The Cubicle’s Backporch

So I’m back like Slim Shady.

Obviously that means I got a job. And since I am now employed, I’m going to list out some things about the interviews I went on.

1.) Interview with Potential Company #3. The interview was on a day when there was flash flooding. IN THE CITY. Has nothing to do with the story, but it was odd. Anyway. The manager came and got me to interview me. He was probably 5′1″. No joke. And I’m 5′8″ without my interview heels on. So we get to the interview room, he tells me that the engineer that was supposed to interview me didn’t bother to show up (okay, in different words but I got the point) and that he wasn’t sure where he was. In a joking way (b/c we’d been joking before that) I say “Oh, what a slacker!” or something to that effect. Suddenly his face changes, he gets very serious and says “No, he’s actually a VERY hard worker.” My face falls, I’m stunned and all I can mumble is “Oh, of course.”  Strike 1.

2.) During the same interview, he’s asking me the basic questions. (What did you do at PreviousCompany?) and I’m responding with my well-rehearsed, to-the-point answer when he suddenly squints at me, and says “Sorry if I’m squinting, but I have a huge migraine.” Again, I’m stunned and say “Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” (In my mind I’m thinking what the FUCK!? Should I talk quieter? Offer him an aspirin?!) Strike 2.

3.) I’m not sure where Strike 3 occured with that interview. In fact, as I was leaving he said that they’d get in touch with me by the end of the week about getting a drug test. And you don’t get a drug test unless you’re hired. But then I didn’t hear from them. And then I got an email saying they chose another candidate. Which was probably a good thing b/c MrC’s coworker knew someone who had worked there and hated it, saying that the management style was fucked up.

4.) I interviewed with Potential Company #2 the first time. They called me back for a second interview saying that the position was between myself and one other person. I go in and talk to the plant manager who goes on an ‘economy’ speech about how they’re trying to watch their spending. It made be wonder if maybe they WEREN’T going to hire for that position. I was supposed to hear something in a week. I waited a week and a half and called the HR guy. Left a message. He didn’t call me back. Waited another week. Called HR guy again. Left message. He never called me back. So I gave up. And still haven’t heard anything.

5.)  Interview with New Employer was the oddest interview I’ve ever been on. BY FAR. So I get a call and the women says “I was just wondering if you’d still like to interview with CompanyName.” I say “Of course.” And she gives me a time and says she’ll email me the address. She gets ready to hang up and I had to stop her and ask if there’s someone I should ask for when I got there. She said she would be at the desk. I got off the phone having no idea what company I was supposed to interview for (or even what position). So I did some googling and found that the company name she gave me was actually the parent company of a company I had applied for. Whew. So at least I knew what position (supervisor) and what company it was.

5a.) So I knew I had to be a hardass. You don’t get supervisor positions by being happy and smiling the whole time. So I mentally psyched myself up to be a Bitch-Who-Gets-Shit-Done. Which was a totally new persona for me. Usually I’m easy-going and laid back.

5b.) So, I get to the interview. It’s with the plant manager and the HR person. He’s asking me why I want to be a supervisor, etc. Then he says “Well, what would you say if I said this interview wasn’t going well?” And I looked him in the eye and said “I’d say you were wrong. I know I don’t have this specific experience, but I KNOW I’d be good at this job.” He looks stunned for an instant and then he starts talking about that he actually called me in to see if I’d make a good candidate for their engineering position.

5c.) After explaining the situation (1 engineer got let go, another resigned, and they were now left with 1 engineer) he called the Engineering manager in. The engineering manager is German (I’ve found that working with Germans is interesting b/c they’re to-the-point). He listened to my little ‘experience spiel’ then says “Sounds good. Let’s try her out.” I was sort of in shock just b/c here I’d been unemployed for 9 months and now I was sitting across from a guy who in one minute decided to ‘try me out’. I knew though that the plant manager would have to have the last say so I didn’t get too excited.

5d.) When the plant manager came back in and heard that the Engineering Manager wanted to hire me, he smiled and said “Well, we’ll definitely take that under consideration when we decide.” Then they walked me to the door.

5e.) I walked out the door in a daze. Not for the reason you would think (Yay! I think they’re going to hire me!) but because I had NO IDEA about the company. Usually I ask questions about what the company does, what they expect from their engineers, etc. But I never had the chance. I had no idea what my TITLE would be. I had no idea what I would be DOING, what the company itself even DID. It was very odd.

5f.) 3 days later, they called to give me an offer. A VERY LOW offer. I was stunned. I had never heard of any engineers making that little. They never even asked if I would accept it, they just assumed. I got off the phone and told MrC who (to my relief) said that there was NO WAY IN HELL I was working for that little of money. So I called my career advisor at the college I went to who sent me a range of salaries that people had been getting and their offer was A LOT less than any of them. So I called the company back the next day to renegotiate. (Something I’ve NEVER DONE)

5g.) They ended up coming up 20% which still means I’m making 20% less than my previous job, but it was something I could live with.

And now I’m employed again. This job is very different from my previous jobs, and I already have a shit-ton of projects… but I think that could be a good thing. I like multi-tasking and the projects are so different that I’ll get lots of good resume experience.

Also, it’s weird to think that a week before that offer, I wa

And I’ve been reading blogs on my lunch break but can’t comment due to websites being blocked. (Why can’t you comment directly from google reader?!) But I’ll try and comment this weekend.