Job Interviewing - Do's and Don'ts

[Orbert]

Congratulations!

[axeman90210]

That's awesome Gary!

I think my round two went well. They'll talk to a few more people and discuss internally, should hear in about a week.

[millahh]

Congratulations Gary, that's great!  And it's cool that you have a little time before things start, where you can still goof off without the stress of the situation hanging over you.

Axeman, you said this was a big step up in salary, does it also get you the level up that you weren't getting in your current gig?

[axeman90210]

Yessir. Fingers crossed. I felt bad I didn't have more questions, but I was really able to cover them with the two guys I talked to in my first round interview. Turns out the guy I talked to today knows/knew a couple people I used to work with (one a colleague at my current company, the other worked for our biggest client and closely with my team), hopefully that gives me an edge.

[Stadler]

Really excited for the good news for all of you.   

[lordxizor]

Just received the offer from STERIS!     Holy cow....what a relief. Benefits package has been sent to me to peruse tonight and I'll officially accept the position on a phone call tomorrow morning. Start date to be September 14th.

It feels weird to think about starting a new job but I'm pumped. Just pulled in to the golf course to play a quick (9) holes by myself and reflect a bit.

Great news! Welcome to STERIS! It's been a great place for me to work for the last 8 years.

[gmillerdrake]

Just received the offer from STERIS!     Holy cow....what a relief. Benefits package has been sent to me to peruse tonight and I'll officially accept the position on a phone call tomorrow morning. Start date to be September 14th.

It feels weird to think about starting a new job but I'm pumped. Just pulled in to the golf course to play a quick (9) holes by myself and reflect a bit.

Great news! Welcome to STERIS! It's been a great place for me to work for the last 8 years.

Thanks! I'm pumped and looking forward to it.

[ReaperKK]

No state income tax in florida, that raise plus the cost of living and no tax would be a huge gain.  Florida has good weather and Orlando is at least still a spot touring bands will visit (compared to like Miami which is a dead zone for metal concerts) plus there's plenty of other things to do there and nicer weather. 

Orlando is a really nice area and you're right about the shows. I used to drive to Orlando to see shows there.

If you're cool with an hour or two drive - Melbourne and Daytona on the east coast, Ft. Meyers or Tampa on the west - there's basically no one you can't see in FLA.  I'm consistently blown away when I look on setlist.fm at the bands that have played in those places; and you'll get all the name tours in Orlando.

Wasn't DT historically known for skipping Florida?  I don't think you'll get as much as the NYC area, but that spot in Florida is not a dead zone for concerts. 

Yea the would skip florida a bunch, I only saw them twice there at it was during the 2003 summer tour and the gigantour.

Just received the offer from STERIS!     Holy cow....what a relief. Benefits package has been sent to me to peruse tonight and I'll officially accept the position on a phone call tomorrow morning. Start date to be September 14th.

It feels weird to think about starting a new job but I'm pumped. Just pulled in to the golf course to play a quick (9) holes by myself and reflect a bit.

Congrats!

[gmillerdrake]

So you can't make this stuff up.......literally twenty minutes after I formerly accepted the position at STERIS this morning my boss calls me and says she's submitting paperwork to bring me off of furlough     You have to be kidding me...right?

So, I told her that it'd benefit me more if she kept me on furlough and then outright released me in November so I could get the severance package from them. She knows I have been in talks with Steris...and I told her that I expected an offer soon (didn't want to tell her just yet) We talked some more and she basically said she'd keep me on furlough for as long as she could but could make no promises.

If she calls me back then I'll have to report and turn my two weeks in but I'm really trying to play this to where I get all my PTO cashed out and the severance. I spoke with the guy who's position I'm taking at Steris about the company and the position and am real encouraged. The only reason he left is because he has a 2 year old kid and they just had twins so he needed a job where there was no travel at all. He couldn't say good enough things about the company, people I'll be working with and so on....so that is comforting.

I just thought it was funny that after all these months of just nothing....no calls....no work....then boom...I get an offer AND my job tries to call me back 

[jingle.boy]

That's the way shit goes my man.  It'd be great if your current company can ride you into the ground, just to get that extra bump in PTO/severance.  Prolly not gonna happen though.

[gmillerdrake]

That's the way shit goes my man.  It'd be great if your current company can ride you into the ground, just to get that extra bump in PTO/severance. Prolly not gonna happen though.

Nope. She told me she'd definitely not submit me for these (2) spots they had open but that our company just released $90 million dollars to get some projects back going and that she thinks they'll want more people back soon.

If that happens.....I mean, the thing that sucks but the angle I have to play is I return to my job and immediately put in my two weeks. I have to save as much time as I can for my kids to remain on medical benefits and it has to give me time to find medical coverage for the time in between me leaving my now job and when my benefits kick in on the next one which is mid October.

I all but begged her not to put me in that position and to call back all the other PM's before me. We shall see how it goes.

[bosk1]

Congrats, Gary! 

And one other thing, while I have your attention:  STOP PUTTING PARENTHESIS AROUND NUMBERS!  IT IS NOT CORRECT, AND IS ANNOYING.  STOP IT!  NOW!

[gmillerdrake]

STOP PUTTING PARENTHESIS AROUND NUMBERS!  IT IS NOT CORRECT, AND IS ANNOYING.  STOP IT!  NOW!

Wait? How's it not correct? I've done it like (1,769) times

[bosk1]

Parentheses are just not used that way.  That's like randomly deciding to put periods around numbers.  Or commas.  Or any other punctuation mark.  They're just numbers.  You don't do that.  Why would you think you should?

[jingle.boy]

You wouldn't put (parenthesis) around words; why would you around (numbers)?   

[millahh]

You wouldn't put (parenthesis) around words; why would you around (numbers)?   

What about around punctuation marks? For example:

( .Y. )

(  !  )


😁

[gmillerdrake]

Parentheses are just not used that way.  That's like randomly deciding to put periods around numbers.  Or commas.  Or any other punctuation mark.  They're just numbers.  You don't do that.  Why would you think you should?

I always thought it helped the number stick out more....that it was more concise in a way. I never contemplated if it was the (correct) thing to do

I applied to 63 different positions before finally getting hired.

I applied to (63) different positions before finally getting hired.

[bosk1]

I applied to 63 different positions before finally getting hired.

I applied to (63) different positions before finally getting hired.

The first is correct.

The second is not.

Yes, the second way does make the numbers stick out more.  But not in a good way.  In more of a "geez, this guy doesn't know punctuation rules.  I wonder if he puts apostrophes on every word that ends in 's' and mixes up there/their/they're all the time, too?" kind of way.

[gmillerdrake]

I applied to 63 different positions before finally getting hired.

I applied to (63) different positions before finally getting hired.

The first is correct.

The second is not.

Yes, the second way does make the numbers stick out more.  But not in a good way.  In more of a "geez, this guy doesn't know punctuation rules.  I wonder if he puts apostrophes on every word that ends in 's' and mixes up there/their/they're all the time, too?" kind of way.

I may now shift to just using the bold tool if I want to type a number like 57 or 183.  Something inside me compels me to distinguish them for some reason.

[lordxizor]

I didn't know people out parentheses around numbers. That's a stupid thing to do.

On the topic of unnecessary punctuation, my wife's grandma always writes greeting cards with the person's name in quotation marks. Happy Birthday "Susan" or Merry Christmas "Jane". Makes no sense at all to me.

[bosk1]

You may identify as "Susan," but I think we all know better. 

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I didn't know people out parentheses around numbers. That's a stupid thing to do.

On the topic of unnecessary punctuation, my wife's grandma always writes greeting cards with the person's name in quotation marks. Happy Birthday "Susan" or Merry Christmas "Jane". Makes no sense at all to me.

The way some older people use punctuation is baffling to me. I see people who comment,,,,,,like this,,,,why,,,would you do that,,,,? I mean, I get they didn't grow up with computers, but surely they didn't learn to write that way.

[lordxizor]

You may identify as "Susan," but I think we all know better. 

That's always what it makes me think! "I know you're really Kathy, "Susan". You're not fooling anyone."

[Stadler]

Just continuing the conversation that I'm late to, technically speaking, you do not use actual numerals until you get to ten, and you do not start sentences with numerals either.

Right (or at least, more formal):
Ten people criticized Gary for his use of parenthesis.
I have done it myself three times that I can remember.
There are 26 different rules for writing numbers in a sentence.

Wrong (or at least, frowned on):
10 people criticized Gary for his use of parenthesis.
I have done it myself 3 times that I can remember.

For me, someone that writes a fair amount of formal letters, I generally write numbers below ten as "six (6)" or "eight (8)".   I either use "25" or "twenty-five" depending on the context; in a main paragraph or in a reference to days (as in "we will be paid in ....  days"), I use "twenty-five (25)", in a bullet, a prices, or dates, "25".   

Oh, and I like commas.  The more the merrier.

[jingle.boy]

Oh, and I like commas.  The more the merrier.

We've noticed.

[millahh]

So to tie this all together, how did you write numbers on your resume? 

I confess to an overuse of ellipsis, but I don't use them in my cover letter or CV...

[axeman90210]

That's awesome Gary!

I think my round two went well. They'll talk to a few more people and discuss internally, should hear in about a week.

impatience intensifies

[axeman90210]

Got an email from the recruiter, I'll speak with him on the phone after lunch but it looks like they're going to make an offer    

[jingle.boy]

Got an email from the recruiter, I'll speak with him on the phone after lunch but it looks like they're going to make an offer    

[cramx3]

 

[axeman90210]

I'm of course now both completely distracted and de-motivated from being able to focus at all on my work for today

[gmillerdrake]

Got an email from the recruiter, I'll speak with him on the phone after lunch but it looks like they're going to make an offer    

Sweet!

[axeman90210]

Spoke with the recruiter, basically just some general background before they prep an offer. We confirmed the original salary range that was quoted to me, as well as that they'd offer some kind of relocation assistance. Talked a little bit about bonuses (both annual and sign-on), but absolutely nothing specific. I think he's going to set up a call with me and them soon to try to iron out the details ahead of their first official offer.

[Stadler]

Nice, Bill!  Happy for you!!!!

[millahh]

That's great, Bill!  I'll hold of on cracking a cold one in your honor until you get the official offer, I'm a little superstitious like that...but I'll have it on standby.

Finally had my call with my potential boss this morning. Being the "right hand to the COO" would be a very different role for me, but I could still get my hands in a lot of R&D stuff, and it could establish me in cell & gene therapy without having to take a step backwards into doing full time product development again...basically, it could be a 2-3 year shortcut vs. what I was figuring my path would be. The position still seems like a good fit, and I think she and I got on well and understood one another, but we'll see for sure in a few days, when we see whether I proceed on to the full interview.

That said, sending in another application on Monday...