arethinn: glowing green spiral (frustrated (forrester fanart))
I had my interview with the Sunnyvale Library this morning, and I think it went well. Just about everything they asked me, I have prior specific applicable experience. But I am up to here with their heel-dragging hiring process, because they said I should know within two weeks (which seems a little long for such a call back, given what comes next) whether they wanted me in for a second interview! I mean OMG! Having two interviews in and of itself isn't that unusual (we ourselves at De Anza Library have just instituted something similar for hiring students), but after already having a screening test back in December, and the long wait between that and this...? It's getting pretty ridiculous.

OTOH, after hearing the specific job setup today, I really want this job. I have been viewing the OML as a kind of last resort, a job I could be sure of being offered after everything else had petered out (I didn't get the Academic Services job by the way, which is ok -- after hearing its specific duties, I'm not sure I would have liked it, and they would have wanted me to come in at 8:00 AM anyway, which is past my threshold of pain). Now it looks like I'm going to be in the unfavourable position of having to decide one way on the other on the (expected) OML offer without knowing where I really stand with Sunnyvale. I will either have to accept and kick myself when Sunnyvale calls me again, or turn it down and take the chance of coming out at the end with nothing. If I only had a day or two of "limbo" time I could probably ask them to wait and see if Sunnyvale hires me, but now I know it's going to be two weeks at least, and Judy will have needed to make a decision well before that because she needs the new person in place by then, basically (the last day I can work as a temp is the 9th of March).

*sesplode*

Date: Feb. 21st, 2007 11:20 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] lupagreenwolf.livejournal.com
Good luck!!!

Date: Feb. 22nd, 2007 12:06 am (UTC)From: [identity profile] bluesidhe.livejournal.com
Hey...Was that you I saw at P-Con running down the stairs and giving me a wave, like some little Flutter-Fey... It looked like you, anyways. I haven't seen you in so long, and it was just brief.

Blue

Date: Feb. 22nd, 2007 12:30 am (UTC)From: [identity profile] bluesidhe.livejournal.com
I did recognize you, but it was so fleeting, I wanted to be sure. :-) You looked good, lass.

Date: Feb. 22nd, 2007 08:43 am (UTC)From: [identity profile] zaecus.livejournal.com
I realize it's not the most pleasant prospect, but you could take the OML job with the awareness that, apparently, you'll be there at least a month before you find out anything about the Sunnyvale job, and since they seem to consider unnecessary delay a part of the process, let them know (once hired), that you will need a week or two to extricate yourself from the job you needed to take in order to feed yourself during the decision-making process.

Date: Feb. 22nd, 2007 04:49 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] ahril.livejournal.com
You have another choice you're not looking at.

If I were you, I'd take the OML job, and then if Sunnyvale hired me, I'd take that too, even if only being in the OML job for two weeks. That way, I'm not left with nothing and I get the best if it's offered.

"But I can't do that to {insert name of colleague at deAnza)." you say? Yes, you can. This is business, and you must make a business decision without letting personal relationships cloud your judgement.

Yes, it's an assholic and bitchy thing to do, but unfortunately that is the way the current financial systems of the world work. You can't leave yourself without a job at all or settle for less than you could simply because you are friends with someone who might hire you for one of the possible choices.

Date: Feb. 22nd, 2007 10:16 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] zaecus.livejournal.com
I've got two responses, but one of them I really have to make because it acests things as they appear to be instead of working to make things better.

The other one, however, is simple. Ethical decisions are sometimes complex, but the best rule is to not leave others worse than you found them, and in this, it seems to of you have that option without cheating yourself. You don't know what will happen; he you don't get the Sunnyvale job, you need the OML one, but you can take the Sunnyvale job later.

As my one bow to the first argument I mentioned, some things that were once assets in business/employment are now deficits in actual practice, and vice versa.

forgot to log in :-(

Date: Feb. 23rd, 2007 07:21 am (UTC)From: [identity profile] zaecus.livejournal.com
That first bit should have been (correcting all typos):

"one of them I really hate to make because it accepts things as they appear to be instead of working to make things better."

I'm referring to something my lady has discovered. It seems that staying at a job for extended periods of time, unless it includes a conspicuous promotion, is now seen as a negative on a job history. In the field you are looking at, this may not be as pronounced, but it basically means that the business world has begun to reward employees who view their career in a much more 'mercenary' fashion.

"If I do that, I DO leave people worse than I found them..."

*nod* I don't quite understand why they would have to start over completely, but know that many places would. I also don't have personal experience with how important the references are in that field. In the end, you've got to do what you feel best about and will regret the least.

As for Sunnyvale telling you you'd have to start immediately... For me, with an organization that's dragging things out the way they're doing, that would be a major warning sign that what I could expect from them and what they demand from me are so grossly incompatible that I wouldn't want to work there.

This level of honesty is more often punished than rewarded, but have you considered letting the OML people know up front that you may be getting another job offer that, if it comes through, you consider it an opportunity that you can't afford to pass up, but that you will work with them to the best of your ability to keep them from being unnecessarily put out?

Date: Feb. 22nd, 2007 10:23 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] ahril.livejournal.com
You have no way of knowing if Sunnyvale will hire you, so you take the offer of the OLM job. Yes, you have every intention of it being permanent when you accept it, because you do not know what Sunnyvale will do. No problem with ethics there.

Then, if Sunnyvale does make you an offer, you tell deAnza that an offer you can't refuse came up and you have to accept it, which is the truth. This is also ethical since you had no way of knowing they were going to offer it to you when you accepted the OLM job.

It's perfectly ethical as long as you give de Anza 2 weeks notice.

The time (or lack thereof) between your hearing of the offers is not your fault. You are placing blame and guilt upon yourself for something that is out of your control. Unless you sign a contract with deAnza to work for them for a specific length of time as part of accepting the OLM position, you have nothing to fear, and they have no ammunition with which to craft a reason to give you a bad recomendation.

Follow up

Date: Feb. 22nd, 2007 10:38 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] zaecus.livejournal.com
If you can't find a way to feel good about yourself doing it, though, it -isn't- worth it. Some decisions are always uncomfortable, however, even if they are the 'good' one, subjectively or objectively.

I hope that whatever you decide works out best for you.

Profile

arethinn: glowing green spiral (Default)
Arethinn

April 2025

S M T W T F S
  12345
67 89101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930   

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Style Credit

Page generated Jul. 10th, 2025 06:15 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios