Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Back In Business

WELL, GOOD NEWS and BAD NEWS related to this morning's highly anticipated interview. As befitting a chronic early arriver, I got to the venue a half-hour early at 10:00, and the actual interview lasted 90 minutes. I'll spare you the suspense and give the good first: By the end of the interview I had the position. On the other hand, whereas I knew it was a short-term assignment, it turns out it's a little more short term than I first was led to believe -- your classic bad news for those scoring at home. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely grateful to be back on the good ship Employment, but now instead of what was described by my agency contact as a 6-8-week project, I learned from the guy who hired me that it's 4 weeks at the most and more likely 3. Worse, it's unlikely to turn into a regular or even permanent position, as the entire scope of the job entails editing an annual report for a major public corporation. So the S. S. Full Time ain't boarding passengers any time soon.

Nevertheless, I'm all about the positives. Things could ALWAYS be worse, especially on board this current ship America. I gotta tell you: it was not only the longest interview, but the best interview I've ever had by a magnitude of at least Pi, which we all know is 3.14 give or take a slice. First I met the human resources guy for a second, before he passed me off to the person in charge of the actual thing that I'll be doing. Then we sat in his office and had a wide-ranging, freewheeling conversation that covered the prospective job-to-be, certainly, but not exclusively, not by a long shot. In the hour and a half we spent maybe 20 minutes total on what it is I would be doing -- but that number may be a little high. Instead it was all about books we were reading, how computers have changed publishing since we started in the field about the same time ago in the 1980s, where our families were from in Italy and Greece, respectively, and on and on. I was really on my game today, the very archetype of the Good Listener: not interrupting him as he went on yet remaining visibly interested, all the while just waiting for an opening any opening to hit him with all the A material I've gathered from my years on the circuit. But my point if there is one is not that I have a new best friend here, but the fact that my boss for the next few weeks should be easy to get along with bodes well. As I said, the opposite can always be the case and usually is if my experience is any indication. There's a reason Murphy has that nasty Law named after him.

I've worked some through this agency before, but it was a while ago and sporadic at best: a day here, another there. So now if I absolutely slay this assignment, that puts me in good stead there. And I know at least for me good stead is the absolute best kind of stead. Trust me, I've tried all kinds...

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7 comments:

Nazz Nomad said...

cool- a gig is a gig.

Denier said...

Tell me about it, Nazz. How's your search going? I've been hitting Indeed.com and Simply Hired, bombarding what ever I see with resumes, so far to no avail. It's like fishing in a fucking ice hole with dental floss.

jimithegreek said...

its a piece of the da pie...so good luck with it!

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Survival group against God?? LOL. Good luck with that. Truth is, no one knows the exact time this will happen except the man upstairs, however, I firmly believe that there are people placed here by God that post the warning signs and it's up to you to take heed.
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Nazz Nomad said...

I have been doing alot of research on LinkedIn as of late- also someone caller "the undercover recruiter" offers good advice, as does careerealism.com .

the pissing in the wind sites "monster", "indeed", etc seem to be pretty hopeless since they are so well known and every posting gets inundated with applicants.

I am shifting gears a bit personally and doing the networking thing... I have decided to reinvent myself and pitch an idea to some companies that i think is underutilized. it might lead me into the sales world... which is not my "dream", but i might be able to create a hybrid of sorts using my industry knowledge. it is certainly worth a shot... and I already have a couple of somewhat promising meetings about it... and these days, even a glimmer of hope is like a ray of effing sunshine.

astoria getting hit hard? it just started snowing here on lawn guyland 'round 11 pm... otherwise it's been Noah-level rain.

Denier said...

Nazz, Expecting over a foot, hasn't stopped coming down since yesterday morning at around 7AM! Long Island got the rain part of it, hah? Looking out my window now as I type, it's that real wet snow that really sticks and is fucking great for snowballs. We used to really hit the buses going up and down Steinway. We'd catch 'em unawares and bombard those suckers. Man, those passengers would really jump when they heard the THWACK! of a softball sized wet snowball against the window or side of the bus. It was an all day affair if you had the stamina.

That sounds interesting, the proposal thing: good for you for thinking outside the box. I've tried the salesman thing and I really suck at it. Ever try to sell gold coins over the phone?

Let me know how it's coming along, and of course if you ever need a proofreader to go over a proposal or report, I'm your man. Special Stiff Little Fingers discount.

My friend John says the Specials are coming to down, if they do I'm all over it.

Nazz Nomad said...

heard about the specials gig... if i have the $$$$, i'm gonna go.

did you tell me about sologig.com? might be worth checking out, and manhattanjobs.com