Interview 2, however, was a first-round for a far more technical role in aerospace (aircraft engine manufacturer) that was scheduled for 1.5 hours… ONE POINT FIVE HOURS. The interviewers and I seemed to connect and even shared a few laughs.
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Lots of questions related directly to the role and some situational stuff packed into 40 minutes. Life is about tradeoffs, but that doesn’t make it any less difficult to swallow. It was a second-round interview for a city position that has a great pension and benefits but will likely result in a hefty pay cut compared to what I was making. I see job hunting kind of like dating: don’t waste your time on some dude that isn’t long-term material unless you’re only out for a short-term fix. I’m not a hopper, so if I am going to drag myself and a company through the whole interview process, I want it to be for places and roles that are long-term rather than quick fixes. I actually bumped one for the other thinking that they’d pick an alternate date early next week, but instead, they just pulled it in by an hour. Who lines up two interviews in back-to-back time slots? This chick apparently. Posted in The Day to Day, Work | Tagged Blog, Job Hunting, Life, Women, Work | 1 Comment Getting to Know You… Me?
OVER CAFFEINATED CRACK
I never have to crack open an AS9100 spec or wade through the convoluted web of FAA regulations again. So, it looks like my aerospace days are done which feels strange. I said I appreciate it, but I’m off the table. I wrote an email to one of the 3 final companies I had been interviewing with to let them know that I accepted an offer elsewhere and they asked if they could still compete for me. At times, I feel like I have been scattering resumes into the wind. I thrive in a productive environment and the last 13 months have been challenging. I don’t start for another week and a half, but I’m looking forward to diving back in. I am now making a salary that sits at the 83rd percentile in the pay band right at the get-go. For whatever reason, they also threw in 40 additional hours of PTO that I didn’t ask for but I’ll gladly take. They’d call me with a response later in the day, or tomorrow at the latest. I gave my little speech and the HR person had to defer the decision to the director. I wrote a small 3-point argument for why I’m worth the extra cash and practiced it several times so it didn’t sound so mechanical. My strategy: make it enough for it to be worth their time, but not so high as to have them rescind… I’m already sitting pretty high in the pay band. On the day of the follow-up call, I decided to counter. I spent 2 days going back and forth over whether to take the offer or counter it. I have a friend that is a finance guy and he said that they gave me the weekend to review the offer because it is not their top-end and I should go after the money left on the table. With the benefits being fully paid, and the pension taking the place of Social Security, I’m already making well above what I had prior so why push for more? Also, I was afraid that I might sour the relationship with my new boss.
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Immediately, I was bombarded with: you’re going to negotiate, right? Uh… I hadn’t planned on it. I was so psyched that I let my inner circle know. They also provide fully paid benefits – health, dental, and vision – for my whole family along with a really amazing pension and a monthly transit pass.
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I’ll chalk this up to “the stories we tell ourselves.” Not only did they NOT come in low, they essentially matched my aerospace salary which I always thought was pretty darn decent. This was the one place that I was worried would come in low given the range that was posted with the role and the fact that I don’t have any direct experience working on these types of programs or in the public sector. So, one of the back-to-back interviews I did a little over a week ago sent me an offer.