The Perfect Job

I don't know if it is possible to find the perfect job or not.

Over the last few weeks, I have been talking to several companies about opportunities. These conversations have been fun, and the interviewing has really been entertaining as well.

Interviewing - I bet you have all heard the basic questions, like, "What is your biggest weakness?" So, during the process, I put together my top 10 questions.

  1. Why are you leaving your current position? Also, why did you leave your last job?
  2. Can you describe a typical day at your last job?
  3. How do you handle stress?
  4. If you could change the last X number of years of your professional life, what would you change?
  5. What major challenges did you face in your last position and how did you respond to those challenges?
  6. Can you describe an occassion where you made a mistake and what you did afterwards?
  7. What did you like/dislike about your previous supervisors?
  8. How do you feel about travel?
  9. How do you keep up on the constantly changing technology?
  10. Why would you like to work for our organization?

My all time favorite question is, "What are your salary expectations?"

So, since I have all of these questions and appropriate answers memorized, the next step is always the initial technical screening. It is very unusual to have any issues with the technicals screen unless the interviewer doesn't know the right answer to their own questions. This has happened more than a few times with me which have resulted in me sending them email in the middle of the interview with the proof that my answer was right. Then the joy of salary negotiation, which I actually like doing.

OK, back to the perfect job for me. I thought about it long and hard. What were the things that I loved about previous jobs and what are the things that pissed me off most about previous jobs. The pissed off part was easiest. :)

So, what are the things that I like to do? So, another list...

  1. Speaking at conferences
  2. Helping others through newsgroups and blogging
  3. Writing and technical reviewing the work of other offers
  4. Researching new technologies
  5. Train and help others learn new technologies
  6. Consulting - By this, I mean indentifying issues, creating solutions, and helping to deploy fixes to existing and new environments
  7. Be able to leave work at a reasonable time - the always missing work/home life balance which everyone claims to support

I looked at all of the opportunities in front of me, and it was real easy to eliminate a few companies.

So, the result? I accepted a position with a great company, Mindsharp. I will be working as a lead courseware developer as well as a technical lead for all things related to Unified Communications. The first project? Yep, finish the courseware and get it out into the market place. After that, I will be working as a trainer on the courses that I help develop and will also work as a consultant in UC.

I can't wait to get started!

 

Published Thursday, July 10, 2008 3:29 AM by cluster