish is 72" long, by God! And now I know.
The writing part was what I found most challenging, surprisingly enough. I feel that I'm usually good at writing things, but I don't think I finished that part to the best of my abilities. I've never written "marketing copy" before, and it threw me a little bit. I also was writing in a designated space with a pen, and I generally use my computer for writing. I'm not worried about it too much, but the perfectionist in me is chiding.
The most singular aspect of the day involved all of the interviews. I was interviewed 5 separate times that day, by 6 different people. Half were from the Content Writing department, where I would be working. The other half were from Marketing, who I would be working closely with. I also spoke to the CEO in person. I felt very at ease with all the people I spoke to, including the CEO. There were no pretenses, no puppets in suits going through the motions in canned interviews. They were real people trying to get a feel for me, and I feel that as a result, I got a feel for them and for the company.
I actually enjoyed the afternoon of interviews. I spent a total of 4 hours at Company B between the writing tests and the interviews. Even if they don't end up hiring me, I'm sincerely glad I met each of them. They're a great little community, and I think they've got it right when it comes to hiring practices. Hire people for smarts, who play nice with others, and are self-reliant. When you have intelligent people in harmony with each other working toward a goal, you're going to achieve your goals.
The CEO asked (as he did after our phone interview) to think about the day carefully, consult my loved ones, and get back to him in two days about whether or not I want the job. I knew that day, after meeting all the people I met, and just based on a gut feeling about the environment, that I wanted the job. But, I waited, and e-mailed him today. He said the next step is gathering together all the people I met, having an honest discussion with them about me, and that they would let me know.
------------------------
Yesterday, I went to Company A and took a computer assessment. It's a call center job, so it modeled a call center environment--complete with staged phone conversations, forms to fill out while "on the phone" with a "customer", etc. There was also a personality test at the end. A couple of people left before I did, but I was the first person finished who "passed the test", according to the proctor, and she scheduled an interview with me for next week. It's apparently a 2-step interview, where I would interview first with a couple of people, then (if I'm acceptable) with another supervisor. It was very much a huge corporate building, with the buttoned-up, starched corporate types, which was an amusing contrast with the previous day's experience at Company B.
------------------------------
I've never felt more cliched in my life. You hear about people all the time being "at a crossroads", or at "two roads diverged in a yellow wood" (thank you, Mr. Frost), but I really felt like I was. What did I want out of life? If I told Company B's CEO today that I want a job, and he gives me a job, I'm going to be in a completely separate universe than I would have been at Company A. I had to ask myself: "Self, of those two universes, which one is the career move that will make you happy?"
It was something to ponder. There are positive aspects to both a very rigid corporate structure and to something much more casual. In a rigid structure, you know where you stand. If you're a call center jockey, you know you're not going to be important until you're a team leader, then a supervisor, then a (insert poncey title here). You know where you are on that great corporate totem pole, and how you can progress. Things are spelled out for you plainly. In a less structured company, where you "stand" probably doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things.
If you like to play your life like a game of chess, then large Corporate America is probably where you should go. You can strategically plan your moves and execute. If you like to play your life like a game of Twister, where winning is the part where everyone collapses into a pile and laughs, then large Corporate America probably isn't the best place to be.
I like to think of myself as being strategic and analytical; but I think that any day of the week, I would rather scramble to put my right hand on yellow.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Job News Continues
Quick update about large wireless Company A, and small Company B.
I e-mailed the HR director at Company B, whose CEO I spoke with on Thursday. The CEO requested I think about things over the weekend, and to e-mail his HR director today if I thought I wanted to move on in the process. I knew the day I spoke to him what I wanted to do, but waited as I was asked to. I received a call within the hour from the HR director to schedule an interview. She wanted me to come in Tuesday (tomorrow) or Thursday this week! I set up the appointment for tomorrow at 2PM.
I'm very excited to meet the people at Company B. I think I definitely need to see the workplace and interact with some of the staff before I know if I'll really "fit". Judging by their rather non-traditional hiring process so far, I'm expecting a pretty interesting day. I seriously doubt if it will be a standard interview, but I'm going to go in prepared for anything.
Company A scheduled a computer assessment exam at the end of the phone interview on Thursday. I guess she decided after asking all of her obligatory canned questions that I was non-psychotic and articulate enough to continue on in the process. Actually, I liked the recruiter on the phone. Prior to the obligatory canned questions, she asked if I had any questions (being a good job-hunter, of course I had some prepared). Her answers were warm, informative, and at times, amusing. I love a good sense of humor.
The "online assessment" is scheduled for Wednesday. And can someone please tell me why I need to drive out to their location to take an online assessment? I have the internets. I'm fairly certain that I won't be interviewing with anyone that day, though I assume that will be the next stage in the progression. I will, however, be prepared for such an eventuality; there's no reason to be caught off-guard.
Company A's position starts promptly on October 6th, as there are scheduled training classes involved. Company B doesn't seem to be working with (or up against) any hiring timeline. The CEO told me that they're growing very quickly, and are always looking for smart, talented people. So far, Company B's hiring process has been rather swift in comparison to all of the other places I applied. I'll update as the process progresses--I'm sure I'll want to talk about the interview after it occurs tomorrow!
I e-mailed the HR director at Company B, whose CEO I spoke with on Thursday. The CEO requested I think about things over the weekend, and to e-mail his HR director today if I thought I wanted to move on in the process. I knew the day I spoke to him what I wanted to do, but waited as I was asked to. I received a call within the hour from the HR director to schedule an interview. She wanted me to come in Tuesday (tomorrow) or Thursday this week! I set up the appointment for tomorrow at 2PM.
I'm very excited to meet the people at Company B. I think I definitely need to see the workplace and interact with some of the staff before I know if I'll really "fit". Judging by their rather non-traditional hiring process so far, I'm expecting a pretty interesting day. I seriously doubt if it will be a standard interview, but I'm going to go in prepared for anything.
Company A scheduled a computer assessment exam at the end of the phone interview on Thursday. I guess she decided after asking all of her obligatory canned questions that I was non-psychotic and articulate enough to continue on in the process. Actually, I liked the recruiter on the phone. Prior to the obligatory canned questions, she asked if I had any questions (being a good job-hunter, of course I had some prepared). Her answers were warm, informative, and at times, amusing. I love a good sense of humor.
The "online assessment" is scheduled for Wednesday. And can someone please tell me why I need to drive out to their location to take an online assessment? I have the internets. I'm fairly certain that I won't be interviewing with anyone that day, though I assume that will be the next stage in the progression. I will, however, be prepared for such an eventuality; there's no reason to be caught off-guard.
Company A's position starts promptly on October 6th, as there are scheduled training classes involved. Company B doesn't seem to be working with (or up against) any hiring timeline. The CEO told me that they're growing very quickly, and are always looking for smart, talented people. So far, Company B's hiring process has been rather swift in comparison to all of the other places I applied. I'll update as the process progresses--I'm sure I'll want to talk about the interview after it occurs tomorrow!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
ACTUAL news on the job front?
I'm going to interject into my planned series on "Eating at Restaurants: UR DOIN IT WRONG", to bring you a live news update!
I do actually have news on the job front! Nothing yet from any of the Higher Ed. jobs I applied for, unfortunately. I have, however, heard from two companies.
One of them, a large wireless service provider, contacted me and we had a phone interview today. One of the weirdest 40 minutes of my life. I had done one other phone interview before, and let me say this: I'm sorry, recruiters, but I HATE canned questions. They get canned answers. I understand you're a large corporate monster that eats its young, and I'm sure there are policies and procedures that require it, but seriously: ugh. Anyway, after the phone interview, I was told that she wanted to move me to the next stage of the process: a computer-based exam of some kind. I'll be headed to their offices this coming Wednesday to take tests (whee!).
----------------
In OTHER news, I was contacted by a small (but rapidly growing) company. They recruit top, talented, recent graduates. Their employee page boasts people with very diverse backgrounds, ALL from fantastic schools (Yale, Columbia, Wesleyan, etc.). The community atmosphere, based on their website, is very Googleesque. I was contacted by their CEO about my resume on Monster, and today I spoke with him on the phone. I had talked with his head of HR earlier today, and she informed me that 80% of the people working for the company were hired personally by the CEO.
The phone interview was great, the CEO was very up front about what he expects from employees, the work environment, the position, the pay, the benefits, etc. This was both a good and a bad thing. I love the transparency of the interview, but it made me nervous, too.
He wants to hire me for a Content Writer position; I would be writing news/review articles for the company's various websites. It's closely aligned with what I was studying (I wasn't a creative writing major, but I'm a good writer in general). He also told me that the most important things to his company are for employees to have intelligence, integrity, and self motivation. I dig that they value all of those things, and would LOVE working with smart people. There were some downsides, however.
1. The starting pay for Content Writer is $28,000/year. This is pretty standard for entry-level writing/editing jobs, which is why I didn't look in those areas to begin with. 6 months after hire, they do a review and give a raise, but I'm not sure how much it would be raised to.
2. The benefits don't start until 6 Months after you do. 6 months seems like a rather LONG period to go without benefits to me.
3. The CEO informed me that 30% of new hires don't make it past 3 months. Either they quit, or they're let go, because they don't function well in this company's particular environment. 30%. I'm pretty intelligent, get along with others, and am fairly self-motivated. However, I would HATE to be looking for a new job in another 3 months.
4. He wanted to know what I scored on the SATs and GREs (1060 for the SATs, and I don't remember my GRE score off hand). He wanted to know because they give an SAT-like assessment and only hire those who score 1200 and above. SCARY. I scored decently on the GRE, and I was a slacker in high school. I'd be worried about that particular exam!
Here's the thing: In spite of the negatives, I think I would enjoy working for this company. I love that the CEO wants to have his hand in the interview process. They're a small company, but have grown from 2 to 170 employees in the last 6 years--and they're still growing! I love that they value intelligence and create a really tight community atmosphere. I love that they like to stay away from micromanagement, encouraging self-motivation, and trusting that their employees will make good decisions. I love that I would be writing for a living--how many people actually get to even to that? They also would want to teach me HTML and how to build websites.
I love that he asked where I would be located, said "well, that's not a bad commute if you don't get stuck in traffic. And if you do get stuck in traffic, you could let us know and we would change around your work schedule so you didn't. Being stuck in traffic is a waste of your time". I also like that the CEO told me to think about it over the weekend. He said that too many people feel high-pressured to say "yes, I'm interested". He said to talk it over with my family, significant other, etc, and to e-mail his head of HR on Monday. If I'm interested, we'll schedule an interview with the heads of the Content Development team, and I'll see the facility, interview, and meet "your peers". He also wanted me to know that my experience in a family restaurant is something that he and the company VALUES. It says to him that I get along very well with my parents, and am comfortable being responsible for many roles and functions. I like that he values my experience at my family's business, because I do too. So, in spite of the down sides, I think I'm interested.
Here's the other thing: I don't think I would enjoy working in soul-sucking large corporate wireless provider's call center. Even if they want to pay me $31k to start, with benefits starting the day I do.
I do actually have news on the job front! Nothing yet from any of the Higher Ed. jobs I applied for, unfortunately. I have, however, heard from two companies.
One of them, a large wireless service provider, contacted me and we had a phone interview today. One of the weirdest 40 minutes of my life. I had done one other phone interview before, and let me say this: I'm sorry, recruiters, but I HATE canned questions. They get canned answers. I understand you're a large corporate monster that eats its young, and I'm sure there are policies and procedures that require it, but seriously: ugh. Anyway, after the phone interview, I was told that she wanted to move me to the next stage of the process: a computer-based exam of some kind. I'll be headed to their offices this coming Wednesday to take tests (whee!).
----------------
In OTHER news, I was contacted by a small (but rapidly growing) company. They recruit top, talented, recent graduates. Their employee page boasts people with very diverse backgrounds, ALL from fantastic schools (Yale, Columbia, Wesleyan, etc.). The community atmosphere, based on their website, is very Googleesque. I was contacted by their CEO about my resume on Monster, and today I spoke with him on the phone. I had talked with his head of HR earlier today, and she informed me that 80% of the people working for the company were hired personally by the CEO.
The phone interview was great, the CEO was very up front about what he expects from employees, the work environment, the position, the pay, the benefits, etc. This was both a good and a bad thing. I love the transparency of the interview, but it made me nervous, too.
He wants to hire me for a Content Writer position; I would be writing news/review articles for the company's various websites. It's closely aligned with what I was studying (I wasn't a creative writing major, but I'm a good writer in general). He also told me that the most important things to his company are for employees to have intelligence, integrity, and self motivation. I dig that they value all of those things, and would LOVE working with smart people. There were some downsides, however.
1. The starting pay for Content Writer is $28,000/year. This is pretty standard for entry-level writing/editing jobs, which is why I didn't look in those areas to begin with. 6 months after hire, they do a review and give a raise, but I'm not sure how much it would be raised to.
2. The benefits don't start until 6 Months after you do. 6 months seems like a rather LONG period to go without benefits to me.
3. The CEO informed me that 30% of new hires don't make it past 3 months. Either they quit, or they're let go, because they don't function well in this company's particular environment. 30%. I'm pretty intelligent, get along with others, and am fairly self-motivated. However, I would HATE to be looking for a new job in another 3 months.
4. He wanted to know what I scored on the SATs and GREs (1060 for the SATs, and I don't remember my GRE score off hand). He wanted to know because they give an SAT-like assessment and only hire those who score 1200 and above. SCARY. I scored decently on the GRE, and I was a slacker in high school. I'd be worried about that particular exam!
Here's the thing: In spite of the negatives, I think I would enjoy working for this company. I love that the CEO wants to have his hand in the interview process. They're a small company, but have grown from 2 to 170 employees in the last 6 years--and they're still growing! I love that they value intelligence and create a really tight community atmosphere. I love that they like to stay away from micromanagement, encouraging self-motivation, and trusting that their employees will make good decisions. I love that I would be writing for a living--how many people actually get to even to that? They also would want to teach me HTML and how to build websites.
I love that he asked where I would be located, said "well, that's not a bad commute if you don't get stuck in traffic. And if you do get stuck in traffic, you could let us know and we would change around your work schedule so you didn't. Being stuck in traffic is a waste of your time". I also like that the CEO told me to think about it over the weekend. He said that too many people feel high-pressured to say "yes, I'm interested". He said to talk it over with my family, significant other, etc, and to e-mail his head of HR on Monday. If I'm interested, we'll schedule an interview with the heads of the Content Development team, and I'll see the facility, interview, and meet "your peers". He also wanted me to know that my experience in a family restaurant is something that he and the company VALUES. It says to him that I get along very well with my parents, and am comfortable being responsible for many roles and functions. I like that he values my experience at my family's business, because I do too. So, in spite of the down sides, I think I'm interested.
Here's the other thing: I don't think I would enjoy working in soul-sucking large corporate wireless provider's call center. Even if they want to pay me $31k to start, with benefits starting the day I do.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Eating at Restaurants: UR DOIN IT WRONG!
Borrowing a Laurie Ruettiman catchphrase for the title, I'm going to be starting a series of posts about restaurant-going. While I'm waiting for new job news (I should hopefully have something to write about by the end of the week in that regard!), I have decided to start a series relating to my current job news.
I work in a small restaurant, owned by my parents. We are a fairly casual breakfast and lunch place (open from 6AM - 2PM daily). I am a designated Assistant Manager, but most of the time I wait tables. As a waitress, there are things that people do every single day that irk not only me, but all of my other wait staff as well.
So, dear consumers, I'm going to write about these things in the hope that some day, someone might learn from them. Or, at least, get a laugh out of them.
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Things you're doing to annoy me before you ever even get to your table:
Yes, there are things that you're doing before you even sit down that bother me! I'm going to let you know about them in the hope that you'll knock it off.
1. You sit down at a dirty table.
This is a sure-fire way to ensure that I am both very annoyed at you, and that I will make you my very last priority. Especially if there were other clean tables available, and you chose to sit at a dirty one instead. Even if the sign at the door is flipped to say "Please Seat Yourself", it definitely does not say "Please Seat Yourself at the Dirty Table". Sitting there makes it awkward for me to bus it off, wipe it off, then reset it--and you're probably that person who wants to bark your order at me before I'm half finished, but that complaint is for later. If you walk into a restaurant, where the sign says "Please Seat Yourself", and there are dirty tables, wait for someone to clear one off. Someone will, I promise.
2. You Hover and Lurk.
This goes hand-in-hand with sitting at a dirty table. When the sign is flipped to "Please Wait to be Seated", I have a full dining room, and you're the next name on the list, it is RUDE to hover and lurk. By this, I mean standing in the general flow of traffic (instead of out of the way), peering into the dining room at my other customers, and crouching as if you're going to pounce on the table as soon as that old lady can move her walker away from the table fast enough. These people also tend to stand RIGHT next to the table as it is cleared off, and start piling in before the table is wiped or set. This is just as irritating, if not more so, than the dirty table sitters.
3. You tell me you have a table of ten, when only two of you are here.
This is technically something I won't find out until I've set a table for 10, and discover that 8 of you are missing. This is incredibly annoying for many reasons. In our restaurant, we have only 10 tables, and a table of 10 takes up 2 of them. On a busy day, we often have a waiting list during peak dining times, and when you have 2 tables being held up for 30 minutes while the rest of your party trickles in, it jams up the rest of my dining room. Your party has just cost us a lot of money, for not being considerate enough to gather in advance. These tables require a lot of attention from wait staff, and take up a lot of valuable space. Plan ahead, and don't put your name on the list if you're not all here.
4. You scheme.
During our busiest times of day, some people do sneaky things. Such as, put their names on the to-be-seated list, then order food to-go from a separate member of the staff. They do this because it generally takes 15-20 minutes for a to-go order to be ready (about the same time it is for the wait on a table, on average). These people are seated, then inform the waitperson that they had ordered food to-go, but decided instead to eat it here. If you want me to be incredibly annoyed and definitely knock you down a peg on my priority list, do this. You have just succeeded in making the kitchen staff angry with me, because they've just started packaging your meal in to-go containers, and now they have to re-plate. Additionally, I'm going to be bringing your food to you BEFORE other, more patient and considerate customers. The patient customers who waited 15 minutes for a table, and have been waiting AT their table for 10 minutes already for their food. The people who do this are also usually the people who leave VERY bad tips on the table afterward, feeling that because they ordered it at the counter to-go, I somehow deserve less of a tip for it.
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Next time, we will look at all the things people do to annoy the wait staff once they're sitting down!
I work in a small restaurant, owned by my parents. We are a fairly casual breakfast and lunch place (open from 6AM - 2PM daily). I am a designated Assistant Manager, but most of the time I wait tables. As a waitress, there are things that people do every single day that irk not only me, but all of my other wait staff as well.
So, dear consumers, I'm going to write about these things in the hope that some day, someone might learn from them. Or, at least, get a laugh out of them.
-----
Things you're doing to annoy me before you ever even get to your table:
Yes, there are things that you're doing before you even sit down that bother me! I'm going to let you know about them in the hope that you'll knock it off.
1. You sit down at a dirty table.
This is a sure-fire way to ensure that I am both very annoyed at you, and that I will make you my very last priority. Especially if there were other clean tables available, and you chose to sit at a dirty one instead. Even if the sign at the door is flipped to say "Please Seat Yourself", it definitely does not say "Please Seat Yourself at the Dirty Table". Sitting there makes it awkward for me to bus it off, wipe it off, then reset it--and you're probably that person who wants to bark your order at me before I'm half finished, but that complaint is for later. If you walk into a restaurant, where the sign says "Please Seat Yourself", and there are dirty tables, wait for someone to clear one off. Someone will, I promise.
2. You Hover and Lurk.
This goes hand-in-hand with sitting at a dirty table. When the sign is flipped to "Please Wait to be Seated", I have a full dining room, and you're the next name on the list, it is RUDE to hover and lurk. By this, I mean standing in the general flow of traffic (instead of out of the way), peering into the dining room at my other customers, and crouching as if you're going to pounce on the table as soon as that old lady can move her walker away from the table fast enough. These people also tend to stand RIGHT next to the table as it is cleared off, and start piling in before the table is wiped or set. This is just as irritating, if not more so, than the dirty table sitters.
3. You tell me you have a table of ten, when only two of you are here.
This is technically something I won't find out until I've set a table for 10, and discover that 8 of you are missing. This is incredibly annoying for many reasons. In our restaurant, we have only 10 tables, and a table of 10 takes up 2 of them. On a busy day, we often have a waiting list during peak dining times, and when you have 2 tables being held up for 30 minutes while the rest of your party trickles in, it jams up the rest of my dining room. Your party has just cost us a lot of money, for not being considerate enough to gather in advance. These tables require a lot of attention from wait staff, and take up a lot of valuable space. Plan ahead, and don't put your name on the list if you're not all here.
4. You scheme.
During our busiest times of day, some people do sneaky things. Such as, put their names on the to-be-seated list, then order food to-go from a separate member of the staff. They do this because it generally takes 15-20 minutes for a to-go order to be ready (about the same time it is for the wait on a table, on average). These people are seated, then inform the waitperson that they had ordered food to-go, but decided instead to eat it here. If you want me to be incredibly annoyed and definitely knock you down a peg on my priority list, do this. You have just succeeded in making the kitchen staff angry with me, because they've just started packaging your meal in to-go containers, and now they have to re-plate. Additionally, I'm going to be bringing your food to you BEFORE other, more patient and considerate customers. The patient customers who waited 15 minutes for a table, and have been waiting AT their table for 10 minutes already for their food. The people who do this are also usually the people who leave VERY bad tips on the table afterward, feeling that because they ordered it at the counter to-go, I somehow deserve less of a tip for it.
---------
Next time, we will look at all the things people do to annoy the wait staff once they're sitting down!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Brief Update + Series Proposal
Well, I decided to update. I have no real news, except that I've begun the application process at a couple Higher Ed institutions. The application process for these places is very thorough, which is both a good and bad thing for me! I love that it gives me the opportunity to show the Hiring Manager a little more about myself, and how I feel my background equals a good fit for the job they're hiring for. The only real down side is that it is a very time consuming process.
I spent nearly an hour putting together an application the other day, wrote a killer cover letter (in their space to write or paste one), then lost it! I hit the submit button, but because I had a copy of the job description open in another window, it sent back an error message. UGH! I learned a valuable lesson, at any rate: write your cover letters in Word, then paste! I had to step away from the application and return to it the next day, so I could write the cover letter with a renewed sense of enthusiasm, instead if a rushed feeling of frustration!
----
While I'm waiting to hear back from empoloyers, I thought I might start a series of blog posts about Restaurant Etiquette. Why? My folks have owned and operated their own small restaurant in our small town (and popular summer 2nd home owner community) for the last 13 years. I've done just about everything involved in running a restaurant during my time there, working on weekends through high school and during summers in high school and college. I'm currently working for them as an assistant manager, baker, filer, and waitress while I'm searching for other jobs (primarily baking and waitressing) and there are consistently things that intensely bother me about customers while I'm waiting on tables.
So, dear blogosphere, I will highlight these things. Hopefully, none of you are committing these bothersome faux pas. But if you are, maybe you should reconsider the next time you decide to leave a 10% tip, or ask me if the OJ is fresh-squeezed.
I spent nearly an hour putting together an application the other day, wrote a killer cover letter (in their space to write or paste one), then lost it! I hit the submit button, but because I had a copy of the job description open in another window, it sent back an error message. UGH! I learned a valuable lesson, at any rate: write your cover letters in Word, then paste! I had to step away from the application and return to it the next day, so I could write the cover letter with a renewed sense of enthusiasm, instead if a rushed feeling of frustration!
----
While I'm waiting to hear back from empoloyers, I thought I might start a series of blog posts about Restaurant Etiquette. Why? My folks have owned and operated their own small restaurant in our small town (and popular summer 2nd home owner community) for the last 13 years. I've done just about everything involved in running a restaurant during my time there, working on weekends through high school and during summers in high school and college. I'm currently working for them as an assistant manager, baker, filer, and waitress while I'm searching for other jobs (primarily baking and waitressing) and there are consistently things that intensely bother me about customers while I'm waiting on tables.
So, dear blogosphere, I will highlight these things. Hopefully, none of you are committing these bothersome faux pas. But if you are, maybe you should reconsider the next time you decide to leave a 10% tip, or ask me if the OJ is fresh-squeezed.
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