Would you be willing to take a polygraph? - Lockhead representative
Job hunting is very very strange. Its much stranger than I ever imagined. Basically you wait around for months thinking that nobody but nobody gives a flying turd about you and your fancy-shmancy "resume" and then suddenly everyone decides to call you at the exact same time and always on your cellphone.
"Hi is this Greg Burton? I'm adbfasdf ghfuogjio from asldfasdfui, glad I could reach you. Is this a good time?"
"Gah, well, um, I'm in my car driving down the freeway with coffee in my hand steering with my left knee, but sure this is a good time."
And then they ask you questions which you're never prepared for despite having heard them 50 times.
"So, Greg, would you say you prefer working in large groups, working in small groups, or do you prefer working by yourself avoiding all those other annoying people?"
"Well, um, that depends, um. By 'large' do you mean bigger than a bread box?"
Sometimes you get really energetic interviewers that would make latrine cleaning sound like an awsome job, and sometimes you get people that really seem like they need a hug desparately. I interviewed at one company this week that had really boomed big in the dotcom boom and they busted equally big during the dotcom bust. What once was a company of 300 employees is now a recovering company of 50. Each of my three interviewers felt a need, whether I told them I'd heard the story already or not, to drift off into a 15 minute stroll down memory lane only to trip and drown in the river of dispair. Eventually some look from me would bring them back to the present, always with the phrase "yeah ... but we really think things are picking up again. ... So, tell me a little about yourself."
Similar to the cellphone issue is the strange timing of onsite interviews. Its always "Well, you know what? We're definitely gonna wanna bring you in for an onsite interview. I'll have my secretary contact you in a couple days and probably bring you in sometime in the next two weeks or so" and then an email or phone call the next day with "Hi, Greg, would 2pm tomorrow be good for you?"
Disney Imagineering HR was startled by my reaction "You want me in Glendale tomorrow?" "What? No no, this will be a phone interview. We wouldn't give you that little notice on an onsite interview." To which I have to say, "Oh good, glad to hear it. I have had companies do that to me, though, give me one day notice." But its too late, now you sound retarded.
My current status is I'm interviewing with a company 5 minutes from my house (yes its 8 times closer than Cal is to my house), a company in Alberquerue, one in Livermore, and two in LA. The berkeley company is in semiconductors, the LA ones are animatronic characters for film and theme parks, and the other two are into advanced weaponry, not limited to nuclear weapons. Needless to say, I'm hoping for the animatronics companies. One has told me that I'm "definitely one of the people [they] want to have" but that they are still negotiating contracts before they do any hiring. The other is flying me in for an interview.
Well, as I said I had written a whole long update but it got ate by my computer. I swear that one was funny, this one didn't turn out to be so much, but I've been called in for two more interviews since then. Career fairs really work people. Its all so weird.
"Hi is this Greg Burton? I'm adbfasdf ghfuogjio from asldfasdfui, glad I could reach you. Is this a good time?"
"Gah, well, um, I'm in my car driving down the freeway with coffee in my hand steering with my left knee, but sure this is a good time."
And then they ask you questions which you're never prepared for despite having heard them 50 times.
"So, Greg, would you say you prefer working in large groups, working in small groups, or do you prefer working by yourself avoiding all those other annoying people?"
"Well, um, that depends, um. By 'large' do you mean bigger than a bread box?"
Sometimes you get really energetic interviewers that would make latrine cleaning sound like an awsome job, and sometimes you get people that really seem like they need a hug desparately. I interviewed at one company this week that had really boomed big in the dotcom boom and they busted equally big during the dotcom bust. What once was a company of 300 employees is now a recovering company of 50. Each of my three interviewers felt a need, whether I told them I'd heard the story already or not, to drift off into a 15 minute stroll down memory lane only to trip and drown in the river of dispair. Eventually some look from me would bring them back to the present, always with the phrase "yeah ... but we really think things are picking up again. ... So, tell me a little about yourself."
Similar to the cellphone issue is the strange timing of onsite interviews. Its always "Well, you know what? We're definitely gonna wanna bring you in for an onsite interview. I'll have my secretary contact you in a couple days and probably bring you in sometime in the next two weeks or so" and then an email or phone call the next day with "Hi, Greg, would 2pm tomorrow be good for you?"
Disney Imagineering HR was startled by my reaction "You want me in Glendale tomorrow?" "What? No no, this will be a phone interview. We wouldn't give you that little notice on an onsite interview." To which I have to say, "Oh good, glad to hear it. I have had companies do that to me, though, give me one day notice." But its too late, now you sound retarded.
My current status is I'm interviewing with a company 5 minutes from my house (yes its 8 times closer than Cal is to my house), a company in Alberquerue, one in Livermore, and two in LA. The berkeley company is in semiconductors, the LA ones are animatronic characters for film and theme parks, and the other two are into advanced weaponry, not limited to nuclear weapons. Needless to say, I'm hoping for the animatronics companies. One has told me that I'm "definitely one of the people [they] want to have" but that they are still negotiating contracts before they do any hiring. The other is flying me in for an interview.
Well, as I said I had written a whole long update but it got ate by my computer. I swear that one was funny, this one didn't turn out to be so much, but I've been called in for two more interviews since then. Career fairs really work people. Its all so weird.