elizabeth grigg - the other fourth meal

I'm almost two months into my job search. The economy must truly be getting better, or else my recent MS work experience has helped a lot. Even though I am not at the offer stage, I still have lots of interviews.

If interviews are scarce as hen's teeth, what I usually do is plan and overplan for the interview. I realize that every team is different, and I may need to reinterpret my key offerings on the fly to best match the team. It's what I would do on my first day of work anyway. However, the mental agility it requires is tremendous. Even if you're Michael Jordan, you still might not have a stellar game on the day you sub in to the Sonics.

Overplanning is a problem, well documented as hiring managers and recruiters wishing that candidates would act more natural, and listen, and answer the question that was asked rather than the prepared answer. So I make sure my mental indexing system is alive while I'm listening, and if an anecdote scores more than 80% on the question-match criteria, I use it as my answer. This is much harder than simply preparing. It's like giving six powerpoint presentations at once without the benefit of notes.

Right now, interviews are *not* as scarce as hen's teeth, so I might actually be doing better on the ones I don't prepare for. Go figure.

I'm using this entry to document key learnings from this search so far. Note that they may only apply to program managers in the tech industry, at the 7-10 year experience level. But what the heck, what's relevant to me is what's relevant to you, right? Now, in no particular order:

* Everyone will ask you your salary requirements right away, even before the telephone interview. This is new since the last time I looked in 2002. However, what you should know is that the middle has fallen out of the pay scale for program managers. With 1-2 years experience, you should expect 50k. Pennies. Expect a situation where people let you screw up now and again. With 7-10 years experience, you should expect 70k. What if you're in the middle? Depends on what you think the employer is looking for, and how gutsy you feel. But do yourself a favor and don't ask for a modest 65k. It might even be the reason you don't get the job.
* You might have lots of ideas and lots of passion to bring to the table, on top of your experience and your technical skills. Do not talk about your ideas. This is not a pitch meeting. This is an interview. If you keep it to experience and technical skills, the interview will go better. I know, it's your ideas that really set you apart as a candidate. Forget about it. It will be your ideas that set you apart as an employee. How is that so bad, really. The only exception is if people ask you for any entrepreneurial ideas on the subject at hand. Offer one very simple thing, not a manifesto. But quickly change the subject back to your skills and experience. Why? The person you're talking to might wish they had come up with something like that, or they already have and dismissed it. Or, the person might think you won't be a fit for the organization, always promoting your own ideas. Also, a pitch meeting requires ideas that are thought out completely. Yours might not, and your interviewer will not brainstorm with you. Do you want to be judged on the merits of a half-baked idea? Minimally, you should treat your ideas with respect and don't give them away for free.
* Personality is key. You know you can do anything, and after a few questions your interviewer should be able to tell that you can solve most technical or management problems with a little effort. The only reason folks in the 7-10 year experience levels don't get jobs is because of personality. This is because if you were alive during the past 7 years, you will have enough experience for the job, period. For seekers in this category, treat personality as 2/3 of your grade. With that said, you have to be yourself, albeit a modest person with few ideas. :)
* Do not believe the reason why you didn't get the job. The company simply doesn't want to make you an offer. This is not a learning experience based on their feedback. All feedback why I am not made an offer is laughably wrong. Do not cycle into a loop about who you are, and why you don't come across a certain way. You came across just fine. This is simply a "no" answer, any qualifiers are superfluous.
* Small talk, from the door to the conference room, about your address or your commute, is the place where the personality score is determined. Do not take a break mentally during this time. I have done some really stupid things during this "off" time for interviews, and I swear I'm going to bring a stun gun to use on myself next time I turn off my interview brain during an interview. Stupid things include:
- Saying hi to a friend in the hallway. This makes your interviewer feel like they don't know anyone, or aren't businesslike about your time together.
- Allow small talk to get serious quickly. For example, for a long time we were renting our house, living all over the place, and keeping a PO box. So folks would ask about the address on my resume and I'd go straight to talking about the dotcom crash. Ulp.
- Small talk is where white lies come up. I don't even think about them, and either does anyone else, but believe me, people PROD. For example, I ran out of toner on my printer the night before the interview. My dh was working late, so I had him print my job application thingy on his work machine and bring it home in the dead of night. But to the interviewer I said "We stopped on our commute to pick this up." Why I did this I have no idea, becuase I also said I commuted on the bus, which turns a simple thing into a huge hardship and please just change the subject. So, less time memorizing what **r means or how to reverse a you know what, and more brain cells on keeping the mouth shut.
- This person is not your friend. They may be friendly, but it's not like standing in line at the coffee machine. You can't dig at ALL. For example, one interviewer said he interviewed at RN about the same time I joined. I said "I didn't think they were turning anyone away!" Really stupid thing to say. Kindof fun if you're a fun poker, but stupid nonetheless.
- Cockiness can reveal itself in subtle ways. All interviewers like to feel their job is important. If you say something like "I've interviewed here before, and we're just looking for the right group for me" it sounds cocky, as if the interviewer's opinion does not matter. I don't have a solution for this other than keep the mouth closed during all situations where you drop your guard. Save the chatter for design questions.

Wait, there's more!
* Third party recruiters are doing really good work right now. Do not ignore them. They used to be obnoxious but are no longer working that way.
* You HR person will ask you how can they help you through the interview process. They will seem really professional and caring. Do not believe it for a second. Yes, they are really professional and caring, but once you're done with your interview they completely change. This is part of looking for work. It's just like your realtor - they get paid by the person selling the house, so if you're looking, there's a subtle thing that happens at point of sale. Don't be surprised at this shift, and expect to not hear back promptly.
* There are only so many companies in the world. If you want to apply for work at this company again, in the case you, um, are "still looking for the right team," then you should know that everything every interviewer has said about you is in your permanent record which you can never personally read. So, in try #2, show your awareness about what went wrong on #1 and how you have remedied it. Note that try #2 has to be, say, a year or so later, if your remedy is to hold any weight.