Work: July 2006 Archives

For the first time ever, the woman from company #2 got back to me when she said she would. I am blown away.

I got the verbal offer last Friday. It will be made official...sometime this week. Sometime. Sounds vague doesn't it? That's because it is. The problem has been this:

The company is American with a Canadian presence across the country. Until two weeks ago, there was a Canadian HR person taking care of Canadian HR stuff. They quit, leaving my boss (who now needs a name...I'll call her Dee Dee, or just Dee) stuck. She doesn't know how to do anything in HR. Furthermore, due to certain changes, she now has to deal with the American HR people who don't know anything about Canadian HR. She is figuring out what to do bit by bit. Oh, her boss went on vacation Friday, so she's on her own for this. Furthermore, she's going on vacation on the week of August 14 for I don't know how long.

Basically I am going to start a new job in a new industry in a new language, and I could be mainly on my own.

On the other hand, I am making progress: it's a job I've had before, but it's a new industry. Hopefully I can get involved with all kinds of projects and handle them, thus driving up my value both from inside the company and from the outside.

I may be faced with a major dilemma, though: if this comes through, I have no choice but to jump. And I would feel like a fucking heel for it. But it's a better problem to have than choosing between drug dealing and prostitution.

JonasParker, son of Vincentian expatriates, has been chosen to lead the business development coordination between the members of the Caribbean Union as well as to strengthen relations with the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Parker holds a certificate in project management from HEC, a Masters from UQAM and has received his PMP certification.

"This century requires a careful balance of consolidation of resources and social stewardship," Parker said.

"The West Indies must be seen as more than simply a tourist trap for North Americans and Europeans, but as an innovator and leader. An inspiration. We can do better."

When criticized for his lack of direct West Indian presence in his life, Parker responded, “Yes, it's true. I won't pretend that I am exactly like the residents of St. Vincent, for example. I had a great education. I have met people from all over the world. And I have chosen to reconnect with my roots, use my abilities and be of good service to everyone in the region. I would ask my detractors to examine what they have done other than bicker and amass power for themselves. That is exactly what has been killing us for generations."

Here is a letter I sent to the president of my old company:

Pierre,

I would like to start by saying thanks. Thanks for thinking of me for this new position. I have been thinking about how to change my career while at the same time going back to a high technology specialized consulting company like PRE, and your (unofficial) announcement is quite timely. It is timely because as I mentioned to you, I will be starting a program in project management at HEC next month; this email is in fact being written from a tea house on the laptop I bought for the program. From what you have told me, this position would be full of small projects for which I would be responsible. Since I would be learning about the best practices in project both on the job and off the job, I would be doubly well-armed for the challenges of the position. Here are some of the other things I bring to the table:

I didn't get the job at Company #1. The team said that I was too confident. They felt that I thought that I knew everything and wasn't willing to learn. First they tell me that I am not eager enough. Then when I tell them that I want to learn, that I think that I can do the job and that I would like to get started as quickly as possible, they see that as "too confident".

Maybe they didn't like my face and were looking for some reason to not hire me. In any case, that's two opportunities down, one to go.

The opportunity is potentially a dud. On Tuesday I received the following email from the president of my old company:

I need a bit more time to complete my plans for re-structuring the product group. There will be a product management role for sure but I need to complete the org structure before doing anything else. I would invite you to send your resume nevertheless and when I open up the position, I will call you, if you are still available.

Und dann:

I cannot give you a definite time line. As soon as I have a better idea, I will let you know.

Thanks for your interest. I look forward to reading your resume.

Thanks for your interest? This means that nothing could potentially happen until October, who knows? It's very much a shame. This, of course means that I have to take one of the other two jobs, however they haven't offered my anything yet. I am contacting them in about half an hour.

P.S.: My new D-Link router works beautifully. Yesterday's tech disaster is over. Many thanks to D for helping me with diagnostics.

As I said here, I have a few options opening up to me. The followup to the first position occurred on Thursday. I spent the day with the team in the huge company. They all seemed to think that I was hired, because who hangs out with the team all day unless they are hired? I spoke with everyone there, discussing everyone's roles, the perks of the job (of which there are CONSIDERABLE, including awesome annual sales rallies, trips to Vegas, Beijing and iPods) and how a typical day works. It was a pretty slow day as well, so I was not disturbing anyone. The people are super friendly, the atmosphere is fairly calm and it's 50-50 English-French all the way; linguistically ideal. If I were offered the position right there I would have taken it. As it stands, the manager will talk to everyone I talked to, then talk to the big boss and make a decision by Tuesday. As for the other position, she can't seem to get her interviews to happen in a timely manner, so her decision will be made on Wednesday, so she says. I've heard such things before. At least I am still the leading candidate.

But something happened today to change everything. Back in May when I received my letter of admission to HEC, I started fantasizing about going back to my first company in a completely different role. A powerful one, well-paid. So I decided to email some key people there, including "Sylvie" my old boss. Long-time readers might remember my struggles with that guy. (For the record, he wasn't bad. I just hated my position. We were actually quite friendly when I didn't hate him.) It was like this:

Gentlemen,

It's been quite a long time since speaking with any of you. I just wanted to give you a mini update of what I am up to these days.

Rose and I are still living together. She is doing administration in a really cool place (the name of which I am not allowed to discuss, but their products taste great) and will be starting a special care program in September. I am about to start a project management certificate at HEC (trois ans avec une québécoise de souche m'ont aidé. Ça plus le certificat en français langue seconde…). One day, I may return to work with you in a completely different role (emphasis mine, way after the fact).

Firstly, I thank everyone out there for not giving me a hard time during my non-blog period. The simple fact is that I was bored with the whole thing and simply didn't feel like it. Several things have occurred last month, but even though they were blogworthy, I simply couldn't be bothered to talk about it. However, here are a couple of salient points.

I think that I may start a job soon, as in the next two to three weeks. I have been interviewing like mad lately, and I have been able to have two companies keep a real interest in me. I have had second interviews with both of them, and I could get an offer as early as Monday.