Change of plans

So get a load of this...

You all know about my changed view on job hunting. When you think you're doing enough, you're not doing enough. You don't have to step up your game THAT much, but just enough. Instead of 6 resumes a day, try 10. Once you can get 10 out, try 20. Just don't send them to random companies, that defeats the purpose of this practice!

I took my own advice, and here is what happened...

I'll try to keep it short...

So each morning I go through my resume routine, and especially this week I didn't want to disappoint my readers nor myself, so I applied to jobs as I've been telling you to. I scoured the job sites, and it just so happened that craigslist was the lucky choice this week. I found 3-4 positions that held the title "Business Analyst" and that led me to read further. In my honest opnion I met all the requirements as they were very similar to what I was doing at ELC, and so I applied. Wouldn't you know, within 15 minutes that calls came pouring in! I received at least 6 calls, 5 messages and some were recruiters, one was an actual HR rep., for a Long Island based company. Holy Crap Batman!

Ok, ONE caller was from Primerica, leave me alone you Citi group reject. Another caller was a recruiter who had a few positions to speak with me about and told me to call him back later in the afternoon. Needless to say, I called back and had to leave a message- no response. How unprofessional, ALWAYS RETURN CALLS.

I then get a call from the Long Island based company, and spoke with this nice lady- we struck up good conversation, she told me a little about the position and why it is currently open, an we set an interview for next week. An interview? Next week? Something came over me, my entire self went numb. A real company was interested in me, not for sales, not to be a mystery shopper, or to make people buy a lame franchise nobody's heard of, but a real company, with a real hr person, for a position I actually have experience in. As my good friend Eric Theodore Cartman would say, "Sweeet".

Then, in a matter of seconds my phone goes nuts again...this time it was a male voice, he asked me a few questions and said, "Excellent! I'm going to call you back shortly!". Ok, another one who wont get back to me. WRONG, he calls back and said that the hiring manager of one of the biggest software development companies in the world was leaving for vacation on Friday, he wanted to see me Thursday, he was "very" interested in meeting me and was impressed with my resume. Excellent. Two interviews were booked, I was stoked.

So I began my research, the Long Island company seemed very nice and I couldnt find any negative comments about it. The company in NYC on the other had, I read a review on jobvent.com, there were layoffs and everyone was complaining who used to work there, of 23 reviews, 6 loved working there. Right away, my heart sunk and I thought "well, its ok, they're obviously looking to hire now, so just go on the interview as a practice for next week". Keep in mind, I knew nothing about the specifics, whether it was a permanent hire or not, benefits, pay?

Thursday morning I meet with the recruiter for 2 minutes (literally), he tells me that its a permanent position, full benefits, and he mentions the pay... in mind mind I said "excuse me? could you please repeat that, sir?..." In other words, it was more than I've ever made, and I was starting to like this company VERY much!

I head back downtown, find the building, say a prayer and do my thing. I met with their HR person, we had a nice conversation actually, and I was just cool, calm and collected. I did the best I could have, and fortunately enough for me, every type of situation he threw at me from his little questionnaire, I was able to bring something up that happened to me in my past and throw it back at him. I asked him a few questions regarding the company and he answered them clearly. He's been with the company nearly 30 years. Then came my meeting with the hiring manager- a very nice man, maybe in his early 40's, dressed well, didnt seem like a jerk- we spoke for close to an hour and had a similar situation. He threw the ball at me, I gave him what I thought he wanted to hear. I did well, I felt that this was my best interview performance/experience. He said that the next step would be a follow up meeting sometime next week, and he'll have to speak with HR, and the recruiter and figure things out.

I received a call from the recruiter a few hours later, "hey John, they were really impressed with you and they really want to meet with you next week!"

I said, "thats great! I'm free any day except Tuesday, I'm interviewing with another company". The date was set, let the games begin.

It's happening...I didnt think it would, but it's getting done.