So, work.

I forgot how much I missed it.

Seriously.

Stop laughing.

Really though, I work with a really great group of people and get to deal with a product that I’m actually interested in and care about.

Strangely enough, I’m also socially connected by 1 degree to a few people in the company – it’s strange, but nice to know that these people are actually “my people” (or more accurately, the people of my people).

Speaking of “people” – if you’d like to be one of the people, we’re on a crazy hiring spree at the moment as well. If you are, or know of someone looking for work as a C or .NET developer, or an Office Manager (must be able to do payroll and that other “office managery” stuff like ordering supplies, etc.) then drop me a line – jenATthisdomainDOTcom. I’ll fill you in on the deets. Also, you’d get to work with me, and how much fun would that be?

Unfortunately, what I’ve been doing most of this week is slightly less than exciting. I’ve been reading a LOT of background material and getting myself settled in. Upside: the company is moving into a downtown office space at the end of the month and everyone is still working from home – so most of the reading (on days when I don’t have meetings) is being done sans pants. Which is awesome for me, but not so much for you, because I don’t leave the house often enough to find adventure to blog about.

Hopefully when I’m working a full 40-hour-pants-on week I’ll have more tales of tomfoolery and office hyjinx to share with you.

Until then, I’ll leave off with telling you that I’ll be doing some travel for this job – I already know I’ll want noise-canceling headphones, but which ones to buy, and what else will I need?

It seems my readers are a fairly risk-averse crowd, with a surprising (at least to me) number saying go for the larger company (Job 1).

I honestly thought for a very long while that’s what I wanted. After some serious navel-gazing and some counsel from close friends and family, it seems that, well, not so much. Thinking about my “favourite” jobs (or favourite aspects of past jobs) I kept going back to the crazy, crazy times I had in startups and non-profits. Few people and fewer resources were balanced out by a lot of enthusiasm and energy. The successes were always far, far sweeter at the end of the day.

The craving for stability has been a response to external pushes. Criticisms that my resume showed too much “movement.” Too many industries. Big red flags. It was a serious barrier to getting interviews. However, the companies who did think to question the situation and my motivation were generally impressed with my chutzpah, ability to recognize opportunities and damn impressed with my work samples to boot. I still hold an impressive interview/job offer ratio, being offered about 75% of the jobs I have in-person interviews for. Perhaps this “liability” has acted as a filter for companies where I could do well instead?

My biggest concern was still figuring out what I wanted out of an employer. Job 1 isn’t a typical “big machine” large company, and Job 2 isn’t a typical startup or microbusiness. Looking at the day-to-day work and opportunities, while I could definitely see myself at Job 1, I was more excited and actually starting to strategize campaigns in my head for the role at Job 2.

That doesn’t mean my decision was any sort of easy, though. I ended up navigating my way through my first salary negotiation/bidding war. Probably not very successfully (depending on your definition of success – which probably isn’t “sit at home a freak the fuck out for a few hours on which way to go while offers and increases roll in”), though I’m still pleased with the outcome.

Both initial offers were completely fair. I make it a point to stay on-top of salary surveys etc. for my industry. Both were on the higher end of the median for that role and my experience. Job 2′s initial offer was higher, though not substantially so. And salary certainly isn’t everything.

After presenting their offer, Job 2 called a couple times to see if I had any further questions, and to lay on the “we really want you” sugar. I expressed my concerns about the potential risk. This is when Job 2 increased their offer.

I really appreciate the way Job 2 went about the process. They acknowledged my concerns, put their money where their mouths are and increased their compensation in a way that showed they were serious – though the increase was certainly not excessive. Their recruitment was aggressive, but I never felt unduly pressured. I also strongly suspect they did their homework, googled me, and may have been reading my blog yesterday. Blogging as negotiation tactic? Perhaps something to explore…

Anyway, I informed Job 1 of the situation, and that I didn’t expect them to change their compensation, but wanted to thank them for the opportunity and tell them that I’d be declining their offer.

Job 1 immediately offered to match Job 2. A full 25% increase in salary and 50% increase in vacation compared to their initial offer. Of course that showed they wanted me on their team, but it also showed they really low-balled me on the first offer. Their first offer was fair and exactly within the range I told them I expected, so the huge increase seems knee-jerk and based on nothing more than competition. I still have mixed feelings about it. So I declined again, and faxed my acceptance to the start-up.

And that’s where things stand today.

My first day’s on Monday, and I’m beyond pleased that I finally feel settled.

Besides which, if the company does tank in a couple years, I’ll just give up on work to have tons of babies, and the Job 1 crowd can all tell me “I told you so.”

Sooo yah. About that job thing…

I rescinded my acceptance of their offer after the first day.

It’s one of the hardest decisions I’ve made in the not-so-distant past, but it was ultimately the right thing to do. I’ve often heard that the right thing and the easy thing are very rarely the same – boy howdy is that ever true.

When I first started off on this job-search thing, I had a clear set of goals for the kind of work I wanted to do, the type of place I wanted to do it, and the sort of people I wanted to work with. This job only fit one of the criteria. And one outta three ain’t good people.

While I loved the work that I’d have been doing, and was darned impressive at it (pumping out some documents in a few hours that would’ve taken the existing staff days to produce) – the cultural fit was way, way off. I wanted to work for young, dynamic, energetic company. I wanted collaboration and teamwork to factor strongly. I wanted to feel joy about my workplace – I think everyone should strive for that.

I didn’t feel any of those things. In fact, I felt the opposite. Everything felt a little bit wrong. I have nothing in common with my former co-workers, I was everyone’s junior by about 15 years (which sometimes doesn’t matter – in this case it did). I’d be working primarily alone. The duties doled out kept changing in ways that had very little to do with my title or the original job description. The commute was hell. I was planning my exit strategy by the time I got home.

Breaking the news to my boss was tough. He didn’t take it very well – who would, really, it’s a big hassle. But while he offered to change my office, hours and duties, he didn’t offer any of the things I’d tried to negotiate earlier (more vacation, more money, telecommuting/flex-time) so I think he did realize it wasn’t going to work out anyway.

The hardest thing for me was giving up something I’d worked so hard to get. A job! Of my very own! Complete with paycheque and the feeling that someone wants me!

While I’m pretty comfortable as a risk-taker, I’d not taken a personal one quite that big in a while. Would the grass be greener? Would I rather let go of the bird in the hand? I was absolutely terrified at first.

But after speaking to a number of friends and associates (it amazes me the amount of people who’ve been on both sides of this issue before) I started feeling more at peace with the whole thing. And now that I’ve interviewed at a couple other places, it’s become absolutely, perfectly clear. There are just far, far better fits out there for me, where I’m pretty sure I’ll find the trifecta of awesome.

In the meantime I’ve got some promising leads lined up and am grateful for the opportunity to spend at least a few more days soaking up the sun and feeding ice-cream to the dog.

(read parts one, two, and three)

There was a definite point when things started turning around for me in this whole process.

It was the day I met Cathy Lim.

For those who aren’t familiar with either the city of Vancouver or the marketing industry within it, there is a universal truth you need to know: there is always more talent than opportunities. I heard this message time and time again from Marketing Consultants, Marketing Managers, HR Managers, Entrepreneurs and other people employed in the field. It’s a tough slog to get the right opportunity – and even after feeling like it had been positively for-EVER since ‘d last been working, when I announced my newfound job to some others in the industry, they were surprised it happened as fast as it did.

So you see why networking for me was essential, and Cathy is one of the best networkers I know. She has fully embraced the true spirit of networking, and approaches everyone and every situation with kindness and generosity.

After connecting with her, she agreed with my initial assessment that being brushed off, ignored, belittled, left hanging and outright lied to was a sad truth in recruiting these days. Especially when there is a surplus of candidates.

In fact, her disillusionment with the practices and policies in the HR departments of some of the places she’d worked, combined with her drive to run her own company is what led Cathy to start up her own recruitment and career coaching business: performance personnel inc.

Taking from her generous spirit and passion to help people and companies find the right fit, Cathy agreed that blind applications would do me no good, and worked tirelessly to get my resume in the door at various employers around town. She saw me as more than another “slot in an empty hole” and much more than a paycheque from a potential client, and actually took interest in me as a person. Without that kind of attitude, there’s no way Cathy would maintain her current 0% bounce-back rate.

Instead of either complaining about the ways the system is broken, or passing the buck to either higher-ups or incoming candidates, Ms. Lim just bucked the system entirely and became part of the solution.

If it sounds like I’m gushing, it’s because I am. I really don’t have enough good things to say about her.

When you’re going through a trying transition, sometimes being treated like an actual, valuable person is all it takes to boost the ol’ self-esteem and re-engage the power of positive thought and having an optimistic outlook.

There is actually a part of me that really wishes I’d gotten to work with Cathy longer – the fresh perspective and improved outlook I found through working with her is (I firmly believe) what led to the position I ultimately ended up accepting – something that had been initiated before we’d met.

Now I must include the caveat that I was a unique case for her – she generally doesn’t work with people who are unemployed. She prefers (and I can see why) to deal with those who are looking for a change, and can afford (both mentally and financially) to hold out for something that’s truly the right fit. Because that was my objective with this job search from the start, it worked out.

So in the spirit of generosity and the belief that “a higher tide lifts all the boats,” I’ve been pimping Cathy out to anyone who’ll listen. If I know of anyone looking for candidates these days, I’ve mentioned her name. If I know of anyone not satisfied with their job right now, they get an email directing them her way and the offer of an introduction.

And THAT, my friends, is how HR and recruitment should be run.

So if it wasn’t through Cathy I got my job, who was it? That’s coming up in the next entry. I promise!

I’m going to deviate from the candidate-focused advice I’ve been spouting in parts one and two, and take a moment to rant at the majority of HR managers and recruiters I’ve had the displeasure of interacting with through this process:

Part the Third: HR (haphazard and ridiculous)

Are you an HR Professional? Have I applied to a company you work for?

If I haven’t, I will give you the benefit of the doubt, and not automatically assume you’re an idiot.

However, if I HAVE applied to the company you work for (with a couple notable exceptions), I am currently not terribly impressed with your ilk. In fact, I strongly suggest you could not find your own hindquarters with both hands and a flashlight.

Because you certainly can’t find a suitable candidate for your positions, since you keep changing and reposting them, and with the mounting evidence, I have to start assuming that it’s not entirely me – it’s you.

And while I am not an HR Professional (and feel sorry for those who have to share a professional title with you), I’ve done my share of recruiting and managing, and even *I* can offer a few tidbits of help so you can finally fill your damn jobs, and stop driving me and the rest of my fellow job seekers COMPLETELY INSANE.

1. ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT. It’s not that difficult. Do you want a specialist or a generalist? Do you want a brand manager or a graphic designer? Do you want a copywriter or a website technician? What is the ACTUAL nature of the job, and what skills are needed to do it? Have you ever heard the phrase “Jack of All Trades, Master of None?” That’s what you’ll get if you insist on a candidate who is an “expert” in every commercial software package known to man.

How do you know if you’re doing this? If your “components of the job” demands could have multiple 4-year degrees attached, you’re asking for too much because you don’t know what you want. Have you said you want someone with a degree in Marketing, and a portfolio of graphic design projects? There is a HUGE difference between creating a campaign, and doing creative graphics execution.

And don’t complain to me that “it’s what the hiring manager wants” – the hiring manager has no effing clue what they want. They do not write job descriptions, they produce things and manage their team. It is your job to ask questions and make the connection between what they’ve asked for, and what they actually need.

What does 80% of the job consist of? If you narrow your posting down to that, you might just attract someone who’s brilliant at that particular skillset. And maybe you can hire them. Then when you do hire the person who’s brilliant, you’ll probably find it won’t be that hard for them to take that brilliance, read some refresher material, and update their skills to do exactly what you and your company need.

2. How much experience do you really want, and how much are you willing to pay for it? I know that non-marketing people generally don’t understand what marketing people do – and most of us work quite hard to prove our and our campaigns’ ROI. But seriously – do not say you want someone with 5 years of experience, and balk that the applicants are all overqualified. If you want someone with more enthusiasm than experience – have at ‘er! Goodness knows it’s hard enough to get a job right out of school. But don’t be surprised if you ask for applicants with a certain amount of experience, and they come at you with exactly that, and don’t want to answer phones as part of their duties (unless the job is answering phones – and in my case it isn’t).

3. If you have initiated contact with a candidate – FOR PETE’S SAKE FINISH IT! As a job hunter I understand that if I submit an application, and don’t hear anything, it means the company is not interested. But if I submit an application, and you shunt me to the next stage in your intake process, promise a phone call within a certain number of business days, and then proceed to LEAVE ME HANGING FOREVER (I’m looking at you, Active Network), I will think your entire company treats its people like crap (because during that process I was one of your people, and you certainly weren’t courteous to me), and will forever have a negative opinion of you. This means I won’t use your products, won’t recommend your products, and will never ever suggest any of my colleagues and associates work for you. In fact, I’ll probably go out of my way to tell them not to, without any prompting.

As HR, you are the face of the company to your greatest assets: your past, current, future and potential employees. If I ever hear an HR Professional tell me they “don’t have time” in their busy day to inform candidates that they’ve reached the end of their journey in the intake cycle, I would say without hesitation that they are shitty managers of their time and their domain. That is your job – you’re the one who signed up for it. Nobody likes delivering bad news, but I’ve gotten my fair share of it in the job hunt, and have a much higher opinion of those who have delivered it. You don’t need to respond to every application – but if you have responded, you owe it to that candidate to inform them you’ve closed the interaction.

Perhaps, if the HR Managers of the world could take those points to heart, and get their collective shit together, I could have spent my time constructing applications in which my skills are demonstrated in a concise way that’s actually applicable to the job in question, sent them to companies who are looking for someone with my level of expertise, and not be sleepless with anxiety because “they said they’d call” and just don’t.

Thankfully, there are a few shining stars out there, one of whom I’m going to give a shameless plug to in the next entry. She deserves a post of her own, because she’s just that good.

UPDATE: Apparently dearheart disagrees (though I didn’t apply to the company she works for – and has decided to take personal offense at my post anyway).

So I mentioned in Part the First that I think the resume is pretty much useless on its own for getting a job, and is really a secondary piece of collateral to support your claims.

What does get someone to the “confirmation of skills” phase? Networking. And so I bring to you:

Part the Second: Networking (schmooze-hound)

It’s only been in the last year that I finally realized what networking actually is, and what networking is at its core. Note: the objective of networking is NOT to get a job or make a sale. Everyone hates that person. Please don’t be that person.

Networking is just making friends and building relationships. And handily, it’s usually centered around some common factors, so that those relationships may be beneficial someday. After realizing that crucial piece of information – thankfully while still employed – I didn’t mind networking so much and engaged in it fairly regularly. Through networking, I’ve found peers to collaborate with, referrals to services I needed, information on organizations I didn’t even know existed, leads on potential jobs and most importantly, friends.

This does not come from showing up at a networking event when you need something – there is no room for greedy networking.

You would never walk up to a stranger on your block and say “Hello, isn’t it nice today? Would you mind giving me $300 so I can fix my lawnmower?” The stranger doesn’t give a damn about your lawnmower, and now probably thinks you’re crazy.

In the same way, walking up to a stranger at a networking event and saying “Hello, are you enjoying the wine? Can I have a job interview / tell you about my product?” makes you annoying, and crazy.

Remember how I said you have to get the person reading your resume interested in you? That first tactic is the quickest way to make them uninterested, put off and wanting to run far, far away.

Have a conversation. Make small talk (if Darren can do it, you can too). Heck, I managed to get an interview for a job I was highly unqualified for during a conversation in which I dumped an entire glass of red wine into my purse and onto my person, splashing the floor and a clothing display at DKNY in the process. That’s what they get for serving coloured drinks in their store I suppose.

The point is, just be a nice person. Be interested and interesting. Not sure how to do that? Attend a “how to network” session. I’ve been to at least half-a-dozen, and this particular one is far and away the most interesting and amusing I’ve found.

Then, once you’ve met some people and hopefully made some good impressions and perhaps a friendly acquaintance or two, go do it again. And again. And again. Aim to be useful. If you know the answer to a question they have, give it! If you know of someone doing something they need, introduce them to that person! Go out with no other motive but to be generous and meet some people.

And when you find yourself in the position of needing something from them, as I did when I needed a job, you will reap the rewards a THOUSAND-fold.

This is the part that always tweaks the tiny sensitive bits of my cold, black little heart. Looking for work and facing the rejections that come with submitting applications, seeing positions you’ve applied to re-posted without any acknowledgement from those companies (other than the auto-reply that your resume has been received) and the days spent staring bleakly out the window waiting for the phone to ring, and perhaps phoning your home from your cell and vice versa to make sure they actually work… it’s hard on a soul.

So I am indescribably grateful to every single person who was kind enough to pass on job postings, offer resume feedback, make introductions to others who were either looking for staff, or might just know someone who is, sit down and talk with me about the current state of the industry and the job market, or just offer kind words when I needed them most. I want to say thank you all from the bottom of my heart – though my heart doesn’t seem deep enough… Perhaps thank you from my butt, which is so much bigger than my heart and obviously a very special thing, since it’s pretty fantastic.

Seriously though, that whole “80% of the job market isn’t advertised” schtick is crap. It is advertised. It’s just that those doing the advertising are still reading resumes from people they know or have been introduced to, and not spending nearly as much time on blind applications.

If you’re looking for work now, it’s not too late to get into the networking thing. I certainly joined a couple new groups during my unemployment. But stick to them. Don’t go networking looking for a job, find one then never go back. Go out with the intention of meeting more people like yourself. Go out with the intention of being interesting and being generous to your peers. Stick with it, and you’ll like it, I promise!

And while networking did eventually result in a job offer for me (which I didn’t accept), that’s the very least of what I gained from it.

But I’m not going to tell you where I found my job just yet. In Part Three I’m going to digress, and go on a bit of a tirade about HR and Recruiters.

I received my layoff notice on the 6th of March, worked my last day on the 15th, and will start my new job on the 25th of June. That’s about 3 months and two weeks trying everything I could think of (and a few things I couldn’t) to land a new job. Seeing as the longest I’ve ever been unwillingly unemployed before was 3 weeks, I wasn’t really sure what to expect.

And in the interest of passing some wisdom on to those who will undoubtedly follow in my footsteps (and also for my own personal record, should I need to do this again), I wanted to outline what I did, what I thought worked, and how I finally found myself re-employed. This will certainly be a series of posts over the next few days, since I tried a LOT of avenues before something finally worked.

Part The First: The Resume (a necessary evil)

The first order of things was to get my resume up to snuff. While everyone says “keep your resume up to date” on a constant basis – that’s not necessarily accurate. What you DO need to do is keep a constant running record of your career – job titles, dates, references and accomplishments. Pay special attention to the accomplishments – nobody cares what you do day-to-day, they want to see what you’ve achieved along the way.

Since I hadn’t done any of those things, I really struggled putting my resume together. I finally enlisted the services of a professional resume writer to help rephrase my experience and solidify my accomplishments in a format that would (ideally) make the HR types come beat down my door and beg me to join their teams.

It didn’t quite work out that way.

Even though the improvements from my original resume to the pro version were substantial, it wasn’t particularly groundbreaking, and didn’t net any instant results. In fact, there were a few components on the resume that could be seen as huge liabilities, and it went through a few more iterations with the help of friends and other professional contacts before it was useful. Even then, I received so much conflicting advice about what to include, exclude, how many pages it should be and whether to use a functional, chronological or mixed format that I’ve lost a lot of faith in the usefulness of the document.

Frankly, the most important lesson I learned about resumes is that they are really a secondary piece of collateral about one’s self. You will never, ever sell yourself with your resume. A resume is the human equivalent of a spec sheet for a piece of hardware. When you see the ad for that shiny new cell phone, great printer or other device, you are sold by the compelling ads, recommendations from friends, reviews in the media and in-store displays. You only look at the spec sheet AFTER you’re interested, to make sure it has the features you need. It’s the same with a resume. The person reading it must already be interested in the candidate to actually consider them for a position, and they use the resume after the fact to confirm necessary experience and accomplishments.

So sure, having your accomplishments, achievements, duties and career progression in a cohesive, comprehensive, impressive piece of self-promotional material is important – but not as important as the circumstances under which it’s delivered, which I’ll address in Part Two: Networking.

If you’ve been paying attention to Facebook in the last couple hours, you may have noticed that I finally got a damn job.

My new title is Marketing and Corporate Communications Manager. Yes it’s a mouthful. No, I’m not sure how it’ll all fit on my new cards. I’ll be working for a small, but rapidly growing high tech surveillance equipment manufacturer. If you’re in need of such a product, or just curious (because frankly, it’s pretty cool stuff), then drop me a line to ask about it. I’ll probably take the usual stance of not mentioning the company’s name outright on the blog.

The first day is Monday, and I am now running around like mad, trying to get some things taken care of before I cease to have entire empty days at my disposal – so further details will have to wait until after my siesta. Especially since they’ll be very few and far between from here on out.

Also, the commute’s a little further than at the last job – but I’m still trying to avoid purchasing a car. Anyone know where I should look for a good commuter bike in the $500 range, and what I should look for when buying one?

When I first found myself on the job-hunt, I was inundated with a common question: Why not strike out on your own? Why not start your own business?

It still comes up – even in interviews! Seriously – prospective employers, people who would ostensibly have me work for them, wonder why on earth I’d want to do so.

And every time I say I don’t want to, the question-asker acts incredibly insulted. Like I’d just kicked their cat or something. Because apparently the very idea of wanting a boss is sacrilege in this city.

Working with small businesses, I’ve come to realize that what I long suspected about running a business is true – it’s damn hard work, and rarely done well. Many “entrepreneurs” in this city are actually contractors operating under an incorporated name. Yes, they do what they do well, and don’t report to anyone but themselves (or clients), but are certainly not building empires.

Casual observation suggests that a great majority of the self-employed strike out on their own because they’re great at what they do, and don’t want to be tied down to an employer. The problem is, they don’t have the skill necessary to actually RUN A BUSINESS.

Being good at what one does, does not immediately bestow that person with any degree of proficiency in business development, growth management, marketing, budgeting, accounting, human resources, management, or any of the other myriad things that are necessary for business efficiency or success.

Were I to go it alone, I’d be spending 80% of my work time doing my own business development and paperwork. And because the 20% of my work time remaining for billable work isn’t enough to pay the bills for the other 80%, I would end up working through much of my personal time as well. And that’s just not at all appealing to me.

I don’t want to build an empire. I just want to enjoy what I do, where I do it, and who I do it with. And at the end of the day, let someone else worry about the other “departments>’

And because I’m good at what I do, actually enjoy the buzz of the business district and play well with others, I’ll continue to take my chances looking for a boss, rather than being one of the numerous small businesses that fail every year.