Tough Day, part 700

I had a tough day.
Remember the five interviews I had in one week at the beginning of May? The last one finally got back to me.
To review for those of you new to the saga: I applied for the job on April 4th.
I had a screening phone interview on April 10th, and then another weird second phone screening on the 26th, which was nearly identical to the first.
Interview was on May 6th, and I gotta say I 'nailed it' (though obviously, I didn't).
It was for a mid-sized social service agency.
The hiring manager said it'd be a slow process, but they would make a decision "in a week or two".
Thus began the long game of tag, which included his ten day vacation, his supervisor chiming in, and twice saying "we'll make a decision by Friday".

They told me today they "went with another candidate".

I'm all over the place here. I hate them for dragging me on more than not hiring me. I hate them for their impersonal, callous approach; their inability to even give me a call, talk to me personally, or even be straight with me a month ago. I would appreciate something like "we interviewed  5 people for 3 positions; you're our 5th choice" or something like that.

Is that so wrong?

So, those are some thoughts.  But it's been a tough day after a long, difficult week.

This is totally off topic.

How to get feedback?

I have a situation I'd like your help with.

Yesterday I got word that I didn't get one of the jobs I'd interview for recently (3 down, 2 to go).  Here's the email:

Thank you for your email.  We will be doing the second panel of interviews this week.  … I am sorry to say we are moving forward with other candidates at this time.  Thank you very much for your time and interest in the positions.  We wish you the best in your job search.  Please consider us again for future opportunities.

I'm very used to getting these rejections, but is it just me, or is it just wrong to include that second sentence, especially BEFORE telling me that they're "moving forward with other candidates..."

Mind you, this is the HR person who rubbed me pretty wrong by insisting to use a speaker phone in the initial screening interview, so I don't have a high opinion of her already.

So, question 1: is it worth me giving her unsolicited professional feedback?

Before I decide to do that, though, I'd thought I'd seek out feedback about the IV. I wanted to talk to Anne the ED; I told HR that, and she replied:

Anne has a very busy schedule.  If you have particular questions please send them to me and we will respond via email.

I thought I could just skip her and so I called the office today asking to speak to the ED. The receptionist said, "Anne is out of town. the HR person can answer any of your questions about the hiring process".

So, I'm a little frustrated. I'd like feedback, both general and specific, ideally a brief casual conversation about my performance. For the level of position, candidates deserve feedback.

So, what's a polite yet accurate questions that would yield direct, constructive feedback?

Some of the interview questions I've gotten

These are from yesterday's panel interview at the small social service agency. They gave me 20 minutes to prepare, which I really appreciated. Still, a couple threw me off...

1. What interests you most about our mission and work?

2. What specifically interests you about the job? (note: is that redundant?)

3. This position requires a high level of project management skill. Please walk us through some examples of your project management experience. Also, tell us about your project management strengts. tell us about some challenges or difficulties you have faced in project management.

4. As part of your responsibilities in project management, you will need to balance long-term, medium-term and immediate-term projects, including projects that require input from other internal and external parties. What would your approach be to prioritizing these projects and getting them completed in a timely manner?

5. Give us an example of a time that you worked multiple stakeholders with whom you had very little leverage with. How did you build and manage these partnerships towards positive outcomes?

6. Tell us about a time when you were able to successfully propose a strategy or plan to your team or someone in a leadership position?

7. How would you work with a group that had competing agendas? For example, in our work, we see opposing agendas played out between community colleges whose end goal is for a student to complete a certificate of degree while the community-based agency working with the low-income individual wants to see them find a living wage job, regardless if they complete training.

8. Tell us about your public speaking experience. What were the topics you spoke about or presented on? How large was the audience? Describe your approach or strategy when presenting complex ideas? What are some of the presentation techniques you use? What is your experience in designing trainings?

9. How would you describe your facilitation style? Give us an example.

10. Describe a situation where there was a disagreement with your approach to a problem. How did you resolve it?

11. What is the best management advice o lessons or have learned about recently? How have you incorporated the advice or lessons into your work?

12. This organization has a reputation and takes great price in being an innovator.... Please tell us about yoru experience in innovation and in particular about managing the "tensions" inherent in innovation.

13. Please tell us about the ways in which you have contributed to the improvement of a system or process in a previous role/ What approach or strategy did you use to assess and implement the improvements?
I think I collapsed from exhaustion by the time I got to this question.

They also asked two bonus question not previewed beforehand:

X14. What is your experience working with diverse populations?

X15. What have not asked you that we should have?

QUESTIONS FROM LAST WEEK'S INTERVIEW

1. What interests you in this position?

2. What are some common barriers homeless youth and young adults may experience?

3. Describe your knowledge of Young Adult housing resources in the county.

4. What experience do you have working directly with service providers on behalf of clients? How do you manage the needs and realities of clients with the needs and realities of the service providers?

5. Please give an example of an ethical dilemma you've experienced and how you handled the situation.

6. Please describe your familiarity with [this program] and the people it will impact?

7. This is a new program nd will require a lot of flexibility. Please give an example of your experience in a work environment that changed policies and processes quickly or routinely.

8. Do you have experience working with [these computer programs']? What databases have you worked with?

9. We believe employees and volunteers should work in and contribute to an environment that fosters respect and teamwork. Please describe a time when working as part of a team you experienced either a positive or negative outcome. How did it influence you in your work?

10. This organization acknowledges the pervasiveness of racism in American society, institutions, and communities. We are committed to making our services, agencies, and communities free of divisive and dehumanizing ravages of racism. As part of that commitment, we are aggressively addressing this issue with the recent development of a new diversity/inclusion training. This training is delivered to new employees as part of orientation.... blah blah....

1. A. Could you please tell us about an experience you have had with co-workers from a racial background different from yoru won? Why did you choose to share this experience?
2. What situation best describes your work with clients from racially diverse populations?

They asked a few more, but I'm tired of transcribing...

Mid-May Update

"Hard to believe it's already...."

That clique always makes me cringe, but oh-so true, especially when unemployed.
"It's already fucking MID MAY?!?!?"
Ugh.

I had five interviews last week. Here they are, from least to most exciting:

1: An entry-level job going door-to-door promoting renewable energy. A valiant cause and something along the line of my Master's studies, but... with a base pay of $11/hr and significant driving required around the area, I had to turn down the actual job offer. I think I just applied for an ego-boost, as I knew they'd offer me the job.

2: An entry-level job at a large social service agency that I'm trying to work for. They admit this is a foot in the door, and though only part-time, the base pay isn't bad. Actually, I don't know what the base-pay is, but I'll take it. The job is overnights staff at group homes for "underserved youth", and the interview (actually a second interview at one of the homes) was the product of months-long harassment assertion with these folks for me to work, volunteer or do anything with them. Slowly...

3: A mid-level job with another large social service agency helping people. The interview was also a second interview (after a weird double screening phone interview that was a month earlier), and was for two positions AND a couple temp positions. I really feel like a shoe-in for this one, and if I don't get it I'm going to beat down the door and ask why!  Fun fact: as we waited for the third interviewer to arrive, the main interviewer -my potential boss- asked me about my graduate school program! I tried hard to bite my tongue and say good things about it, but he kept on asking follow-up questions. Awkward!

Oh yeah, the job pays... not horribly (which I define as around $11/hr) but pretty poorly, especially considering my graduate fees.

AND, one last bit: it's a new program in a stretched social service agency and they've taken months to move forward on this, so I'd be surprised if I hear from them within two weeks.

4: A program director for a tiny non-profit organization, that calls itself an organization of organizations. I thought this was my strongest interview, though I got hung up on the term "capacity building". I really don't know how to assess the interview: the position is a little vague, and the office tiny.

I also asked my new favorite interview question: "What, if any, reservations might you have about me filling this position?". They received the question awesomely, and said "you have great experience..." and the reservations were some of the computer programs, adding "I don't think that is a big issue, they can be learned quickly".

5. Screening interview last week (side note: interviewers: it's VERY BAD FORM to conduct phone interviews on speaker phone, especially when the interviewee says "are you on a speaker phone? Cause it's really hard hearing you..."); in-person panel interview yesterday. Small social service agency, but I believe one of the few jobs that would actually pay me what most people think someone with a Master's degree and 15 years of experience ought to make. So I'm trying not to be too excited.

Again, though, this interview had its moments. They're so weird! They made me write an interview afterwards introducing myself to staff... PLEASE LORD INTERVIEWERS WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY? CAUSE I PROMISE I'LL SAY IT...

Sometimes I wish I were just  windmill.

Top Six LinkedIn FAILS

I originally wrote this for one of my other blogs, but feel it's relevant here too!

According to LinkedIn, I can now call myself a graphic designer!

I don’t just mean LinkedIn fails, I mean how LinkedIn fails us, as a society.

I’ve been frustrated with LinkedIn.

I’d like to berate LinkedIn for some less-than-stellar interactions I’ve had. (Case in point: here are my search results for “Steve Lewis Seattle”. Yes, it’s a common name, so why do the results include “Kelly Fetters” and “Kim McCoy”? It also doesn’t recognize “strategize” as a word, which is really weird since that word is so trendy).

But I’ll just admit that’s probably more due to my lack of tech savvy than LinkedIn’s technical flaws.

No, LinkedIn’s technical flaws -real or imaginary- are the least of its problems.

LinkedIn wants to be the go-to site of the professional world, and that’s a huge problem.

I recently graduated with a Master of Public Administration from a prestigious university; the first question from all four career advisors about my job hunt was “How’s your LinkedIn profile”?

My program had seminars devoted to LinkedIn and improving your profile. It’s fair to say that all four of those advisors were dependent on LinkedIn. Over-dependent, even.

When I say that LinkedIn fails, I don’t mean in the trendy way, “these are the top five biggest LinkedIn failures”. My critique of LinkedIn is deeper: LinkedIn’s failures aren’t with its platform; LinkedIn fails US, as a society.

Here’s how: LinkedIn likes to think of itself as “Facebook for Adults”, but its practices and policies are far more juvenile than Facebook. Even worse, it re-introduces practices that we as a society deemed long ago as bad. Very, very bad.

6. The Fluff Factor

LinkedIn’s current model promotes over-promotion and self-aggrandizement, which are somewhere between horrible and lousy traits in an employee. LinkedIn is essentially all the flaws of the job search process distilled down to one very lousy website. LinkedIn unnecessarily narrows based on criteria that are likely utterly unimportant or possibly detrimental for a job.

5. In LinkedIn, everyone is tech-savvy.

As I stated above, I’m not the most technically sophisticated guy. Tech has nothing to do with the jobs I’ve had or the jobs I’m looking for. But that doesn’t matter to LinkedIn: I have to come across as a tech-whizz or else I’m unqualified for the job. 

4. LinkedIn’s promotional tactics don’t match its air of maturity and professionalism.

LinkedIn recently prompted me to endorse my connections. Regardless of whether or not my endorsements are valid (I really don’t know how some of my classmates are at graphic design or fundraising), I found the exercise both ingenious and shallow. Ingenious for starting a efficient social media trend; shallow for being hollow, juvenile attempts at self-promotion.

Juvenile is fine for Facebook (which doesn’t pretend it’s anything but FB), but obviously not if you’re trying to be “adult” and “professional”.

3. LinkedIn’s paid-membership model is disingenuous.

I can imagine reasons for having different levels of membership, but the basic free level pretty much sucks.

For example, I can see a few of the people who viewed by profile recently, but not all -unless I’m a paid member!

I can contact some people out of my network, but not all, unless I’m a paid member!

Actually, I’m not sure what I can do for free, everything clogs up in the hope that I’ll upgrade to a paid member.

In fact, there’s a whole realm of services you can do on FB for free that you can only do on LinkedIn if you’re a paid member, which puts me in the very awkward position of defending Facebook: at least it doesn’t force you to pay for basic services.

The words that come to mind are “disingenuous” and “trickery”. Again, not qualities usually attributed to “professional” and “adult”.

I’ll throw another word with much trepidation: Elitist. It forces you to join a club merely based on your ability to pay.

2. LinkedIn fails the non-profit sector.

Part of me wonders if it’s not just a conflict of natures: I’m a bleeding-heart community type of guy dedicated to making the world a better place, usually done through non-profits.

LinkedIn, conversely, was developed by for-profit business types for for-profit business types, the type for whom ‘trickery’ and ‘elitism’ are just part of business.

It puts me in the uncomfortable position of thinking that these are purposefully designed class divisions, false and unjust social classifications that I’m pretty good at avoiding, except when I’m on LinkedIn.

It all wouldn’t be a problem if LinkedIn were uniquely for and by the for-profit community; unfortunately, as I stated earlier, I’m in the non-profit/public sector, and LinkedIn is the #1 tool promoted by the career development center at my graduate school. Here are the results for Catholic Community Services, a large nation social-service organization. (For those who don’t want to be bothered with opening a link, the answer is ONE, the branch in New South Wales, Australia). 

I’ve found Catholic Community Services to be the best of example of what’s endemic with non-profit social service/public sector agencies and employers: none of them are on LinkedIn (or have a very minimal presence). And why should they be? LinkedIn’s business model and promotional tactics are antithesis of the public sector. Which leaves aspiring do-gooder public servants in an awkward limbo.

1. LinkedIn: Back to the headshot.

Remember the days when a job resume included a professional headshot and your marital status?

Neither do I, because that became professionally unacceptable decades ago.

Luckily, LinkedIn is here to wrong that right! Professional headshots are all but mandatory.

At the very least, it puts employer into that awkward position that they might be construed as judging potential employers by their looks; while potential employees (especially the overlooked and rejected ones) thinking they didn’t get the job because of their looks.

Or, just to state the obvious, “looks” can include race, color, age and/or “sexiness”.
IN CONCLUSION: 

LinkedIn is social networking at its worst: disingenuous, money-grubbing and perfect for the discriminating employers.

That’s probably why so few of my non-profit friends and social service organizations are on here. 

We’re not in it for the money, we don’t trick people, and we’re actively working against discrimination.

I just wish it wasn’t the current tool of choice for career counselors in the non-profit and public sector.

Maybe if LinkedIn went back to its roots, focused on delivering a quality service, stopped Myspace-cerca-2006 promotional tactics, and not only acknowledged that not everyone is in it for the money, but offered services for nonprofit organizations (like have a category for “organizations”, not just “companies”), it would be worth call itself “Facebook for adults”. 

Until then, I’m going to stick with Facebook for all my networking and job hunting needs, as at least I know what I’m getting into. 

The Three Worst Job Application Sites!

I thought I’d rant about different websites and their job application “tools”. I think if anything applying to 1000 jobs has made me an expert on the subject. The best kind of site is one that just asks for a resume and cover letter be emailed, and then emails back politely and effortless acknowledging reception of resume and cover letter.

Insert joke about government ineffectiveness here

WORST: since I aim mostly in the public sector, I’ve applied a buttload via Neogov, a job posting/resume collecting site for local, state, municipal agencies. The process isn’t too horrid (I wish they would letyou rename your profile though). The worst part: checking “job status”, the statuses (statii?) never change! I’ve applied to 135 jobs with Neogov. The most recent (7 applications yesterday), the oldest and one hundred of them have the same status: application received. Even jobs that were courteous enough to tell me I was rejected have the status as “application received”. The other 30 or so say something else: in review, checking references, approved, etc. Those statuses don’t change much either. What’s the point of having a status page if none of those statuses mean anything? Why bother? If an application’s been rejected, say :rejected”. On file for future consideration. “We’re just teasing you.” “Don’t give up hope”. “ha ha ha, you still think you’re in consideration”.

Really, Neogov, get with it and fix your half-asses service.

RUNNER UP: I realized that I can disclose #2 worst career submission site without revealing my location. The site: YMCA of a large metropolitan area. I’ve checked the Y site for small areas, and they don’t have this problem (just submit application email). This very large Y, though… whoa! It’s a marvel straight out of FrontPage 1998! It even features a scroll bar within a scroll bar! It’s four pages of navigating nightmares, requiring cut and pasting resume and cover letter into an embedded word processing window that’s neither Word nor anything other word processing site, requiring the whole resume/cover letter to be completely reformatted (I just applied yesterday, and not only that, but my resume was completely centered, with no way to un-center the alignment!

"Y" can't you have a better job application site?

Question for HR people: when you get a resume submitted on a crappy site like this, and it’s obvious your platform fucked up the formatting and that the applicant really did a good job with his/her resume, just got frustrated trying to reformat it to your platform, do you dismiss it outright? Or wade through the fucked up formatting because you realize your platform sucks and you don’t want to unfairly disqualify applicants?

Anyway, the Y’s site also ends with a really horrible skills spreadsheet, the purpose of which is really mysterious. If I’m applying for a camp counselor job, do you really want to know my ten-key and excel experience? Cause I have that, too, but… I just want to be a camp counselor.

And Y, you can’t say it’s cause you’re a large non-profit. I’ve applied to LOTS of nonprofit organization, bigger, smaller, and roughly the same size as you, and your submission site is THE WORST, hands down. Please update. I really like the Y and want to work there, and luckily the staff I’ve met are far more competent than your site.

Oh, and they also ask TWICE: “Have you ever molested a child?” I appreciate them asking that outright. Awkward, but… yeah, better to just get that out of the way.

A CLOSE THIRD: Taleo. Taleo is a ‘service’ used by nonprofit and for profit companies. It’s awkward because like Neogov, it’s used by many, many different companies. But whereas Neogov is centralized –in that all applications are on the one site- Taleo is sort of customized per company. I say sort of because I’m not quite sure. Say I see a job on a New Company; I click to apply and it says “registered with Taleo? Sign in here!” If I say “yes!” because I’ve applied via Taleo before but not to this company, it’ll say “sorry! You haven’t registered with Taleo before. Please fill out this form…”. If I click on “no!” it says “please fill out this form”; when I’m done filling out the form, it says “our records indicate you’ve registered previously with Taleo, please sign in…”

Tally-ho to any site using Taleo

This has happened to me repeatedly, a frustrating circle of signing in, filling out forms, and having to do it over, until I’m say “fuck it! I don’t care if you get my application or not”.

I swear, at time 80% of my frustration and the most aggravating part of being unemployed is dealing with sites like Taleo and others. Their purpose is unclear or redundant -simple scanning software can pick up my data, like name and address. Why have me fill it in separately? Instead of just having people submit cover letters and resumes, you require through to jump through flaming cyber hoops with all sorts of fancy bells and whistles. If your company uses Taleo, you should really get into the 21^st century.

Cause all this is obviously having detrimental effects on your HR process and organizational operations: you haven’t hired me! 

April Update

This post has nothing to do with elephants.

I haven't posted in a long while, but that doesn't mean anything's changed.
Same old, same old.
At the least, they've gotten worse, as the longer unemployed, the more stressed things get.
I had an interview for a part-time job that was an hour away, paid $19/hr. They asked me back for a second interview, too. Gladly, they didn't offer me the job. It would've been difficult to accept: I'm desperate for a job and will take anything offered (really, I will), but the job hunt wouldn't be over, I'd be looking for something better and leave for the first better offer to come about.

I also had a never breakdown a couple weeks ago. April is bad month in general; historically, it sucks (Columbine, Waco, OKC, Hitler's birthday, etc); this year was just as bad. I think it's because of the weather.
Seriously.
April's been pretty bad for me personally in the past as well, and I dreaded it coming this year. Something about nearing 2 years unemployed, verging on 1000 applications, and $60,000 in grad school debt that I haven't paid off. Luckily, I survived.
So far.

I also decided to try embarking on my own nonprofit. I don't want to do it; the chances for success are very low, work required is very high, but I have a decent idea to pursue. Luckily, because I'm writing this blog anonymously, I don't get to disclose the activity. Just wish me well.

And there was an local NPR story about a site that collects stories from people who changed careers.