Jobberizing 2 (the sequel!)

I am annoyed, and as I have my very own online forum, I will rant for a bit.

I am applying for jobs. I love my current position and would like to stay here, but if that doesn't work out I do have applications out to other places that I could be excited about. In fact, one opened up just this week. Or rather, one that I WAS excited about...

To help understand my annoyance and lack of excitement, it is important to know that the selection process for most jobs tends to follow the following time line: Advertise the position with an application deadline one month later, take a couple of weeks sorting through the applications to decide who to interview over the phone, take a week or two to do phone interviews and decide who to invite to campus for an in-person interview, and interview these people over the next few weeks. So, on average, the progression from "Advertising" to "In-Person Interviewing" takes a few months.

Okay, now that you're all up to speed about this and ready to be good and annoyed with me, let's move on to our story (already in progress).

University X posted a good-looking job this past Tuesday. Not only did the job look good, but University X is in a specific area of the country where I would be excited to live. However, the advertisement indicated that they are looking for someone to begin this spring, and I wouldn't be available until the summer. So, I sent a very nice e-mail on Tuesday asking whether there might be flexibility in the starting date and inquiring whether I should bother applying. I received a response on Wednesday that, although they would give preference to applicants who could begin this spring, they'd consider my application as well. In addition to mailing my application materials and reference letters, they would also like me to e-mail my resume.

Great! Maybe a longshot, but it doesn't hurt to take a shot, right? Well, read on!

I had time on Wednesday to put together a cover letter, so I e-mailed it with my resume and began to ask people to write reference letters to send via US Mail. One more exciting application underway! Right?!

Ummm, not quite. After e-mailing my resume on Wednesday, I got a call Thursday afternoon asking whether I could come to University X for an in-person interview the next day. University X, it should be noted, is 12 hours away and there was no offer to pay for my travel expenses. Plus, there's the little matter of needing to show up to work the next day, as I wouldn't be able to take a day off without notice. So, I called University X and politely stated that, since I live in Dayton, Ohio, I would be unable to make it to an interview with them the following day. "Oh. We just thought you might happen to be in the area." Right. I just might HAPPEN to wander 12 hours away when I am supposed to be at work (that is actually a psychiatric disorder called Dissociative Fugue, so should I be insulted?). I wanted to ask them to come to my office that day, you know, if they just HAPPEN to be 12 hours in my direction. Instead, I told them that I would be interested in an interview, but needed more notice.

So, I got a call today (Friday) at 4:10 asking to call back before 5 to let them know whether I could come in next Friday (a week's notice is still not enough when I would have to reschedule clients who have been waiting 2 weeks already!). Still no mention of paying my travel expenses, although they did specify that the interview would be at 3:30.

Okay, let's stop right here to understand this: Corey travels 12 hours each way (24 hours total), possibly at his own expense, for what would likely be a 1-hour interview. Next week. 24 hours of driving and 2 days off from work to interview for an hour. I could estimate the cost of gas, but really, do I NEED more reason to be annoyed? I mean, here I could have an interview at a job in an area which I would normally be excited about, and they are moving too fast, being stupid, and ticking me off! PLUS, at this rate, if I DID go to the interview next week, I'd probably be offered a job like a day later, WAY before any other possible jobs even had time to get past trying to pronounce my last name on my resume! So, no options to consider!

Anyhow, I called back and left a message asking for a PHONE interview, again reminding them that I live in Ohio.

Now if no one else offers me an interview, I am gonna go from annoyed to being pissed......

Jobberizing

Once again it is that time of year for me (hopefully the last time that it will be a "time of year") to find a job for next year. I have had to do this each year since 2002, as all of my jobs and training positions have been contracted to last only one year. Hectic, but by this point it is familiar and I know my way around it.

Two years ago (2005 for you non-mathematicians out there) added a new twist. Up until then I had searched for jobs within reasonable driving distance of New Britain, CT, where I was living. In 2005 the search was expanded to include not only local position offerings, but also positions in ANY area to which I'd be willing to move. I wound up in Kalamazoo, Michigan (yes Virginia, there is a Kalamazoo...), and it turned out to be a fantastic place to live and work. I met wonderful people and it was all-in-all a great experience!

As I searched for jobs for this current year, I had wanted to move back east. However, I knew that the chances of finding a job would increase if I broadened my search beyond NY/CT/RI/MA, so I decided to apply to positions in states east of Michigan and north of North Carolina. I wound up in Dayton, OH, and I absolutely love my job. I also met a wonderful woman, so that is yet another reason to be glad I came. However, the job here, like all the others, would end in the summer of 2007.

Now, as I become more involved in the search for a new job, there are a few interesting elements thrown in.

My current position, although a one-year appointment, is hiring for a permanent staff psychologist. It is the same job I am doing now, and since I really like my job I am applying for it. However, the selection committee is considering my application along with anyone else who would like to apply before the March 2nd deadline, so it creates a weird situation where my coworkers will be interviewing other people for the job I want, while all along keeping me in the dark about their activities and decisions (appropriately so) as they engage in their process in offices adjacent to mine. I want the job, and I feel confident that I am liked personally and professionally, but it is still weird... So, until someone somewhere offers me a job, I will keep applying and (hopefully!) interviewing elsewhere.

Two of the members of the counseling center's selection committee are writing me recommendation letters for other jobs. I laugh a bit at the possibility that, if they choose to hire someone else, it can seem as if they are saying "Dear other people, Corey could be really great for you and we think very highly of him, but he's not good enough for us..." I think that's funny....

Oh, and my girlfriend and I may need to decide not only whether to move in together, but whether to move across several states together, eight months into our relationship. She is great, but it still feels weird to make such a decision so soon!

So, post comments and offer support!

Or don't, and be a dick....