Another update…
by Bunny ~ 13th May 2008.Filed under: job hunt, personal.
Yet another update.
There’s not a great deal to say unfort. I met the guy at lunchtime and we went for a sandwich. Turns out he’s only been there 2 months and is himself on contract. The role would involve working closely with him. I got on pretty well with him (he’s middle aged, married with children).
He was extremely complimentary which caught me off guard. Said the way I answered the questions during the interview last week was “technically perfect” (!?!) and that it was apparent I really knew my stuff and had done a lot of research etc, etc. This all sounds great.
But. Still no talk of salary and package. He kept saying he wasn’t privy to the final budgets influencing this role. Also, and this is where I’m unused to large organisations - the whole decision-making process is longer and more complicated than I at first thought. He doesn’t know how much is “in the budget” to offer this role. He also said that, whilst I’d talked of wanting to expand and grow over time, etc, that this role had its own glass ceiling as the roles above it were firm-wide heads of functional roles which were already full. To be honest this doesn’t bother me in the least. The role would easily last a few years and anything can happen in that time. So we’ll see.
I left feeling mildly perturbed by it all as it wasn’t quite the result I’d expected. He still has to confer with 2x directors back at HQ, also the 2 partners I saw. Seems they all have slightly different expectations etc, which I spose is as you’d expect.
Having had a chance to reflect since lunchtime - I am still keen. I want them to get an offer on the table (assuming they want me!) and then take it from there.
So, not a great deal to report.
Oh, it wasn’t great on the subtlety front. As noted on twitter, my mob rang at 8.45am and I took the call but sequestered myself in the server room (off the main open plan area). That in itself looked extremely unsubtle as is highly unusual behaviour for me. CEO and HR weren’t in, which was something.
Then, CEO had wanted a meeting with me ‘late morning’ and I of course had to skip that to go to my meeting (I was out of the office best part of 2 hours due to the 2 tubes required going from Mayfair to City). Then the FD said “you’re awfully smartly dressed today, do you have something important on?”. I was like WTF?!!? Pardon my language, but that really caught me off-guard. I blagged my way out of it but I felt like a real rat.
So we’ll see. I am still positive. These things are invariably quite slow processes. As usual - will keep y’all posted!
Have just made smoked mackerel pate (forgetting the horseradish sauce, duh), though I did put 2x small cloves of garlic in (which are raw). Good thing there’s no one around to kiss! Actually, it’s a bad thing there’s no one around to kiss - but that’s beyond the scope of this particular post!!
Drinking a rather divine G&T. This weather entirely lends itself to G&T and I cracked open the duty-free Bombay Sapphire I brought back from Africa in March.
13th May 2008 at 7:30 pm
You shouldn’t feel like a rat - although I know what you mean. At the end of the day the job is salary etc - no one is doing for nothing and you have to think of your career.
Did they give you a time frame for the offer at least?
13th May 2008 at 7:34 pm
Mumof4 - yeh, ‘A’ keeps reminding me that the company I work for is ‘not a charity’ and I am ‘not a charity worker’. I guess after 5.5 years I just have this misplaced loyalty to the place (though don’t get me wrong, I *do* want to leave). The guy today said he hoped to progress things by the end of this week… Incidentally I’ve just had a job alert from another agency I’ve used and they’ve posted a job right up my street which I’ll be applying for first thing tomorrow! I don’t have my up to date CV at home (crazy I know!) otherwise I’d have applied this evening. Keeping all options open at the moment.
13th May 2008 at 7:58 pm
Searching for another job will always make you a rat. We’ve all done it and it’s difficult that we can rarely search in the open.
As for the lack of package so far, it may be that the third interview and seeming delay are to get a better understanding of what you’re worth and what you’ll accept. Use the time to think about what you really want and need in terms of package and what would make you accept or refuse an offer. If they like you enough they’ll always move to accommodate you.
13th May 2008 at 8:01 pm
It still all sounds positive to me!
13th May 2008 at 9:14 pm
Yes, it does sound positive - fingers crossed!
13th May 2008 at 10:05 pm
Vic - yeh, that could be it. I think I should know if this is going to be a goer or not by the end of this week.
Hen - let’s hope so!
Daphne - thanks!
14th May 2008 at 1:22 am
Hmm, I find them pretty slow-moving. Wouldn’t you have expected to have a little business card with a 6-figure number slid across the table by now?
Oh, wait, that’s mob movies.
No, seriously, I am bemused by the ‘how much is in the budget’ phrase.
As far as your present employers are concerned: you are not bound to your job, even though sometimes we like to think we are. But as one of my former employers once put it, as he laid off 20 employees (not me, but I was job hunting after what follows): everybody is replaceable.
14th May 2008 at 6:41 pm
Lula - yeh, that bit of ‘how much is in the budget’ unnerved me. The whole decision-making process their end unnerves me because I genuinely do NOT know who is in the driving seat. On the one hand it IS this guy, yet on the other hand, he keeps saying he’s not privy to X, Y & Z because he’s only on contract and may not himself be there all that much longer because they’re negotiating a permanent role with him but not offering him anywhere near as much as he wants! Tricky.
You’re of course right re: the present employer. When all is said and done when this chapter closes and the next one begins - it’s then a case of looking forward all the way, and NOT looking back.