Interview aftermath

I don't think I got the position with Finning. Is it because of the fact I slapped the resume together last minute? Or is it more of the fact that I didn't realize that the supervisor that they were looking for is someone with a P.Eng? The big thing that hit me in the face was the interview. I didn't quite expect that my trip to their office would take only 20 minutes. I thought I would have to plow through rush hour traffic, however the traffic was going into the downtown core, and I was heading away from the core! Oops. Not the worst mistake, because I got there fifty minutes early instead of ten.

Next surprise was the two Human Resources people that we present in the interview. I thought it was just going to be a one-on-one interview with the Branch Manager. Surprise! Then I found out the job requires a) directing two teams of people, six or seven people each, and b) the EEs that work for Finning are all located in Calgary and Vancouver. This might be bad, since I am an EIT, and need to work under an engineer with P.Eng. certification. APPEGA might not even approve of myself working remotely under an engineer out of Vancouver. Hence, I might have to relocate.

That was another thing I discovered quick, give direct answers. One of the HR persons asked me if I was willing to relocate, and I said, "If I must, I must." A bit too ambiguous for their taste, because she asked again, "Would you be willing to relocate?" I just said, yes, and from that point on, any of the questions they asked me I gave the quickest and most direct answer I could think of.

"Have you done any work with switchgears?" "No."
"Have you worked with synchronization panels?" "I did work with one in the lab, with which we synched a generator motor to the grid."

Then there was a point in the interview where it was just me telling them why they should pick me for the job. Crickey, I was not ready for that! I thought that if I did have to do that, if would be at most 30 seconds, not 10 minutes. Also, the HR questions had me turning things over in my head trying to think of the best idea to use, and to come up with one in the least amount of time. I remember my answers, but I don't remember all the questions. How'd that happen?

Question one, I answered that I deal with a problem customer who wanted a refund on a set of wireless headphones that she wanted to return because they cut out the sound from the speakers on the TV when the headphones were on. I thought that there could be a way around that, but I was very wrong, and she wanted a refund. However, the receipt was outside refund date, even for a Christmas present. Then she tried playing a trump card in which she had already tried to return the headphones, and so we should restart the 30 day refund window when she tried to return them previously. However, I didn't remember when I talked to her. I did remember talking to her, barely, but I had no idea if it was before the new year or not. If it was before the new year, we were still out of luck, because it was Jan 28th. At this point I had done all I could do, and she also wanted to speak with the manager. Why these things happen when Jon isn't there I don't know, but Liz did her best to difuse the situation by offering store credit. After the customer turned that offer down flat, things got a little ugly. To the point that we gave her information to contact head office, and she didn't want that either! She wanted the district manager to call her. And then she still would not leave. There weren't any raised voices, but we called security to come remove her. Security arrived a bit late, because she decided to leave before they arrived. I would almost say that was best for everyone. In retrospect that wasn't the best example to tell at the interview! It was the most recent one I could think of, but not the best. I then told the brief episode of when I gave someone a $10 credit back on their purchase because the car they bought went on sale the week after they bought it. It was within policy, although it's not widely know, nor published, and I ran the transaction through, and everyone walked away happy.

I figured that was a bit limp compared to the long winded disaster story I told, but that was the best I could come up with.

The other question addressed how I withheld jumping to conclusions. I think. I told the story about I was a little put out by the irate behaviour of one my co-workers, but I held my tongue and later found she was worried about her boyfriend being on the front line of a NATO operation in Afganistan. I also told them about the time when I was roofing and we were getting the tile load on the roof in the rain. Three hours into the job, my jacket is soaked, I'm soaked, and my spirit is dampened as well. Then this guy I don't recongize comes onto the roof to help. He looks at me and my friend who was just as wet and miserable as me, and says, "It's raining, eh?" Part of me wanted to scream, "NO @#!& SHERLOCK!", and another part thought it best I hold my tongue. The side of reason previaled and I'm glad it did, because by the end of the day, I was still wet, but I was joking and laughing with the boss's son. That and it's just bad to swear at someone on site. Well, in regards to vulgar language, my grandfather would inform people that they didn't need to display their ignorance before him.

Last question was about championing an idea. For that I decided to talk about my decision to get married while I was still in school. I knew it was the right thing to do. I didn't know exactly how I was going to pull it off, and I certainly didn't anticipate the things that have happened over the past three and a half years. Yet if I had to do it all over again, I would. Some thought that I should wait until I was done school, and established in a good career before I went into making life changing decisions like that. I took the opinions into consideration, and I still went with what I thought was the right thing. If it wasn't for Caitlin, I'm not sure if I would have been able to pull through the episodes we've faced. Then again, would life have taken the same path?

No matter. After all that rigorous mind mashing to figure out that my chances of getting this level 6 (on a scale of 1-12, 1 entry level, 12 senior exec) job with a salary of $58k - $75k, was not good, we came to the last part of the interview. I felt like I had just written a really bad exam, and they wanted me to ask them questions. I told them what I was thinking, that most of my questions had already been answered, and I think I asked some kind of rag tag question, but it was weak, like how I felt.

If I do get the job, they'll call me in seven to ten days. They still have some other interviews to do. In the mean time, I'm going to check CaPS, PlacePro, and some other places. This job search is far from over.