The Quest

[Griff]

Sorry dude. Don't get beaten down.

[BigV]

One hour panel interview tomorrow at nine am.

Good night and good luck.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Go baby, you can do this.

[Griff]

Good luck!

[orthodoc]

Good luck today!

[BigV]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Go baby, you can do this.

Yes, yes I can. In fact, I did. I think I hit it out of the park. It went a little long, the two guys on the other side of the table seemed relaxed and happy and engaged. There was a back and forth, a conversation which I take as a good sign.

Originally Posted by Griff

Good luck!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by orthodoc

Good luck today!

This I will take for tomorrow! Because I have a second interview with the VP of IS and the Supervisor of IS tomorrow at 10 am. I get a big, unsettling shock of adrenaline when I focus on it, even when I'm typing this post.

Nervous, I'm nervous.

The first panel interview seems to have been something of a screening interview. I think they were looking for ... "personal fit" or some other such soft quality. They weren't part of the IS structure, and all the questions were non technical. I was the first interview of the day, and by 1 pm the same day, I had received emails indicating this second interview. I find this good evidence of making a good impression. I asked them how many interviews they'd done, and when they told me I was the first one, I suggested that they could just stop now, give me the recommendation and that I wouldn't let them down. We all laughed.

One reason I'm nervous is that this is the technical assessment of my suitability. Crunch time. I honestly believe I can do this job (not in my sleep, but ... anyhow. I can do this easily). However, as part of the screening process, I took four tests online. I scored 88, 82 and 86 on the first three and 49 on the last one. fuuuuuuuck. I am kinda miffed about the online testing anyhow, but, ok. But some of the questions were just pointless. The core subject matter was Windows 7, and unfortunately for me, I don't have a lot of screen time with Win7. And several of the questions were syntax based. Not having the actual hands on with that means that I am reduced to guessing. Not that guessing is bad, because misspelling a command line parameter or putting in and invalid switch really isn't a big deal. That's what we have what I like to call "books" for. I look that crap up if I don't have it memorized. This wasn't allowed for the test, but in the real world, I look up stuff.

I made this point to my first interview panel, and they didn't know anything about the tests, so I wound up kind of "telling on myself". I gave them the justification you just heard, so it was good to be able to rehearse it. We shall see.

Thanks all for your good vibes!!

[ZenGum]

*GOOD VIBES*

If you have time today, go do something like a bike ride or chop wood or something; it will deal with that adrenaline spike.

[BigV]

it's a real physical sensation, like cresting a hill in a rollercoaster. la la la la whoooaaAAAAaahhh wheeee!! omg... holy crap.... whew...

I feel it in my core, in my teeth, in my arms and fingers. it's just a few seconds, maybe... ten or fifteen at the longest. But I get a fresh jolt when I come back to it. Last friday riding in the elevator with my escort the HR recruiter, it felt like a carnival ride. Then, MERCIFULLY, it passes when I'm in the room. It's all about the anticipation. My greatest hope is that it won't paralyze me from doing something crucial, like... getting in the damn car, getting out the door in time.

Ha. Last Friday, the eight mile trip from my house to downtown where their building is took over forty minutes. Multilane arterials the bulk of the way, downtown streets for the last ... mile. agony. I got there on the dot. Tomorrow, I leave at the same time. Because the interview is an hour later. I can combine the adrenaline with caffeine across the street at a coffee shop. Maybe have a donut to sugar it up a bit.

I'm pretty excited. thanks for the good vibes!

[orthodoc]

Good vibes and good luck! And congrats on the first panel, sounds like you hit it out of the park for sure. If it comes up, you can always frame the Win 7 issue in terms of strength - you're a quick study and use available resources to work through new material, kind of thing.

Good thinking, giving yourself an hour's leeway for travel. If you do the caffeine thing, go light ... you want the increased focus but not the shakes.

Yoga breaths. Slow your pulse and get some sleep ...

[Stormieweather]

Good luck BigV! I am confident that you will land this (or a) promising position.

2nd interview is big, going over on time is big, fit screening is big. My company doesn't bother with any of them if you aren't a serious competitor for the position. And in a company that cares about it's employees and wants to retain them, 'fitting in' is vital.

I'm sending positive vibes your way!!

[Perry Winkle]

For the past few months I've been on the other side of the table for the first time in my career. It's so much fun.

Remember, they are on your side. They like you and they want you to succeed.

[BigV]

Thanks again to all of you.

I have been in the coffee shop for 45 minutes now. Gonna go into the bldg now. Here goes!

[ZenGum]

WELL????

[Big Sarge]

Any updates?? Pulling for you-

[BigV]

The second panel interview went very well. It was short. I met with the VP and the Supervisor of Information Services. I was asked mostly soft questions, about how I'd do stuff, how I'd handle potential conflict, what challenges I'd face during xyz upgrade. I demurred on that one and suggested that since I didn't have a lot of screen time with xyz, I could answer his question about challenges and how I overcame them with abc. He accepted my changed question. What has been my greatest accomplishment? I said I don't rank them but one that I am proud of and that was very helpful to the company was the introduction of help desk software at my last employer.

Then, the IS Supv asked me the name of the product and I turned into Rick Perry.

...

...

I checked my resume to see if I could find the name of the package... nope. I said, I can't remember the name of it at this moment, but I'll find out and get the answer to you. It was a little embarrassing, even though it was about five years ago. Anyhow, happy ending, fifteen minutes later I had remembered it and folded into an answer to another question the name of the product, along with my apologies for the brain fart.

They say they want to have an answer within a week or two since the new employee orientation (which must be completed before anyone can start) is at the beginning of November.

Now I wait and worry about my credit check. Yes, a credit check. I don't know what my credit score is, I know in the past it has been abysmal. I don't think I'm doing much to improve it partly because I don't fucking care and partly because I'm living my life without credit, my house note being an exception. I don't have anything to fear from the background check. I'm just ... waiting. Augh.