My Corner of the Interweb

I guess...

Mood: Still a little sleepy.
Music: Jumping Someone Else's Train, Cure
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2, Dungeons and Dragons Online (Khyber Server), Oblivion, Tomb Raider:Legend
Book: Odalisque, Neal Stephenson
Weather: 48, Cloudy...Supposed to go up to 61 today.
Jobs applied to today: None, but....

So I had my phone screen yesterday. The nice lady was helpful...I think she thinks I'd probably be a good fit, but I get the impression she can't figure out why I'm willing to settle for less money. It's almost as if she thinks I'm all of a sudden say "Oh, yeah...I need 30k more..." and she even mentioned as much in passing. "Like, if all of a sudden you say you need 100k, I know I can't get that." I explained to her that I'm not looking for that. I emphasized that I'm looking for a good work-life balance, that I don't want an hour commute, that I don't want the level of responsibility right now that would occasion that kind of money. That I would expect that over the next several years, I'll have plenty of opportunity to prove my worth to the organization, and I didn't expect to remain at that salary level....but I think she didn't fully believe me.

On the flip side, I'm pretty sure she's going to pass my resume on to the hiring manager, because I think she's thinking that if I really will take the kind of money I'm asking for, and I'll stay around, I'd be a steal at that money...which is kinda the point of being willing to take that kind of money. I guess we'll see how that works out.

In other employment news, yesterday afternoon, I got a phone call from a recruiter who had a couple of opportunities for me. She mailed them to me last night, and I'm looking them over. I sent her my resumes...both the project manager resume that she responded to, and my full-on resume. I'll call her this afternoon, and see what she thinks.

I'm glad to see that I'm getting some action on these fronts...but it's pretty clear that my experience is harming me here. People aren't looking for people with my level of experience. I guess I'm supposed to tone down my experience if I expect to get hired here. Like the guy from that other company that interviewed me said "You have a ton of great experience...you're an obvious fit for the company...I just don't know where." I've been through that several times. In fact, I've never been hired for a job where that wasn't the case.

At Modem, Mike Aubrey had to hire me on the pretense of the fact that I had onsite film production which would be good for the onsite Olympic Games stuff we were doing for AT&T. At TEC, they weren't sure what I was going to do exactly...but they knew that they wanted me around. At iTV1, I knew enough about everything that they were doing that they wanted to pick my brain. The net of it is that I need to talk to someone somewhere who will say "I'm not 100% sure what you're going to do here right now...but I know you're the right guy for here, and I know you'll work out." That hasn't happened yet. So I need to dumb down what I've done and what I know so that people can fit me in a box...a box that they can get their arms around, and don't get concerned about my willingness to do a job.

I guess.

In other news, I've picked up the PMBOK Guide, an exam prep book, and I'm starting to work my way through it again. I've decided to finally get my PMP certification. It seems like that people love those letters. Which is kinda funny...because I've yet to meet a project manager in any field who actively uses any of the methods or even most of the lingo that PMI touts as key to "proper" project management.

Don't get me wrong...there's a lot that makes a lot of sense in the PMBOK. But my experience tells me that, usually, senior management doesn't buy in to PMI methodology to the extent that occasions the project manager to lock stuff down. I've yet to see a Strongly Matrixed Organization in practice. The closest I've seen is Modem...and in structure, they were...but in practice, they didn't REALLY control costs and time. I suppose they might now...but they didn't then. Anyway, if me being able to put those letters after my name is going to make a difference, I'll do it. And in the meantime, I'll be able to speak the language well enough.

I'd really like to have a job by May. Six months out of work is enough, thanks. Don't get me wrong...I'd like to be out of work forever...if someone will pay me for it. But seeing as that probably won't happen....

Right...back to looking for work.

Posted by Glenn at April 20, 2006 07:51 AM