The Job Hunt Thread

[shanendoah]

*hugs* Sunnyday. Trust me when I say I understand completely.

Attitude does help, but more important than attitude is simply taking care of yourself and making use of your support network when you need it. Everyone here always praises my attitude during this, but it is not always positive. I am struggling with situational depression. I barely write; my creativity is at an all time low. I am a worse mom and a worse wife.
I am also amazingly lucky to have a spouse who understands, who pushes me to do the things that keep my spirits up, like taking the dogs to the park, have lunch with friends, go to my writing critique group, even if I haven't written a word.
I also have incredibly supportive friends, and the most forgiving daughter on the planet.

And yet, I still have bad days, plenty of them. Know that that's okay. Let yourself have a bad day every now and then. And then, do something that makes you feel good.

[Deleted]

Aug 18, 2014 19:18:31 GMT -5 flutterby said:

Aug 18, 2014 17:09:14 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

How are the other job searches going? flutterby? Sunnyday?

And I know there were others...

For me: a big fat nada so far. I had another interview; that went well, and I think it would be a good job. I'm getting good interviewing practice anyway.

The problem is that none of these places are in a huge hurry to make a decision, which they did tell me, but I'm impatient!!! I REALLY want the first one I interviewed at. They were narrowing it down to about three people to interview (I was one of the three), so even if I didn't get it, it seems like they would let me know. Since I haven't heard anything, I still have hope.

It's now been three weeks with no job. Not a long time, but about long enough that I'm ready to expand what I'm applying for: further commute and whatnot.

And that's where I'm at.

Want my 2 years and 3 months without a job? Although I guess I can rule out 6 months due to a medical sabbatical because of a seizure and not being allowed to drive. Took that long just for the medicine to adjust so I would stop sleeping all day.

I have done a couple temp contracts but I would really like a REAL job.  Oy. I did take a refresher Microsoft Office Suite course but doesn't feel like it did squat. I have been getting calls and emails from people for contract work and I may do that for a while but I would rather have something a little more stable. I am so damned bored sitting on my ass at home watching tv with DH and then I feel guilty if I want to go out and do something without him because his MS makes everyday tasks more difficult. AAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!! Not too mention my ass gets sore from all the sitting on it. And I can do useful stuff on the computer but staring at it too long sometimes makes me go brain-dead. More so than I already am!

[flutterby]

ACK!!! Two years and three months? No, I do not want that at all!   Three weeks of sitting on my ass is getting to me, though to be fair, in that time I moved, too.

The first interview they did kind of give me a timeline, but they also said they already have someone in this position, and that they'll be moving him more to the finance side of things and that's why the position will be open. So it's no hurry and completely on their own timeline for when they do that.

Today I'm contacting temp agencies. I didn't really want to go that route, but my sparkling personality won't pay the bills, so any job is better than none.

Fingers crossed for you today and tomorrow Shanendoah!!!

[shanendoah]

Phone interview went well this morning. They are doing 8 phone screenings and hope to narrow that down to 3-4 in person interviews next week. She did preemptively ask about my availability next week, so I'll take that as a good sign.
This position would be a step down for me, and she asked about that. Of the three jobs, it is the one I am least excited about, but it would move me into HR (which I am interested in), and get me on with the county. Once in with the county, it is pretty easy to move up through county jobs.

The phone interview tomorrow morning is with a company I am fascinated by. They are trying to change the way people receive their primary care. It is really interesting, and an organization I reached out to via LinkedIn before ever applying. The job isn't the best fit for me, but it would move me into a business analyst role (not a bad thing, and works quite well with my background). And it's still very much in a start-up mode, which I think is exciting.

But the job I am most excited about right now is the in person interview tomorrow with the career center with the MBA program at the university. It's a good title (Associate Director), working at the university where I know first hand how good the benefits are, and then helping people with their career goals- something I very much enjoy.

I could be quite happy in any of these positions. Though I'd also still love to hear from my old company on the position I was referred to via the career fair.

[The Captain]

Keeping fingers crossed and sending good Juju to everyone here!

[shanendoah]

Thanks again everyone for the good wishes. They seem to be working.

Status update:
Morning phone interview with start-up healthcare organization went very well. The HR person wants to bring me in for an in-person interview the first week of September (so not next week, but the week after). I am waiting to hear from the HR coordinator about the day that works for all the people who need to be involved.

Afternoon interview at the University went OK. The position wasn't fully described in the job posting, so I ended up feeling a little unprepared as they asked me questions about why I was interested in this job in particular. Still, the people were nice and the responses I got seemed positive.

About 10 minutes before I went into the afternoon interview (as I was sitting at the other end of the building, waiting to walk down to their offices), I got a call from Amazon to set up a phone interview for Friday- for a position I never applied for. I've sent an email to one of my Amazon contacts to find out if she can still get credit for a referral and for a little bit more info on the level of the position.

When I got home from the interview, I had another email asking to set up a phone interview for a different position at the University for next week.

So that means that in the last 3 days, I have been contacted to schedule 4 phone interviews and 1 in-person. I will have had 4 interviews this week, have 1 set up for next week, and expect to have a second interview set up for the following week. Plus, there is a good chance that tomorrow or Friday I will be contacted to set up a second interview for the position I phone interviewed for yesterday morning. That will also take place next week.

This past weekend a friend of mine mentioned she had heard to expect a job search to take 1 month per $10k you were looking to make. Sept 10 will be 8 months that I've been looking, and I'm looking for $85k, so that might end up being right on for me.

[shanendoah]

The hardest part is reminding myself I still need to be applying to new positions. Even with all this activity, it may not pay off, so I need to still be applying.

[The Captain]

Aug 20, 2014 19:57:33 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

The hardest part is reminding myself I still need to be applying to new positions. Even with all this activity, it may not pay off, so I need to still be applying.

  You need to keep activity in the pipeline until you find something.  Keep up the good work!

[drivingaround]

Awesome, so happy to hear all the activity that's happening this week!  GO Shane GO!  

I know very few people who are actually happy at Amazon. Most stay there one year to get the incredible sign-on bonus then jump ship.  Although Amazon has been working to repair their sweatshop reputation not sure it has been successful.  Do you know which sector it is with?

[shanendoah]

And now we're at interview requests for 6 different jobs, double my usual (and previous high) of 3.

drivingaround - I have a few friends currently at Amazon and others who have worked their before. This position is with the Kindle team. Kindle and Publishing are the only areas as Amazon I'm interested in working in.

[shanendoah]

Also, a company that I am very interested in is having an "open session" interview day next Tuesday, to which I have been invited to schedule for (10 minutes with a recruiter, 15 minute technical assessment, then possibly on to meeting with the teams.)
I need to wait and see if the phone interview I was asked for earlier wants a Tuesday time before I schedule this.

[movingforward]

Good luck!  All this activity is great!  Hopefully you will find something soon. 

[shanendoah]

Second interview with healthcare start up scheduled.

[The Captain]

Aug 21, 2014 17:04:31 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

Second interview with healthcare start up scheduled.

Whoot!!! Whoot!!!

Stay positive.  Since it's a start up it's difficult to research the hell out of the company but do the best that you can.  Maybe research "Issues (in my field) associated with startups" to prepare...

[Bonny]

Good going Shan!

[shanendoah]

Phone call with Amazon seemed to go well.

Have not heard back from company that contacted me yesterday asking about my availability for a phone interview. That availability has changed, so I did send a follow up email this morning.

The Captain - I had come across this company before in my search and been fascinated by what they were doing, so did a lot of research then and reached out to their head of recruiting via LinkedIn. That was before this position was even posted. I will do more research (see what I can find out about their financial viability). Honestly, I am not certain their model of care delivery will take off, but given the state of healthcare in this country, disruptive innovation (which this is) is needed, even if it fails. And to go along with that, I live in Seattle. Having worked for a failed start-up actually opens a lot of doors.

[Sunnyday]

Still no progress on my end, but I have put it on hold as I've been quite busy with work and stuff.

If I'm selected to go on to the next round for the current prospect, I expect to be contacted next week. If I'm not, then I might as well move on to other things.

[shanendoah]

Current status:

This week: 4 first round interviews completed

Next week: 3 4 first round interviews scheduled. I was finally emailed with the time for the 4th one at about 6:30pm my time. The person setting it up is in Texas, so 8:30pm her time. This is a major property management firm, so that could just be her shift, but still.

Week after next: 1 second round interview scheduled


The timeline of the first interview I had this week (on Tuesday) was to let people know by yesterday or today at the latest if they made the second round and schedule those interviews for next week. I have not yet heard from them, so I am going to guess I am not moving on. They still have one hour before the business day ends, but I'm not holding my breath. Update: Officially received word I am not moving forward. That's okay. It would have been a couple steps down in title and at least one step down in pay (plus I would have had to pay union dues). And considering everything else going on, I will happily focus my energies on opportunities I am more excited about.

I am really frustrated by the scheduling (or lack thereof) of the phone interview for Monday. This is a large company, at least in my area, and they initially reached out to me yesterday morning. I sent them my availability, and heard nothing back. I reached out again this morning because my availability had changed. They responded asking about Monday, and I gave them that information. I still have not heard about when they would want to call me on Monday.

[shanendoah]

On a frustrating note:
I got something in the mail the other day from my insurance saying that I no longer had coverage as of June 1. Well, yes, that was when the COBRA coverage ended, but I had purchased insurance, with my same company (I've been with them for 9 years now) through the exchange. Thinking about it, though, I have not received new cards. And then I went to order a refill of my medication, and it couldn't tell me the cost.

So today I called my insurance. No, they do not show that I am covered. Normally they have that information from the exchange in 24-48 hours- which should have meant before June 1, since I did everything back at the end of May.
I know that the payments have been coming out of my account, but I still go check my exchange account to make sure they show them- they do. So I call the exchange. Everything in their system says I am active and in good standing. No idea why the insurance company doesn't have my coverage. They submitted a ticket to resend the information to the insurance company. I should get an email when it's done.
But to make this even more complicated, I NEED to go in Monday (I have only a one week window, that started this week) to go in for an injection. I don't know if I'll need to pay for the injection or not. A lot may depend on whether the receptionist working is one who knows me or not. *sigh*

[shanendoah]

Okay, today's phone interview was really a quick phone screening. They wanted to make sure the location was okay (as it is not in Seattle), and that my pay expectations match with what they are looking to pay. In both cases, we are good.

The recruiter mentioned that she had just taken over this recruitment from someone who left. I got the strong feelings from her questions that perhaps those two issues- location and pay -had derailed a number of applicants.

For me, the location is actually kind of ideal- a reverse traffic commute. And I'm not looking for more than I was making before, but to be around the same. And since she mentioned they are looking for the person they put in this role to be someone they can promote to a managerial role, I'd say chances of future raises/growth are good.


So, with those questions out of the way, the hiring manager is interested in me, and I should hear from her in the next week to week and a half (she's been out on vacation and is playing catch up) to schedule an in-person interview.

[The Captain]

Good luck with everything!

[shanendoah]

Request for 2nd interview with Amazon received. Sent back my availability, and am waiting to hear.

Also, playing with the software made by the company I'm attending the open interview session for tomorrow. If I can figure out how to save my pretty graphs in a format PB will accept, I may try posting them here, as the data I am using is my job search data.

[shanendoah]

Don't really know how to post the infographics I made directly to PB, but they are in a blog post. It is all information about my job search. If you're interested in seeing a visual representation of my frustration, go here: Dog Ate My Wallet

[shanendoah]

Interview today went okay. I'll know by the end of the week if they want me back for a second round. This job is not at the top of my list, but it would be a job.

I heard yesterday on the most recent University job- did not get it. I apparently made it a harder decision than they expected. But their other main candidate was internal and that's who they went with.

Got an email today for a phone interview for a position with the old company (but not the position I talked to the HR person about at the job fair). I have a phone interview with them tomorrow, taking me up to 5 1st round interviews for this week.

[Nazgul Girl]

   Good luck, Shane !  

[Bonny]

[CarolinaKat]

Good luck!!!

[taz157]

Yeah that!!

[shanendoah]

Phone interview with old company went fairly well yesterday, though she is hoping for someone with more research administration background than I have, so not certain that will progress or not.

Applied for a position via Craigslist last night and heard back within a few hours. I have a phone screening set with them for next week.

This morning, I got up to get the dogs to the park nice and early, as it is Pop Tart's birthday, and I had two phone interviews scheduled for this morning. On the way into the park, I took a step back, apparently into a depression. There were three pops, and I was on the ground. Spent the morning in urgent care, making sure I didn't break a bone in my foot. (Luckily, it is just a bad sprain.)

One of my phone interviews is rescheduled for tomorrow. The other we just had- he called me back to let me know he had gotten all of my messages, and wanted to make sure I was okay, and find out if I had time. It went pretty well. I should hear from them about moving forward next week.
It is a step down, title wise, from my last position at the University (as in I would report to someone who holds the title I used to hold), but with enough responsibility that the pay is comparable.


Current tally for back to school season:
Last week: 4 first round interviews
This week: 5 first round interviews
Next week: 1 first round interview, 2 second round interviews

[Peace77]

Keep up the good work!  

Hope your foot/leg heals quickly.  Remember RICE.  
Rest 
Ice
Compression
Elevate