Interviews

[pgh kenny]

Great news that the interview went well. Now for the waiting...

Are you going to write letters to any of the people you interviewed with?

Back from the interview...

-LanceMan

[SanDeE*]

lance! I'm glad you had a fun trip and a good interview. The pictures are amazing! I can see you will have a wonderful time living in CA, no matter what your job is.

[starbug]

Are you going to write letters to any of the people you interviewed with?

That is a really good point - I have heard from many of the careers programme things I have been to that writing a short letter to the person who interviewed you, saying 'thank you for taking the time to see me. I enjoyed being shown around the office etc, and having visited the facility and met x,y,x people I remain very interested in the role.' is a very good step to take. It doesn't have to be long, apparently, but if there's someone else up for the job, you've both got around the same expertise, qualifications etc, and the library is torn between the two, that's the thing that could swing it in your direction. It's such a small thing but it really shows you're interested and proactive.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

Yup, thank you letters/cards are a must in business etiquette after an interview! In many cases, if you don't send one, you are no longer considered for the position.

[lance]

Are you going to write letters to any of the people you interviewed with?

That is a really good point - I have heard from many of the careers programme things I have been to that writing a short letter to the person who interviewed you, saying 'thank you for taking the time to see me. I enjoyed being shown around the office etc, and having visited the facility and met x,y,x people I remain very interested in the role.' is a very good step to take. It doesn't have to be long, apparently, but if there's someone else up for the job, you've both got around the same expertise, qualifications etc, and the library is torn between the two, that's the thing that could swing it in your direction. It's such a small thing but it really shows you're interested and proactive.

Hey all,

Glad you liked the pictures. I really enjoyed the beaches, well heck I enjoyed pretty much all of the California that I have seen thus far and look forward to seeing more.

As to the the thank you note/letter, done and done.

I mailed it Friday night from Half Moon Bay. They don't have prominent beach signs, but they do have a nice post office.



Kind of cool thing happened today. The company I am temping with again offered to hire me full time if only I will stay in Vegas.



I was flattered, I was polite and I turned them down. Still it was a nice vote of confidence all the same.

-Lance "California Dreamin' " Man

[Natasha (candygirl)]

Kind of cool thing happened today. The company I am temping with again offered to hire me full time if only I will stay in Vegas.



I was flattered, I was polite and I turned them down. Still it was a nice vote of confidence all the same.

Hee, did you tell them they were a day late and a dollar short?

[lance]

Kind of cool thing happened today. The company I am temping with again offered to hire me full time if only I will stay in Vegas.



I was flattered, I was polite and I turned them down. Still it was a nice vote of confidence all the same.

Hee, did you tell them they were a day late and a dollar short?

LOL!

Oh so very, very tempted. The thing is I am working for a home builder (home buildings, casinos and hosptials pretty much cover 95% of Vegas businesses BTW) and they spend HUGE amounts of time arguing over the price of building materials like stucco.

These are homes that sell for $750,000 to $1 million dollars. As hard as I try I just can't get exicted by saving 4% on the cost of stucco.

pgh kenny wrote:

Great news that the interview went well. Now for the waiting...

Argggggggggggggggggggggggh. Yes, there is always the waiting. (Sigh) Never easy but I remain hopeful. Making it the next round of interviews would be super-sweet. Beats trying to estimate the vast potential for savings on lumber.



-LanceMan

[Natasha (candygirl)]

These are homes that sell for $750,000 to $1 million dollars. As hard as I try I just can't get exicted by saving 4% on the cost of stucco.

At those prices, at least you won't have sticker shock when you move out to California!



I know what you mean though. "Wow, I can save 4% on the stucco? Then give me twice as much!"

[SanDeE*]

Kind of cool thing happened today. The company I am temping with again offered to hire me full time if only I will stay in Vegas.



I was flattered, I was polite and I turned them down. Still it was a nice vote of confidence all the same.

-Lance "California Dreamin' " Man

HA! Mr. Lance Man is in high demand!!! Good for you!

[lance]

Kind of cool thing happened today. The company I am temping with again offered to hire me full time if only I will stay in Vegas.



I was flattered, I was polite and I turned them down. Still it was a nice vote of confidence all the same.

-Lance "California Dreamin' " Man

HA! Mr. Lance Man is in high demand!!! Good for you!

Thanks for that.

Job Update:

So I look at my calendar. Been almost three weeks since my interview. They said I would know in 2 to 3 weeks if I made the cut to the second round of interviews.

I pick up the phone call HR. (Sigh) Forgot what it was like to become a city/county employee. The woman at HR was very sweet but she said that the person handling all the interviewees for this position was out till Tuesday. Yes, letters had already been send out. Letters for those who didn't make the cut and letters for those who had.

No, she didn't have that list or access to it.



Oh well, I just have to wait until the mail catches up with me or Tuesday which ever comes first. Could be worse, at my old library each applicant had to go through a 6 month process at which 5 seperate personnel from HR had to approve each step of the process. If one of these five were sick, on vacation, leave or at a conference the applicants paperwork just sat until the person came back.

-Lance

[lance]

Crap.



Didn't get the job, didn't even get a form letter telling me to "bugger off". They did say that I would be placed on an eligiblity list until April. Given the size of the particular library in question I doubt a) there will be another opening and that b) even if there was given their communication problems I doubt I would hear about if from them.



I have heard from others in the hoard of unemployed California library employees that sadly this is a fairly typical experience. My future roomate has had to call 3 HR Departments of Public Libraries in Cali to find out that he didn't get the job after waiting several weeks for word.

(Sigh)

The cynical part of me has a new goal.

Wait I am getting ahead of myself. Here in Vegas temps are low balled badly in pay. Thus my old goal was not to garner a living wage in Vegas, I couldn't do it. So instead I dedicated myself to working as many convention jobs as possible with the hope of working for every casino on the strip. Ended up doing like 6 of them.

So my new goal is to get on the eligiblity list of 35 public libraries. I know I can do this, I have confidence that I can achieve this goal.

Thus ends the rant.

On the plus side though, sometime tough to find, I am going to a better place. Here in Vegas there are 2 Public Libraries. Where I am going in Cali (with some commuting) there are 22 systems. So the odds are better. Also I hear from ex California temps that the pay is indeed better than here in Vegas, has to be simply to cover the tax difference.

-LanceMan

[SanDeE*]

Oh Lance, I'm so sorry to hear that. It's good that you have a plan and you can look on the bright side, though. Things always work out the way they are supposed to, even if you can't see why right away. Good luck!

[Natasha (candygirl)]

My friend is in grad school and he recently applied for an internship (along with most of his classmates). He was called in for an interview, then he heard nothing...until he received an email soliciting him to apply for the internship. He contacted them and found out that they had not selected him for the internship, to which he replied, (1) Why wasn't I ever notified of this decision as it is common courtesy and practice to send out rejection letters and (2) If you decided I wasn't the right person for the internship, why did you send me an unsolicited email asking me to apply? That's just adding insult to injury!

[starbug]

Bummer, Lance. Think of it this way: if they rejected you for the job, you probably wouldn't have enjoyed working there. whenever I've been rejected, I have always found myself 2months later in a situation thinking 'thank god that happened because if it hadn't, I never would have done/found xyz, and xyz is really great'.

That is particularly slack of them not to even send you a rejection letter, especially since it seems you were told to expect one. I once applied for a job at a charity (hey, let's name and shame, it was Shelter) and didn't get it. Only, I'm assuming I didn't get it because on their form it says words to the effect of 'because we're a charity and resources are stretched, we cannot write to applicants if they are unsuccessful, to let them know this. If you do not hear from us you can assume you were unsuccessful in your application.' Okaaaaaaay. But
a) email, which is asked for on application, hardly takes a year to organise. And it's free. You could BCC everyone onto one mass 'sorry you were unsuccessful' email. Those candidates who don't have email (WHO doesn't have email now?) could get a letter. That's fast and with minimal costs attached.
b) If you happened to be successful, and your letter inviting you to interview was lost in the post or something, you'd never show for interview and never contact them again, although you were actually in with a chance.

Good luck with your continued search!

[emmie]

well, even though you didn't get this one particular job, it sounds as though you have a plan. and the prospects sound much better than in Las Vegas. I think it's great though that you are moving and living in all of these interesting places. for me, atmosphere makes a huge difference. because even if I hated a job, a temp job for example, at least I would be living in a city that I enjoy. and it sounds like you really like CA. so, sorry for the rejection, but congrats on moving to a place where you'll be happier!