Fabulous Financials

After a few days of jumping back on the blogging band wagon, I ran across this fabulous article: How to Get a Job That’s Way Beyond Your Experience by Penelope Trunk @ Brazen Careerist. Immediately, I thought to myself - been there, done that. Got the battle scars to prove it. LOL Then I paused to truly reflect.

One year ago, I made one of the best decisions of my career, but it was also one of the worst. If that makes any sense.

I saw what I wanted and went after it. Although I knew I wasn’t ready for the responsibility, I wasn’t afraid to take the risk. As a result, I advanced my career into new territory, increased my salary by nearly 20%, gained substantial experience, developed new skills, became more self aware of my strengths and weaknesses, and turned some of those weaknesses into new strengths.

All in one year.

However, the last six months of that year involved one of my worst career experiences ever. It’s all behind me now, but the experience made me a better person. And for that, I’m thankful.

As I was going through it, I consulted with another mentor whom I trust and respect. Not only did he introduce me to my current boss, but he also gave me perspective about my old boss. He said “the most valuable career experience I’ve ever had was when I worked for someone who expected me to do more than I thought I could, but never asked me to do more than I was capable of.”

They say hindsight is 20/20. I finally understand what he meant.

I’ve probably interviewed more times in the past year than I have in my entire life. You would think I’ve mastered an interview technique by now, but I still get nervous and anxiety still overwhelms me. And no matter how well I “think” I did, once it’s over, I still wonder if I’ll get the job. Although I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t (through trial and error), I hate interviewing just like everyone else. After my most recent interviewing experience, I hate them more now than ever. Lawd, they were brutal! Somehow, I survived and managed to secure 2 offers, but they gave me a serious reality check.

My conscience said, “Single Ma, g’on home, you aint ready baby” - in the most sincere way. And I started to do just that. Accept defeat, put my tail between my legs, and go crying home to my mama! LOL You see, the difference between the interviews I’m used to and the interviews I have to endure now are POLITICS.

Let me ‘xplain…

At this point in my career, technical knowledge and expertise are a given. You can not survive without having a solid foundation in the career field. While some people fake it ‘til they make it, most have a fundamental understanding of how to execute their duties under moral/ethical standards. Along with this responsibility comes influence…and therefore…you guessed it…politics.

Politics can best be described as a game of persuasion, reputation, and as odd as this may sound…likeability. Therefore, the interviewers already know you have what it takes to do the job. Your resume speaks volumes. And if you’re as good as you say you are, they’ve probably heard your name or know someone who can speak on your behalf. At this stage in the game, an informal background check is usually performed before you are invited to the interview. Therefore, the face to face is simply an opportunity to prove your “likeability” factor.

Now I hereby present to you a brief description of my two most recent interviews:

1. I call this one What Would YOU Do.

There was a panel of four that included a representative from each area of expertise. The organization is more of a matrix than hierarchical and the teams are cross functional. They conducted a situational interview where I was asked about 5 canned questions using real life scenarios. If xxx happened, how would you handle it and why? If xxx was the problem, what would be your proposed solution? As you know, I love open ended questions because there is no right or wrong. There were a few situations that I had never faced before, but I tried to craft my answers to highlight my strengths. But as I quickly learned, preparation with examples is key because my answers opened the floor for additional questions and discussion.

The trick to this type of interview is to relax. I know it’s easier said than done when you’re on the spot, but when you’re nervous, you can’t think straight. And if you’re not thinking straight, there is no way you can convince them to like you.

2. I call this one Let Me See You Sweat.

After the formal meet & greet, five executives (one from each department) were seated around the conference room table and I was handed a list of 10 questions. I was told that I had approximately 10 minutes to review the list but I should begin answering them whenever I was ready. WTF!! Immediately, I felt this small. Here I was, little ole’ me in a room full of execs dodging piercing stares while trying to scan the questions and formulate a coherent answer without passing out from an adrenaline overdose. Who can wing that without a little advanced notice? Sheesh!

After escaping the wolves, I called my mentor crying. Yes, Single Ma was crying. They punked me, y’all! LOL I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life! Thankfully, my mentor helped me to relax. After we went over some of my responses, she thought I actually did ok. She told me they were NOT looking for an exact answer to each and every question. In fact, she said the technical answers were irrelevant because they were testing my ability to think fast on my feet with limited information - required skills for top level managers. They were also observing my comfort level and if my answers were persuasive, despite the pressure - required skills for highly visible, politically sensitive positions. Personally, I thought it was bullshyt. But apparently, I did ok because it’s the job I have now.

My boss is everything I expected. He reminds me of my old boss from two years ago. This is going to sound racist, but I don’t care. I love working for white men. They are so calm and laid back, seem to take a genuine interest in my career development, and give me just enough rope (i.e. information and power) to make me dangerous. LOL

My staff is fabulous. Small team, about 10 people plus 4 vacancies. I conducted an interview on my second day. Geez! But it’s all good. It went well and I want her. We have to interview 3 others before I can submit the paperwork to HR so they can extend an offer.

The people are very nice, I feel so welcomed and needed. I expected someone to escort me around the office to be introduced, but my boss’ boss called a meeting so everyone could meet ME. It was expected to be a 10-15 minute meet n’ greet, but it lasted nearly an hour. A diverse group, various backgrounds, expansive levels of experience, educated, and friendly. Pretty cool.

I’ve never seen an office so organized. They had my office already setup (it’s half the size I had LOL), my BB already configured, supplies laid out, order forms if I wanted more, and instructions to operate the phone/scanner/fax (assigned a personal fax number connected to my email) was on my desk. Access to all systems and networks were already established and the IT department prepared a list of my User IDs and default passwords. Guess what? They all worked! LOL The only thing I had to do was take pictures for IDs, complete a bunch of forms, and sit through several training videos/classes. The latter was boring, but I survived.

The only downside to this job is the cost of parking, but my boss is working on that. I have a client that wants me on site several days per week. I can see the benefits of having me close and it will be an easier commute, but my boss insists that I agree under one condition. I said what? He said get them to pay for your parking. HA HA HA

I’m going to love working for him!

I finally received a firm offer with reasonable terms and conditions.

For a minute, it was not looking good at all because they wanted me to sign a 3 year tenure agreement. The purpose of the agreement is to minimize turnover in what they consider “critical” positions, which are usually top level management or executive positions that play an important role in major projects or the organization’s mission. Losing a critical person mid-stream can mean the loss of $$ millions and place the organization at a significant disadvantage.

This concern is not unusual, but the weird thing about it is that MY position is NOT top level management or executive. I can probably be classified as mid-level management but this organization labeled the position as “critical” based on the job description. *shrug*

So to answer some of your questions from this post: no they can NOT make me stay against my will, but they can tie the tenure agreement to any bonuses paid, training funded, cost of benefits, 401k contributions, etc. If I didn’t honor the 3 year tenure agreement, I’d have to pay back any funding I received (excluding salary) up to the 2nd year and 11th month of employment. Simple as that. I understand the intent, and it’s fair game…just not for me.

So here’s what happened… Read more »

…or is it?

This post is off topic and pretty lengthy, so feel free to read, comment, ignore, or delete. But I need to focus on something positive for a moment. Bear with me.

Also, this post was in draft for a while, so “today” actually means “Tuesday,” April 22nd.

The Old J.O.B.

Today was my last day in the office and the staff hosted a farewell brunch. According to the invite, it was originally schedule for 9:30-12:30, which I thought was a bit long to bid someone farewell. Besides, I don’t like people and I wasn’t in the mood to be the center of attention (you know I must be under the weather), so it was shortened to 10:00-12:00 at my request. Still a long time, but I didn’t want to press the issue too much. Ok, cool.

For some reason, I had a little extra pep in my step this morning - maybe because I was listening to Beyonce “Get Me Bodied” all the way to work. That’s my song! I need to give thanks to Bey for giving me extra motivation to focus on the busy day ahead.

First things first. Despite multiple interviews, my boss still has not found my replacement. So that means she will assume most of my management duties and the administrative work was divided amongst three people. Yes, you read that right. It will take FOUR people (including boss) to complete the tasks of ONE person. That should give you an idea of the load I carried. Hmph! But guess what? All of a sudden, almost everything that had been lagging over the past month or two miraculously began to progress. People were asking me to review reports, attend meetings to make quick decisions, send emails to confirm something I’d said, sign documents, approve vacation, etc. Lesson learned: quit your job and things get done. I think I was more productive today than I’ve been in the past 12 months. LOL

Mr. Eye Candy Read more »