Tag Archive: job hunt

Jason’s 2011

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Sat. December 31, 2011

I really should have started writing this post a few days ago, but I didn’t feel like forcing myself to do it. The words weren’t flowing. Well, here I am on the final day of the year and I really need to get these words out. This year, 2011, was a bit of a harder one than the last. I remember declaring somewhere that it would be a year of buckling down and riding out tougher times. I was right. That’s not to say that this was a bad year for me. I’m just likely to label it as a challenging one. Did I rise to the challenges thrown at me? I think I did.

Anyway, enough blabber. In depth text follows…after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

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How the interview went

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Sat. February 5, 2011

The whole process of going from first contact to interview was a speedy one. I responded to the cold call mid-week, and managed to get an interview scheduled at the end of the following week. Like I mentioned, when all of the fuss started I had just finished revising my résumé. In response to the voicemail, I sent an email expressing interest, and that was followed by one of those awkward phone calls requiring me to slyly slink away from my desk. I suppose the slinking was optional since walking away to take the call would have sufficed. Once I got all the info I needed, I sent over my document. Later that night I got a note saying I was presented to my prospective company. That’s when I started freaking out because I didn’t have anything to wear to any future interview. That’s why I took advantage of that sale at Moore’s.

By the following Wednesday I got confirmation that they were interested in interviewing me. It would involve a written test, a verbal presentation on a given topic followed by general questions. I was asked by the recruiter whether I needed more time to prepare for all of that. I gave it some thought but I ended up just scheduling the interview for Friday. Two days seemed enough for me. The topic for the presentation wasn’t too hard, and I felt like I could make it through the written part with whatever knowledge I already had on hand. I thought, if I had to study hard for the written part can I really consider myself as being qualified? Good question. As such I took a confident stance and just took the jump.

The day of the interview came quickly. I was decked out in my new suit, looking sharp. I made a conscious decision not to shave though in order to not raise too many alarms when I would later arrive late for work. I gave myself 40 minutes to drive to the company, not knowing what morning traffic would be like. I actually made it there in about 20. I chose to drive around the block to kill a bit more time. When I got to reception I noticed that no one was there. I started doing a head to toe check and noticed that one shoe was laced differently from the other. That’s what I get for not checking that out before dressing up. In haste I relaced the whole thing. I was under pressure because I didn’t want to be the guy that had one shoe off in reception for an interview. That would make for an interesting first impression, no?

The interview itself was interesting. For the Perl section I managed to hold my own, but as is the nature of the beast there were maybe one or two things that made me curse at myself: Why the hell did I know that type of special syntax? I just wrote down any assumptions and carried on. The linux section was a mild bust. The database section was OK. Overall, it wasn’t 100% but I didn’t embarrass myself. The verbal presentation went well. I wrote out notes the night before, and rehearsed things a few times. I tried to keep it to 10 minutes but I kept going over. In person, I spoke with as much clarity as I could muster. I am prone to mush mouth if I’m not careful. I think I made it through without getting lost. The follow up questions weren’t bad. I think apart from one odd question I gave them all the info they wanted. I left the office feeling like I didn’t screw it up horribly. I knew that even if I didn’t get the job the interview was a good experience. Win-win if you ask me.

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Two week’s notice

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Fri. February 4, 2011

So, OK, now that it’s official I can actually start talking about this. Although, I haven’t really been letting colleagues (at my level) in on this small secret, so it’s not like everyone knows. Oh, but it’ll be out in the open soon enough. As of today I have given my two week’s notice to the company. I will be leaving this company on the 18th. If I think about it I’ve been with them for almost 4.5 years, which is rather large in the tech world in my opinion. I’ve given them a lot of my blood, sweat, and tears. After all this time, I feel like the time is right to move on.

I’m not going to brain dump the events of the past week or two in one post; I think I’ll spread it out. Was I actively looking for a job? Oh man, not at all. I wasn’t even at that hurdle yet. I was too caught up in just trying to get my résumé into good shape. I started working on the document maybe about a year and a half ago. The situation was a bit rocky and nothing was a sure deal. I was told that it’s better to have the doc ready just to be able to leave at a moment’s notice. It took me this long to get it into a usable state. What was stopping me? I think the lack of pressure and the fact that I had a tolerable job kept me in a state of apathy. And now, why the sudden push to get it done? Well…let’s just say I needed to create change.

All this time I was getting occasional hits from LinkedIn from various recruiters thinking that I might be able to fit in a role they were trying to fill. Each time I got one I didn’t feel like I was a good fit, so I always declined. Once I got my document done, I started to wonder whether it was time to put my name out there. I was set to update my accounts on Monster and Workopolis. All of a sudden, I found a voicemail on my work phone. It was from a recruiter who mentioned that he was looking to fill in a job that made use of Perl. That set off alarms in my head. He said it was for a really large company with worldwide reach. More alarms went off in my head. I was definitely intrigued. So I decided to return his call. All of that set off a long chain of events that culminated in my getting the position in question. It was fast enough to make my head spin, honestly.

So yeah, I write more about the specifics in the days to come. It’s kind of fascinating how everything fell into place without much effort on my part. It’s like the universe was particularly sympathetic to my wants at the time and allowed it all to happen. Anyway, the countdown is on. New ending. New beginning.

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Countdown doom clock

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Thu. February 11, 2010

There really is something a little messed up with having to do your job and talk about aspects of it that don’t apply to you because of the imminence of the end of your employment.

“Oh, but we don’t have to worry about that because we won’t be here.”

Seriously? What the hell? That really plays havoc with your mind because it really underlines the idea that you are expendable. Granted, that’s true of any job at any company. I mean, it can be assumed that things will continue and that it will be business as usual even if you’re no longer a contributor. Still, when you have a countdown doom clock looming over your head it’s very hard to keep your morale up.

For me, most days it’s easy to deal with because I know that I have to remain professional and continue to provide the levels of service that are expected of me. On some days it’s a lot more difficult. It’s like we’re happily helping the executioner go shopping for an axe.

What kind of messed up situation is this???

On these tougher days I need to remind myself that it’s just a job, and that it’s just business. It’s the way things go, and it’s not personal in the least. It’s not a commentary either on the quality of work that I’ve produced. I know, they know, everyone that knows me knows that I care about my work. So, I can take comfort (perhaps) in knowing that it’s not because of anything I did. To everything there is a start and an end. Still, having that knowledge isn’t helping my mood in any way.

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Offended at people caring

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Mon. November 23, 2009

I had a little bit of a rough go this afternoon. At around 3 p.m. I suddenly started feeling a little bit light headed. Immediately I knew that my body was beginning to combat something. I’m still feeling a little bit rotten this evening, though from what I’m feeling right now I feel like this is something that I can battle overnight with a bit of rest and quiet time. So, earlier, all of this uneasiness put me in a mildly bad mood. At one point, a colleague asked a simple question about me getting my resume done. I took offence. There’s no good reason why I felt offended. Maybe I just felt like I was being judged. Actually, everyone joined in tut-tutting me over the lack of effort. I didn’t take it very well. Thing is, I know that all of this is well-meaning. Why am I offended that people care? It’s almost comical.

About a week ago I spoke about acting like an ostrich when it comes to job hunting. A lot of that still applies now. I still feel like I’m failing a lot of people by not putting in the effort. There are a lot of people behind me that want to see me succeed. Why do I seem to be partaking in the act of self-sabotage? Tough call. I’m not wallowing in self-pity. I recognize that the easiest way out of this current funk is just to do it. I know that now’s the best time to get my things in order, because if I wait until my hand is forced then everything will just be that much more difficult. So frustrating.

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Greener grass

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Fri. May 22, 2009

Last night’s missive was rather curt, wasn’t it? Despite that, I’m sure I got my message across. As Single Girl commented yesterday, it seems to be something of a universal feeling. Maybe the saying that applies is: “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”

Anyway, last night’s entry was short because I was on the phone with a friend discussing this very topic. With midnight approaching I wanted to publish an entry. Obsessive, eh? So, the discussion covered a lot of stuff but was mostly about our careers and a bit of general quarter-life crisis malaise. Ugh, just typing it out makes me feels gross. Once again this is difficult for me to write about because I can’t go into the detail that I want to about what’s on my mind for obvious reasons. Now, after a good amount of analysis my friend was able to identify some key issues with what I’m dealing with. The common theme seems to be “fairness.” That concept seems to have taken many forms. Am I being fairly compensated? Am I doing what the job was originally billed as? Am I getting the recognition I deserve? Hmm. There are obvious answers to all of those questions if you’ve been following along all this time.

Will there be change? I don’t know. I’m certainly hoping for it because I have no reason to think all is lost. That being said, the message that was conveyed to me is that it I need to come up with a backup plan. I took a look at the resume that I used to get my current job. Holy crap, I was mildly horrified at what I had on there. It’s not that I was lying or stretching truths, but rather I kind of feel that I was under-selling myself. It’s crazy: I feel like I cannot use that old resume to represent who I am now. Never mind the fact that the old resume doesn’t have any details on my current job. When I look at the descriptions for my other positions I have to wonder what I was thinking. Why did I highlight certain job aspects over others? Why did I skip details that would have been beneficial? It makes no sense! In any case, I am going to spend this weekend retooling the darn thing and getting it battle-ready.

It’s not like I’m planning to leap at the first opportunity. More than anything, the goal of revising the resume is to get me ready to see what’s out there, and to find out what my market value is. There’s no harm in that, right? Just because I’m searching for opportunities doesn’t mean that I’m going to leave my current job! In any case, being prepared is never a bad thing!

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The wait is agonizing

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Tue. September 5, 2006

You know, I’m honestly trying to remain calm about the whole waiting process. It’s now late on Tuesday, with no response from the company. To be fair, it’s only been one working day since the interview. So, really, it’s still way too early for anything. Ugh, but still, the wait is agonizing–especially since I’m going on the premise that the interview went really well. That’s one reason why I’m trying to joke about not getting the job: I simply don’t want to get my hopes up. That way, if I don’t get the job, the crash back down to earth won’t be so bad.

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Waiting is now the hard part

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Sat. September 2, 2006

When I say that things went well, meaning that I’m not going to get the job, I was only kidding.

(duh)

I left the house ridiculously early. I was going to take transit downtown, and I didn’t want to take any chances with regards to arriving on time. By the time I got to Osgoode Station, an hour and a half had passed since I’d first stepped on the bus. Man, if I end up getting this job, this is what my daily commute is going to be like. Such is life, I suppose. Anyway, even though the trip took an hour and a half, it was still too early to be show up at the office. So, I dropped by the local Chapters and sat reading a book to pass the time away. As I sat, I started sweating profusely. Earlier, I anticipated this and brought along a handkerchief. Oh, but no amount of patting down and brow swiping could stop the deluge. I was praying to God that I wasn’t going to have embarassing sweat marks on my clothes or anything of the sort.

About 15 minutes before my interview time, I started heading west on Richmond St. I didn’t know what to expect with regards to the building. To be honest, I was thinking that it was going to be a modern style building of glass and steel. As I kept walking, all I was seeing were old brick buildings. I kept going until, BAM, there was the sign on the side of the building. Seriously, it was a surprise. When I got there, I tried to open the door to the building, but it was locked. I had to buzz in, but there was this woman already busy with the intercom. She was neatly dressed and mildly frazzled like me. Seems she was also interviewing with my company. When we got in, we called for the elevator. We stood there for a good minute wondering whether anything was happening. In the end, I thought, “maybe it’s an old style elevator”. So, I pulled on the door handle, and sure enough, the elevator was there all along. How ghetto quaint! The woman remarked “oh, you’re smart!” Heh, can I get that in writing?

Well, the company seemed to have a loft environment. I would have explored, but that would have been…you know: inappropriate. I was interviewed by two guys that seemed to be in their late 20s. They were handsome and seemingly urbanite, making me feel out of place and seemingly young, despite me wearing what I considered to be a sharp suit. Yeah, I know, I’m hitting 25 this year. I still feel like I look stupidly young, you know? Anyway, the interview went well. The focus was more on my work experiences with a few technical questions thrown in. Totally unexpectedly, there were no HR type questions. I mean, there were no “how would you handle this situation” or “if you could be an animal” questions. Instead, it was all business. The technical questions were all Perl related, and I swear, I answered them all correctly with confidence (mostly).

Just for interest, this was one of the questions: “Say, you have a big set of text files of some sort. How how you go about creating a program that would determine the words that appear most frequently in the files?”

Easy enough, no? Well, half an hour in, the interview ended. Considering all of the questions asked, and all of my given responses (with consideration to the whole realm of possible answers) I think I did really well. I guess waiting is now the hard part. This being a long weekend, the waiting time is extended. Even then, there’s no guarantee that they’ll give me a response on Tuesday (if at all). So, I guess I should try to enjoy the long weekend by putting this on the back-burner of my mind. It’ll be tough to do so, but it needs to be done for the sake of my sanity.

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