Blog Without Pictures
Mercyskye is right. Like a song without words, I can have a blog without pictures. The thing is, I never felt a need to have a blog for anything but posting pictures. I'm kind of at a loss as to this blog's purpose now, so I guess I'll try my hand at ranting.
Job searching is one of the most degrading activities that I have engaged in. I had an interview this afternoon, which of course means that for the day leading up to it and the day of the interview, I'm pretty stressed out. I'm constantly trying to think of what questions they're going to ask, how I'm going to answer, how I'm going to set myself apart from the other candidates, do I know enough about the company, etc., etc. I do a ton of preparation, spend I don't know how long getting my clothes ironed, hair done right, make-up perfect, and get to the interview 15 minutes early just in case I hit traffic or get lost. Then I'm greeted by an HR person who wants to know my complete salary history. That's a pretty personal question for someone who just met me! After asking me some questions, she says, "Okay, well, since you don't have any product management experience, we would probably be bringing you on as a JUNIOR product manager." Does someone with 8 years of business experience and an MBA who made the dean's list really deserve only a junior level position?
After my HR interview, two guys come in for a follow-up interview. One is a product manager who has been there for 3 months, and the other is the VP of Product Strategy and Business Development. They seem distant, and ask me dumb questions like how I would sell their product to plumbers. At the end of the interview they ask me if I have any questions, and I say that one of them is about exactly what the job description is, since the HR representative couldn't give me one. They say they have 7 product management positions opening up in different areas. I ask, "So, which one do you see me in?" The VP says, "Honestly, I don't know, since you don't have any product management experience." These people could have seen on my resume that I didn't have any product management experience! If prior experience was a requirement, why did they have me prepare for an interview? I feel like they had already written me off before the interview even started, and this was all just a big waste of my time.
Job searching is one of the most degrading activities that I have engaged in. I had an interview this afternoon, which of course means that for the day leading up to it and the day of the interview, I'm pretty stressed out. I'm constantly trying to think of what questions they're going to ask, how I'm going to answer, how I'm going to set myself apart from the other candidates, do I know enough about the company, etc., etc. I do a ton of preparation, spend I don't know how long getting my clothes ironed, hair done right, make-up perfect, and get to the interview 15 minutes early just in case I hit traffic or get lost. Then I'm greeted by an HR person who wants to know my complete salary history. That's a pretty personal question for someone who just met me! After asking me some questions, she says, "Okay, well, since you don't have any product management experience, we would probably be bringing you on as a JUNIOR product manager." Does someone with 8 years of business experience and an MBA who made the dean's list really deserve only a junior level position?
After my HR interview, two guys come in for a follow-up interview. One is a product manager who has been there for 3 months, and the other is the VP of Product Strategy and Business Development. They seem distant, and ask me dumb questions like how I would sell their product to plumbers. At the end of the interview they ask me if I have any questions, and I say that one of them is about exactly what the job description is, since the HR representative couldn't give me one. They say they have 7 product management positions opening up in different areas. I ask, "So, which one do you see me in?" The VP says, "Honestly, I don't know, since you don't have any product management experience." These people could have seen on my resume that I didn't have any product management experience! If prior experience was a requirement, why did they have me prepare for an interview? I feel like they had already written me off before the interview even started, and this was all just a big waste of my time.
posted by AKP at 5:27 PM
3 Comments:
I always figure that the people interviewing me had better get a realistic idea of how I do business. Even if it means that we quickly identify ourselves as incompatible. At least then it's quick.
Regarding the salary history question, I would politely refuse to provide details. There are many, many ways to do it so that they would feel like jerks for insisting on details. I always say something like, "I deliver superior results and will be happy with compensation that is appropriate for my level of education and experience."
Anything, really, to get off that subject. I want them to first decide that they must have me. After that, I would like to decide that I want to be with them. Only once those conditions are met am I comfortable discussing actual numbers. Otherwise, it ends up being a highly theoretical (and therefore worthless) negotiation.
At least that's how it has gone for me in the past.
There are few things I fear and loathe more in this world than job searching. But don't tell John, I don't want him holding that over me! :-)
It sounds to me like those people are the ones who didn't prepare for the interview and who don't know how to conduct a search.
Yes, I totally agree about not disclosing the salary history info. I didn't disclose it. There is one time when giving my desired salary range was helpful when talking with HR, though. After my phone interview she asked the question and I found out that the job I was applying to was paying about $30k less than what I was hoping to make. So, that saved us both a lot of time.
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