On Sunday night, she sends an e-mail telling me that they want me to fly in for the face-to-face interview. She wants me to let her know what my schedule looks like for this week, and she wants an answer by Monday. I respond within a couple hours of receiving that e-mail, telling her that I would supply her with a date by Monday afternoon. I was trying to set a boundary that said, "don't bug me about this until then."
She replies on early Monday morning, telling me that she wants me to supply multiple dates and then calls me a couple hours later on my cell phone, leaving a voice mail (I am tired of wasting my minutes on her) with the same message. She then calls a couple hours again later, leaving me a message to ask me, prefacing this with "I know I should have checked this on MapQuest", whether my city and the office in the Keystone State are within driving distance. She also left an e-mail message echoing this question.
So she had not only violated the boundary, she bust out a na-na-na-na-boo-boo groove right in my face. I responded by just ignoring her the rest of Monday.
On Tuesday morning, things are quiet, but then I start getting the e-mails and phone calls. The first one said that she needs to set up another phone interview with a guy in NYC. The later in the day, I get set of e-mail/voice mail messages saying that they don't want to do the phone interview now, and I should just let them know when I can come out for the interview.
She called me at least two more times at work and once at my home phone. I just received another e-mail message at 9:30 p.m.
I have worked with pushy recruiters, but I've never had to deal with one who is this bad. Most of her voice mail messages are rattled off so quickly, you can't tell what she's saying, and she oftentimes cuts herself off before she finishes the message. Moreover, she composes her e-mails so poorly, it's an embarrassment.
Here is one from today...
HI (2am) forget the fourth phone interview we want to fl y you to (city where office is) I have not heard from you reply and let me know a few choices of days/ timeswhen you can make it to city where office is) please !!
Here is one from Friday...
a few questions, confirm your current salary , and wh y is it low, considering you do have several yrs of experience? tha t is a little puzzling, and also , what was your last salary at the previous employer, (ex-employer) ??same thing? LEt me know right away and let me know how I can call you, as we need to make a decision on the next steps right away, thank you
I'm going to call her around 8 a.m. tomorrow morning and have a heart to heart. Throughout this process, I have felt like a sheep having its ankles bitten by a herding dog. I don't know if this is just the fact that she's just that ditzy or if it's a sign of the culture of the company for whom she works. If it's the former, she's doing a serious disservice to the brand. If it's the latter, I need to run for the hills because that means they're pathologically micromanagerial.
The contract job with the local CD/DVD/Video Game Distributor has decided not to extend the offer. I'll let the recruiter's e-mail do the speaking...
We just heard back from (the distributor). Although they really liked you and your background, unfortunately, they are not going to be able to move forward. In a nutshell, they just feel that you would be extremely bored in this position. You are used to working on exciting, newer technologies. This position would just be working on older, not exciting technologies. They don't want you to go backwards in your career.
If I'm going to get a rejection, I'd like it to be for a reason like that!
Last night, I got a call from the Southern California Server Division of a Popular Gaming Console Manufacturer. I had submitted a resume to them a couple weeks ago, and they were finally getting around to me. I have a phone interview Wednesday evening.
A recruiter at the Silicon Valley Planetary Network Equipment Company has sent me an e-mail saying they turned up my resume in an "intellectual property search" and they are wanting to know whether I'd be interested in speaking with them.
A reader on this blog has kindly helped me with one of the leads I was griping about in a prior post. The reader knows who he or she is, and that person has my deepest gratitude.
This morning, I was supposed to have an initial meeting over coffee with the representative of a local consulting practice. I had to get up way earlier than I normally do to meet this person up on the north side of town. It was a no-show, and I'm none too happy about it.
I had a half hour phone screen this morning with the Bluegrass Printer Manufacturer. They're doing some interesting stuff with the guts of their high end multifunction printers. I got a call about an hour thereafter telling me that they wanted to offer me a job. It's a contract position. The hourly rate isn't too bad, but I don't have the cost of benefits. It has no chance of becoming bona fide permanent position, but it could be long term. They also won't cover the cost of relocation. Chances are, this one will get turned down.
I had a second phone interview with Up and Coming Pacific Northwest Internet Ad Company. This was supposed to be a technical screen, and it was supposed to be at 6 p.m. my time. The interviewer didn't call until 6:37 p.m., claiming that he had lost track of time playing some video game. He apologized, but it did bug me because I had hurried home to be ready for this appointment. I was surprised he didn't give me much in the way of programming or algorithm questions. We did talk about things I had worked on, and we each learned something. I educated him about the metered section object that someone at Microsoft had developed as an alternative to the semaphore synchronization object, and he showed me how one can use ordering of objects to avoid circular deadlocks.
I spoke with a recruiter in the Big Apple who is looking for hedge fund and investment bank talent. Not sure where this will lead, but I did get a form to fill out for a big investment bank. Sure would make a good GOOD[1] job.
I have another recruiter in the Windy City who is wanting me to take another C++ programming test. Maybe later this week.
Things have been eerily silent at work regarding this supposed big deal that was supposed to be hammered out on Monday. The CEO has made no noise about it. The CTO has been busy tending to his wife, who had to undergo another small surgical procedure on Friday.
[1] -- GOOD = Get Out Of Debt
