It’s a quiet morning looking over the Palm Springs valley. Wind blowing away the wisps of sunrise-pink clouds & rustling the palm fronds, preparing for another temperate day.
My sister’s dog has just got up, ready for a brisk morning walk, then breakfast, then a hike, then a nap & then a walk.
Happy Christmas to all. I hope your day is as peaceful as this.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Not exactly madeleines
On my way down to the Springs Wednesday I stopped off in Pasadena to get lunch at a dive I used to frequent near Cal Tech. Sadly, the place is looking a little dog-eared, and I wish I hadn’t gone.
It’s never been pretentious—only 21 places at the Formica counter, three deuces and two four-tops for groups. But there are only about seven of the swivel stools left; the rest of the seats are a mish-mash of chairs that look they came from garage sales. And I don’t think anything has been invested in the facilities for at least 15 years. (Certainly the ladies room is teetering on the edge of not being up to code.)
The burger was really not very good and at $6.75, grotesquely over-priced. And the pie crust didn’t seem as flaky as back in the day. I suppose that’s just me being a grumpy old stick-in-the-mud, but I was truly disappointed.
Back in said day, a couple owned and ran the joint: he flipped the burgers and she baked the pies. The waitresses made coffee in vacuum brewers (the only place I’ve ever seen them in use), and the clientele was a mix of South Lake Avenue business types, Techies and older, low-income neighbors. Now South Lake is all chain stores (a Macy’s in the old Bullock’s building) and the neighborhood has no one with an income below $250K. Only the Techies are constant.
Sometime in the late 70s or early 80s the kid who’d been working the grill with the old man took over and he’s run it ever since. He did some empire building—opening a second restaurant in Arcadia and, for a while, one in Northern California. They even had tee-shirts. Now it’s just the original one, and I didn’t see any sign of the owner.
The menu (on actual menu cards, in addition to the listing on the wall) includes fruit bowls and strip steaks, which I suppose appeals to the millennials. And there’s even beer and wine, which is just wrong, wrong, wrong.
Plus, it’s been discovered by the New York Times, which might explain some of the quality issues.
At least there’s no Wi-Fi. Yet.
It’s never been pretentious—only 21 places at the Formica counter, three deuces and two four-tops for groups. But there are only about seven of the swivel stools left; the rest of the seats are a mish-mash of chairs that look they came from garage sales. And I don’t think anything has been invested in the facilities for at least 15 years. (Certainly the ladies room is teetering on the edge of not being up to code.)
The burger was really not very good and at $6.75, grotesquely over-priced. And the pie crust didn’t seem as flaky as back in the day. I suppose that’s just me being a grumpy old stick-in-the-mud, but I was truly disappointed.
Back in said day, a couple owned and ran the joint: he flipped the burgers and she baked the pies. The waitresses made coffee in vacuum brewers (the only place I’ve ever seen them in use), and the clientele was a mix of South Lake Avenue business types, Techies and older, low-income neighbors. Now South Lake is all chain stores (a Macy’s in the old Bullock’s building) and the neighborhood has no one with an income below $250K. Only the Techies are constant.
Sometime in the late 70s or early 80s the kid who’d been working the grill with the old man took over and he’s run it ever since. He did some empire building—opening a second restaurant in Arcadia and, for a while, one in Northern California. They even had tee-shirts. Now it’s just the original one, and I didn’t see any sign of the owner.
The menu (on actual menu cards, in addition to the listing on the wall) includes fruit bowls and strip steaks, which I suppose appeals to the millennials. And there’s even beer and wine, which is just wrong, wrong, wrong.
Plus, it’s been discovered by the New York Times, which might explain some of the quality issues.
At least there’s no Wi-Fi. Yet.
Over the rivers
I’m in (finally) sunny Palm Springs for the holiday. It was quite the adventure getting here.
I’d thought about flying, but there are no non-stop flights from San José airport to Palm Springs (Alaska Air would have required me to fly up to Seattle and then down to the Springs, which I thought was just salt on old wounds), so I’d have had to fly out of SFO. When I calculated the time it would take to drive to the airport, park, shuttle, get through security, hope the flight left on time (as if) and then drive from the airport to my sister's place, it came to about six hours.
It’s an eight-hour drive.
Plus, no danger of getting felt up by THS. And I could bring a couple of bottles of sparkling wine with me without worrying about it exploding in the checked luggage.
So, there was a plan. But then The Storm came.
Southern California has been hit with several days and many inches of rain, and yesterday was pretty bad. (Not by, say, monsoon standards, but for SoCal, it was bad.)
It didn’t get dodgy until the Tejon Pass through the Tehachapais, when making out cars in front of you became problematic. And it was like that in spurts all the way down to San Bernardino County.
(This isn’t the worst rain I’ve driven through; that honor goes to a stretch of I-10 between Houston and Lafayette, La., when you couldn’t see the front of your car’s hood, much less the vehicle ahead of you. But at least then people didn’t continue driving at speed.)
The situation wasn’t helped by my sat-nav system telling me to go via the 71, 60 and I-215 freeways instead of out the 210.
But I eventually got here, much relieved to be out of the weather and the traffic. There’s no place in SoCal that’s not completely chockers with cars, semis and RVs.
The weather cleared up overnight and today it was warm enough for me to hop around town in short sleeves. (Although a considerable portion of this area was subject to flooding over the past day or so and today many roads are still closed. Those that aren’t have swathes of silt & rocks that mark where mobile lakes were yesterday.)
I’m really glad for the break and looking forward to the activities my sister and I have planned. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to visit my BFF, as well. That would be worth any drive.
I’d thought about flying, but there are no non-stop flights from San José airport to Palm Springs (Alaska Air would have required me to fly up to Seattle and then down to the Springs, which I thought was just salt on old wounds), so I’d have had to fly out of SFO. When I calculated the time it would take to drive to the airport, park, shuttle, get through security, hope the flight left on time (as if) and then drive from the airport to my sister's place, it came to about six hours.
It’s an eight-hour drive.
Plus, no danger of getting felt up by THS. And I could bring a couple of bottles of sparkling wine with me without worrying about it exploding in the checked luggage.
So, there was a plan. But then The Storm came.
Southern California has been hit with several days and many inches of rain, and yesterday was pretty bad. (Not by, say, monsoon standards, but for SoCal, it was bad.)
It didn’t get dodgy until the Tejon Pass through the Tehachapais, when making out cars in front of you became problematic. And it was like that in spurts all the way down to San Bernardino County.
(This isn’t the worst rain I’ve driven through; that honor goes to a stretch of I-10 between Houston and Lafayette, La., when you couldn’t see the front of your car’s hood, much less the vehicle ahead of you. But at least then people didn’t continue driving at speed.)
The situation wasn’t helped by my sat-nav system telling me to go via the 71, 60 and I-215 freeways instead of out the 210.
But I eventually got here, much relieved to be out of the weather and the traffic. There’s no place in SoCal that’s not completely chockers with cars, semis and RVs.
The weather cleared up overnight and today it was warm enough for me to hop around town in short sleeves. (Although a considerable portion of this area was subject to flooding over the past day or so and today many roads are still closed. Those that aren’t have swathes of silt & rocks that mark where mobile lakes were yesterday.)
I’m really glad for the break and looking forward to the activities my sister and I have planned. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to visit my BFF, as well. That would be worth any drive.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Recruiters 6
My latest bizarre recruiting experience: early last month I was contacted by yet another job-shop recruiter for a contract product marketing manager gig.
We had a go-around about the rate—it’s low & I said I’d consider it. She wanted me to guarantee that if the job were offered at that rate I’d take it. (& keep in mind that it’s not the client paying the rate, it’s the job-shop. They always tell you the client won’t pay the going rate, but it’s all down to what they want to fork out.)
Then she wanted me to sign a blanket authorization form saying her company could represent me exclusively to any position with the client, in this case, Symantec. I refused. I told her the form had to be specific to this requisition only. After a bunch of blather, she finally reworded it & I signed it.
Then nothing until this past Tuesday when she called me to congratulate me on being chosen (her words) for a phone screening by the hiring manager. By way of “prep” for this exciting event she sent me the same JD I already had, a link to the Symantec corporate site (in case I’m too dull-witted to find it on my own) & the name of the hiring manager. No information on the particular group, which of Symantec’s 12,843 products they support, into which industries; what their needs are, etc.
Now, when I looked him up on LinkedIn, imagine my surprise to find that his title is product marketing specialist, & he has 18 whole months of corporate experience, having graduated from Northwestern last year.
I queried her about this; took her a full day to get back to me all flustered to know what my concerns were. Uh, how about, how can someone with no experience manage someone who’s required to have a minimum of eight years of tech marketing? This woman was completely clueless. She’s not spoken with this guy, but she insisted he is the HM.
Well, then I asked her questions about the group, products, etc. & she knew nothing beyond the JD, kept assuring me that if I just address those requirements I’ll be in.
So when I finally took the call from Skippy on Thursday it was clear he is just out of school. He didn’t know enough about product marketing to ask me any questions about what I’ve done. He had me run through my résumé (& is so innocent of marketing expertise I could have told him I was training monkeys to form a string quartet & then spent a few years as an orthopedic surgeon & he wouldn’t have blinked), asked a canned “interview” question (tell about a time something failed & what you did about it) & wanted to know what I do outside of work. & he was done—at 20 minutes.
So I started asking him some questions about the group, the products, the challenges, etc. Skippy has a worker bee’s view of all of this, not a manager’s. He asked me to send him some clips of collateral (obviously on instructions from someone). & that was it.
When I contacted recruiter basically all she wanted to know was, is he going to have me in for an interview. (She didn’t even know what their timeframe is; I had to tell her.) Well—she’d have to ask him that. I’ve given up trying to read interviews.
I’ve heard nothing since Thursday. Skippy said they wanted to have this person in place by 3 January, but that’s not going to happen, given the holidays.
I saw the same gig posted on Saturday by another job shop—I don’t know whether that means the client has nixed all the current candidates, or whether that JS is still trying to source some.
Something did occur to me—Skippy told me that he’s a native to this area & only left to go to college. It’s possible that his father is a VP somewhere in Symantec & that he is indeed managing a group. But if so, that’s not going to end well.
At any rate—either the recruiting chick will call about an on-site interview or I’ll never hear from her again. Not sure which is the better option.
We had a go-around about the rate—it’s low & I said I’d consider it. She wanted me to guarantee that if the job were offered at that rate I’d take it. (& keep in mind that it’s not the client paying the rate, it’s the job-shop. They always tell you the client won’t pay the going rate, but it’s all down to what they want to fork out.)
Then she wanted me to sign a blanket authorization form saying her company could represent me exclusively to any position with the client, in this case, Symantec. I refused. I told her the form had to be specific to this requisition only. After a bunch of blather, she finally reworded it & I signed it.
Then nothing until this past Tuesday when she called me to congratulate me on being chosen (her words) for a phone screening by the hiring manager. By way of “prep” for this exciting event she sent me the same JD I already had, a link to the Symantec corporate site (in case I’m too dull-witted to find it on my own) & the name of the hiring manager. No information on the particular group, which of Symantec’s 12,843 products they support, into which industries; what their needs are, etc.
Now, when I looked him up on LinkedIn, imagine my surprise to find that his title is product marketing specialist, & he has 18 whole months of corporate experience, having graduated from Northwestern last year.
I queried her about this; took her a full day to get back to me all flustered to know what my concerns were. Uh, how about, how can someone with no experience manage someone who’s required to have a minimum of eight years of tech marketing? This woman was completely clueless. She’s not spoken with this guy, but she insisted he is the HM.
Well, then I asked her questions about the group, products, etc. & she knew nothing beyond the JD, kept assuring me that if I just address those requirements I’ll be in.
So when I finally took the call from Skippy on Thursday it was clear he is just out of school. He didn’t know enough about product marketing to ask me any questions about what I’ve done. He had me run through my résumé (& is so innocent of marketing expertise I could have told him I was training monkeys to form a string quartet & then spent a few years as an orthopedic surgeon & he wouldn’t have blinked), asked a canned “interview” question (tell about a time something failed & what you did about it) & wanted to know what I do outside of work. & he was done—at 20 minutes.
So I started asking him some questions about the group, the products, the challenges, etc. Skippy has a worker bee’s view of all of this, not a manager’s. He asked me to send him some clips of collateral (obviously on instructions from someone). & that was it.
When I contacted recruiter basically all she wanted to know was, is he going to have me in for an interview. (She didn’t even know what their timeframe is; I had to tell her.) Well—she’d have to ask him that. I’ve given up trying to read interviews.
I’ve heard nothing since Thursday. Skippy said they wanted to have this person in place by 3 January, but that’s not going to happen, given the holidays.
I saw the same gig posted on Saturday by another job shop—I don’t know whether that means the client has nixed all the current candidates, or whether that JS is still trying to source some.
Something did occur to me—Skippy told me that he’s a native to this area & only left to go to college. It’s possible that his father is a VP somewhere in Symantec & that he is indeed managing a group. But if so, that’s not going to end well.
At any rate—either the recruiting chick will call about an on-site interview or I’ll never hear from her again. Not sure which is the better option.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Festive San José
I got turfed out of the church kitchen on Saturday; too many people trying to get in school or court-ordered community service hours before the end of the year. So, unable to make lunch for the homeless, I walked over to Plaza César Chávez because San José, “the [self-styled] Capital of the Silicon Valley”, puts on “Christmas in the Park”, & I had to see it.
Yes, in the Capital of the Silicon Valley, in the Capital State of Political Correctness, they have Christmas in the Park. Not holidays, not winter solstice, Christmas.
Viz.:
It’s definitely California & Silicon Valley, though. Note the CDs on the tree on the left above, & the recycled water bottles on the tree below.
Yes, in the Capital of the Silicon Valley, in the Capital State of Political Correctness, they have Christmas in the Park. Not holidays, not winter solstice, Christmas.
Viz.:
& the presentation is all Christmas, all the time. Not a whiff of a menorah, no Kwanzaa colors. Just Christmas trees & displays of Santa’s workshops. The trees are decorated by local groups: scout troops, businesses, civic associations.
It’s definitely California & Silicon Valley, though. Note the CDs on the tree on the left above, & the recycled water bottles on the tree below.
The displays look like they’ve been recycled, too, year after year. Here’s one with a “Countdown to Christmas”:
Only I was there on the 17th, & the Christmas-o-meter appears stuck on 8.
The whole thing is relentlessly secular—just trees, Santas & elves. Even the very loud music piped throughout made no mention of wise men or mangers.
But it’s definitely California. Here’s what greets visitors at every entrance:
The whole thing is relentlessly secular—just trees, Santas & elves. Even the very loud music piped throughout made no mention of wise men or mangers.
But it’s definitely California. Here’s what greets visitors at every entrance:
Sunday, December 19, 2010
God bless us, every one
Filed under the heading of “America, goniff”, it turns out there’s a Klingon stage version of A Christmas Carol.
Well, if there’s pretty much every other kind of Christmas Carol (& there is), why not?
But am I the only one who thinks it’s odd that the pro from Dover is a Klingon-language expert from…Kentucky?
Well, if there’s pretty much every other kind of Christmas Carol (& there is), why not?
But am I the only one who thinks it’s odd that the pro from Dover is a Klingon-language expert from…Kentucky?
Thursday, December 16, 2010
All together, now...
Happy birthday, Ludwig van Beethoven!
Born on this day 240 years ago (presumptively, since he was baptized on 17 December 1770) in Bonn, Germany.
Without him our world today would lean just that more heavily in the direction of petulant pols, corrupt clergy, relentless corporate greed & other high crimes & misdemeanors.
So nibble a strudel & consider the mania the Japanese have for singing the Ninth Symphony en masse.
& Gott sei Dank for his genius & his perseverance.
Born on this day 240 years ago (presumptively, since he was baptized on 17 December 1770) in Bonn, Germany.
Without him our world today would lean just that more heavily in the direction of petulant pols, corrupt clergy, relentless corporate greed & other high crimes & misdemeanors.
So nibble a strudel & consider the mania the Japanese have for singing the Ninth Symphony en masse.
& Gott sei Dank for his genius & his perseverance.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Whinging on the Hill
You know, every time you think the US Senate has reached the utmost pinnacle of pettiness & puerility you discover that they’ve only reached the base station and have another 14,000 feet to go.
This week’s example is Democrat Harry Reid (Nev.) and Republicans Jim DeMint (S.C.) and Jon Kyl (Ariz.) getting exercised over who better understands the meaning of Christmas.
Well, actually, the ’Pubs’ noses are out of joint because Reid has threatened to keep the august body in session in the week between Christmas and New Year, to get some actual, you know, legislation passed. DeMint and Kyle accused Reid of waging war on Christmas and grandstanding; Reid pointed out that millions of working Americans don’t regularly get a week off at this time of year and the Senators should quit their whining.
I’d be more sympathetic to Reid if he’d not displayed symptoms of a spinectomy for the last two years and had used his majority leader position to wrangle the ’Pubs to the floor instead of letting them pontificate and posture when they should have been passing laws.
Mark Twain commented that Congressmen have “...the smallest minds and the selfishest souls and the cowardliest hearts that God makes.” That was more than 100 years ago and they’ve only got worse since.
This week’s example is Democrat Harry Reid (Nev.) and Republicans Jim DeMint (S.C.) and Jon Kyl (Ariz.) getting exercised over who better understands the meaning of Christmas.
Well, actually, the ’Pubs’ noses are out of joint because Reid has threatened to keep the august body in session in the week between Christmas and New Year, to get some actual, you know, legislation passed. DeMint and Kyle accused Reid of waging war on Christmas and grandstanding; Reid pointed out that millions of working Americans don’t regularly get a week off at this time of year and the Senators should quit their whining.
I’d be more sympathetic to Reid if he’d not displayed symptoms of a spinectomy for the last two years and had used his majority leader position to wrangle the ’Pubs to the floor instead of letting them pontificate and posture when they should have been passing laws.
Mark Twain commented that Congressmen have “...the smallest minds and the selfishest souls and the cowardliest hearts that God makes.” That was more than 100 years ago and they’ve only got worse since.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Palin in Haiti
When I heard Sarah Palin was tripping to Haiti I thought at first it must be a hoax. But it turns out that it’s real—or at least as real as the rest of her role in politics.
Then I thought, “Zut alors—earthquake, cholera & now this buffoon? How long must this beleaguered country suffer one disaster after another?”
I’m not the only one with that thought, of course. I mean, you shouldn’t get points for going for the obvious.
But “Palin in Haiti”—doesn’t that just cry out for an opera? Something with a lot of dramatics, a lot of malapropisms & a lot of big hair?
I’m thinking along the lines of the “La Bubba Vita” that was making the rounds in 2000-2001. Someone’s gotta step up to the plate on this one; the world really needs it.
Then I thought, “Zut alors—earthquake, cholera & now this buffoon? How long must this beleaguered country suffer one disaster after another?”
I’m not the only one with that thought, of course. I mean, you shouldn’t get points for going for the obvious.
But “Palin in Haiti”—doesn’t that just cry out for an opera? Something with a lot of dramatics, a lot of malapropisms & a lot of big hair?
I’m thinking along the lines of the “La Bubba Vita” that was making the rounds in 2000-2001. Someone’s gotta step up to the plate on this one; the world really needs it.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Recruiters 5
Suppose you’re an idiot. Suppose you’re a recruiter.
But I repeat myself.
Latest idiocies:
Email from a recruiter for a search product manager position requiring a “quantitative undergraduate degree” (which I don’t have). In Pennsylvania.
Email from a recruiter for a contract QA tester position. In Seattle. I don’t even know how he pulled my profile, except that I’ve worked with QA.
But the moron du jour is actually a duo from a job shop—recruiter and account manager. Although they claim the company serves many major tech companies in the area, all this recruiter has ever sent me are contract jobs for eBay and PayPal, clients of this particular account manager. (I asked the recruiter if my profile is even being considered for other clients; he assured me it is, but I doubt it.)
The latest was a contract product marketing manager for PayPal. About a week ago the AM sent me the job description and a list of experience the “hiring manager” wanted. I told her to go ahead and submit my CV, even though there was no stated rate.
A couple of days later the recruiter called to inform me that the HM “liked” my résumé, but had some concerns about specific experience that hadn’t been listed in the JD or her own list of desirables. (Evidently I’m supposed to pull that stuff out of the ether.) After some blather he came to the point—would I send him some “bullet points” to address them.
I did, although apparently he didn’t recognize them because I hadn’t actually made them bullets. He called about an hour later to ask if I was happy for them to send my few sentences over to the client or did I “want to change anything”. Uh—why would I want to do that? I responded to his points one by one. I’m afraid eight by ten color glossy photos with circles and arrows & a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one is would be difficult in an email.
But evidently they really wanted me to change something (although what, precisely, was never specified), because he put the AM on the phone and she asked me if I wanted the client to see that or did I want to change anything.
No—I understood that my response was going to the client so I framed it accordingly.
Oh.
And, BTW, I inquired—what is the hourly rate range? Well, she didn’t know. But it’s marketing, and they usually pay less for marketing than “for the other positions we’ve sent you.”
Considering that she’d sent me product manager, program manager, project manager and marketing manager positions (each one carrying a lower rate than the last), this didn’t bode well.
And she mentioned that the HM was already talking with a candidate who had all the experience she wanted.
So imagine my surprise when the recruiter called me last Wednesday chirping that they’d landed me a phone screening at 1000 on Friday! Well, I couldn’t do 1000, which caused major consternation, but eventually the time was set for 0900. He emphasized that this was my chance to “sell” myself, not one of my favorite things to do, especially if the HM says she’s already got what she needs.
But the corker was that at 0828 on Friday, the recruiter called to ask me if I was ready for the interview, did I need any further information, etc. I was really quite nonplussed because I didn’t get why there was such a big push for this one position (with no rate established).
But wait—there’s more.
Basically to make him feel useful I said it would be helpful to know more about the mission of this particular group. He knew nothing, of course, so he put me through to the AM and she didn’t know much more. But she also pointed out that this was my opportunity to sell myself. Implying that she’d gone out on a limb to get me a chance at the big time and I owed it to them to turn the HM around.
“Remember how all along we’ve had to push this woman…She thought you didn’t have the right skills on your résumé, so we had you respond to her concerns. She said she was already talking with someone who had the skills, but we convinced her she should give you a few minutes at least…”
And yet we aren’t done.
She asked me, “Did Diego give you any helpful tips? Like having your résumé and the job description in front of you? And having a notebook and pen so you can take notes?”
Excuse me? No, he did not, and he didn’t have to tell me to put my socks on before my shoes, either.
I informed her that I really don’t need to be told that, as I’m already prepared.
“Oh, you’d be surprised how many people don’t do that.”
Well, how do you ever get anyone placed, then?
And finally, she enjoined me, “If anything comes up between now and the interview, don't hesitate to give us a call”
In the 18 minutes between talking with her and talking with the HM? Does their year-end bonus depend on one more contract hook?
At any rate, I had a pleasant conversation with the “hiring manager”, who turned out to not actually be the hiring manager, but the first screener, as the position was replacing her. I called the recruiter shortly thereafter to let him know how it went and then went on with my day.
He called in the afternoon to report that the HM thought I had fine qualifications, but that she decided to go with the person she’d already decided on.
I just said that wasn’t surprising and I refrained from pointing out that this whole exercise had been a colossal waste of time.
I doubt he was equipped with a pencil and paper to write it down anyway.
But I repeat myself.
Latest idiocies:
Email from a recruiter for a search product manager position requiring a “quantitative undergraduate degree” (which I don’t have). In Pennsylvania.
Email from a recruiter for a contract QA tester position. In Seattle. I don’t even know how he pulled my profile, except that I’ve worked with QA.
But the moron du jour is actually a duo from a job shop—recruiter and account manager. Although they claim the company serves many major tech companies in the area, all this recruiter has ever sent me are contract jobs for eBay and PayPal, clients of this particular account manager. (I asked the recruiter if my profile is even being considered for other clients; he assured me it is, but I doubt it.)
The latest was a contract product marketing manager for PayPal. About a week ago the AM sent me the job description and a list of experience the “hiring manager” wanted. I told her to go ahead and submit my CV, even though there was no stated rate.
A couple of days later the recruiter called to inform me that the HM “liked” my résumé, but had some concerns about specific experience that hadn’t been listed in the JD or her own list of desirables. (Evidently I’m supposed to pull that stuff out of the ether.) After some blather he came to the point—would I send him some “bullet points” to address them.
I did, although apparently he didn’t recognize them because I hadn’t actually made them bullets. He called about an hour later to ask if I was happy for them to send my few sentences over to the client or did I “want to change anything”. Uh—why would I want to do that? I responded to his points one by one. I’m afraid eight by ten color glossy photos with circles and arrows & a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one is would be difficult in an email.
But evidently they really wanted me to change something (although what, precisely, was never specified), because he put the AM on the phone and she asked me if I wanted the client to see that or did I want to change anything.
No—I understood that my response was going to the client so I framed it accordingly.
Oh.
And, BTW, I inquired—what is the hourly rate range? Well, she didn’t know. But it’s marketing, and they usually pay less for marketing than “for the other positions we’ve sent you.”
Considering that she’d sent me product manager, program manager, project manager and marketing manager positions (each one carrying a lower rate than the last), this didn’t bode well.
And she mentioned that the HM was already talking with a candidate who had all the experience she wanted.
So imagine my surprise when the recruiter called me last Wednesday chirping that they’d landed me a phone screening at 1000 on Friday! Well, I couldn’t do 1000, which caused major consternation, but eventually the time was set for 0900. He emphasized that this was my chance to “sell” myself, not one of my favorite things to do, especially if the HM says she’s already got what she needs.
But the corker was that at 0828 on Friday, the recruiter called to ask me if I was ready for the interview, did I need any further information, etc. I was really quite nonplussed because I didn’t get why there was such a big push for this one position (with no rate established).
But wait—there’s more.
Basically to make him feel useful I said it would be helpful to know more about the mission of this particular group. He knew nothing, of course, so he put me through to the AM and she didn’t know much more. But she also pointed out that this was my opportunity to sell myself. Implying that she’d gone out on a limb to get me a chance at the big time and I owed it to them to turn the HM around.
“Remember how all along we’ve had to push this woman…She thought you didn’t have the right skills on your résumé, so we had you respond to her concerns. She said she was already talking with someone who had the skills, but we convinced her she should give you a few minutes at least…”
And yet we aren’t done.
She asked me, “Did Diego give you any helpful tips? Like having your résumé and the job description in front of you? And having a notebook and pen so you can take notes?”
Excuse me? No, he did not, and he didn’t have to tell me to put my socks on before my shoes, either.
I informed her that I really don’t need to be told that, as I’m already prepared.
“Oh, you’d be surprised how many people don’t do that.”
Well, how do you ever get anyone placed, then?
And finally, she enjoined me, “If anything comes up between now and the interview, don't hesitate to give us a call”
In the 18 minutes between talking with her and talking with the HM? Does their year-end bonus depend on one more contract hook?
At any rate, I had a pleasant conversation with the “hiring manager”, who turned out to not actually be the hiring manager, but the first screener, as the position was replacing her. I called the recruiter shortly thereafter to let him know how it went and then went on with my day.
He called in the afternoon to report that the HM thought I had fine qualifications, but that she decided to go with the person she’d already decided on.
I just said that wasn’t surprising and I refrained from pointing out that this whole exercise had been a colossal waste of time.
I doubt he was equipped with a pencil and paper to write it down anyway.
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