Once again, I used my time-tested preparation methods.  Clear your head and just go in.  The interview was more of a conversation.  Our CFO is smart, and his questions were probing and required long answers with details from the breadth of my work experience.  Seriously, for one question the only relevant experience I had was from the early 90s when I was still working at ye olde bank ops center.  I hadn’t thought of those events in ages, and my presentation of them probably wasn’t the best.

For other questions, I was able to use more recent experience at ye olde newspaper.  And in a couple of cases I was even able to use my current job as an example.  Still, this was a tough interview and it had me on my toes the entire time.  Originally, the interview was only supposed to last 30 minutes, but it took nearly an hour.  I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.  I think I answered well enough overall, but there were a couple of my answers that left me scratching my head and thinking for the rest of the day.

A few days later, the other interview was scheduled.  This was the first of the interviews that I actually prepared for.  My preparation consisted of running a report to see how many open tickets each of the two departments had currently for Reporting.  Between the two, the list was somewhat extensive (some would say daunting).  More than I had actually expected.  For a split second I thought…  “What am I getting myself into!?!” I read through the lists and made some mental notes just in case questions were asked related to them.

I was to meet with four of the managers in the merged department.  Two from each side.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  After the very different formats of the two previous interviews, I was pretty much prepared for anything.  Fortunately, they had prepared some questions… and this was going to be a more standard interview.

Throughout the back and forth of the interview, I felt I had answered all of the questions really well.  I mean, when people are nodding their heads in favor of what you’re saying, it seems like you’re hitting it out of the park.  Then one question was asked and I drew a complete and utter blank.  It was like my brain was finished.  The odd thing is that it should have been an easy question for me to answer.

I don’t remember the exact wording, but the gist of it was… “Describe a time when you explained a complex subject to an executive.  Try to explain that subject to us.”  I mean… this is my bread and butter.  I do this all the time, but for some reason I couldn’t think of any specifics.  After a couple of stutter-stops, one of my interviewers threw me a lifeline by reminding me that I had described a complex situation earlier in the interview.  Whew!  But it was a weird moment for me that left me wondering if I had left a bad impression at the end.

I was on pins and needles for the next two days, wondering which way the decision would go.  Do you know how hard it is to get work done when you’re on pins and needles?  Don’t get me wrong, I got work done, but it was really hard to concentrate.  I kept revisiting questions that had been asked.  Were my competition’s answers better?  Meanwhile, my workmates kept needling me about the new job.  (I don’t think a person has ever been called traitor and Benedict Arnold more than I was over that week).

Finally, late one afternoon, I got an e-mail from my boss.  “Come to my office, please.”  I would love to say ‘you could have smelled the rubber of my soles burn on the carpet as I dashed to his office,’ but I took the elevator.  When I arrived he asked me to sit.  Braced for the worst, I heard… “Do you want this job?”

Confused for a second, I asked, “What?”  He repeated the question.  To which I finally responded, “Yes!”

I was shocked, giddy, and scared all at the same time.  I got it!

The opportunity was made available to everyone in my department, and eight people, including me, applied.  All of the folks that applied are strong reporting analysts… and great people to work with.  Competition was going to be tough.  I updated my resumé and sent it in.  A few days later, I had the first interview.

I’m not the kind of person that prepares a ton for interviews.  Sure, I think about it a bit, but mostly I just try to get myself in the right frame of mind.  Part of that is how I present myself.  I had been told that even though this interview process was for inside candidates only, we should come in dressed in more formal attire.  Sure, I have dress shirts and dress pants, but it wouldn’t hurt me to have a few more so I went out and picked out a few along with some ties to match.  Honestly, I think I spent more time on my wardrobe than I did on actual prep for the interview.

The first interview was set after hours, so I was all dressed up with nowhere to go for the day.  I worked at my desk and suffered the slings and arrows of my workmates as they needled me about the new clothes and the interview.  They were great and kept me grounded, which is probably what I needed.  About 30 minutes prior to the interview, I started to get nervous.  Throat was getting dry and I could sense the butterflies in my stomach.  It was definitely showtime.

I walked into a conference room with about seven people in it.  Most of the managers in my department, plus the director.  They’re a fun bunch so it wasn’t very intimidating, but they’re also smart so you never know how deep the questions are going to get.  I recalled my very first interview at ye olde online retailer, and how tough some of the questions were.

I sat down and was handed a sheet of paper. On the sheet of paper was a description of what the director was looking for out of this new manager, and below that there were a number of scenarios that I should try to cover in my interview.  I was told to read it, think about it and respond.  I had brought a notepad with me so I immediately started taking notes about what I might want to say about it all.  I was being given an opportunity to form my thoughts so I took it.

One thing became clear to me almost immediately, there was a thread throughout most of the scenarios.  The thing that unified them was communication and relationship building.  Realizing that, I knew exactly how to respond to the group assembled before me.  Having been part of a support team that was heavily involved in both communication and relationship building at USA Today, this was definitely within my bailiwick.

I gave a longish monologue on the scenarios, tying them together with the thread I’d found.  There were a few followup questions, and I answered them as best I could.  I know I could have probably answered better in a couple of instances, but I don’t think my answers were bad… just unrefined.  The really tough questions are the ones asking to relate a specific experience.  I can definitely think up examples, but I’m not always the best storyteller so I have to constantly watch out for those moments when I go off on tangents.

As the interview was winding down, I only asked one question that I remember.  I asked the manager currently supporting one of the departments being merged what the situation was like in that department.  I had thought about some other questions, but none of them seemed all that important in the end, and I didn’t want to waste interview time with them.

After all the interviews had been conducted, I learned that I had been chosen as one of two candidates for the next round of interviews.  Apparently, my threads sewed it up for me.  (Ugh… that’s bad…  threads and sew… I can’t believe I just wrote that.)

Went see A-Trak last Tuesday at The Complex.  What is it with venues in Salt Lake City having these super generic names, anyway?  Of the two opening acts, I didn’t mind seeing Kid Sister, but Gaslamp Killer held no appeal for me.

I arrived fashionably late just as Gaslamp Killer’s set was ending.  Saw some friends, chatted for a second and patiently waited for Kid Sister to finish her set. Unfortunately for her, she was battling a cold and a messed up sound system. This did not bode well for A-Trak’s set, but I’m ever the optimist and I hoped for the best.

And that’s exactly what I got.  A-Trak came in there, showed us what he had… and left us wanting more.  Tight set that had me dancing for the entire time.  That’s quite a feat as my knees aren’t nearly as young as they used to be.  Anyway, here are a few pics of A-Trak’s set. Enjoy…

These first two weeks have been about learning their database.  I only started to do “real” work late last week.  It’s 100% straight up SQL, no chaser.  I have the option of using Business Objects Desktop Intelligence or Crystal Reports.  However, for now, I’m going to take this opportunity to delve into some of the more esoteric SQL stuff that I never used in my 12 years at ye olde newspaper.

The company is celebrating their 10th anniversary.  As part of that, the CEO hosted a party for everyone at the Saltair Pavillion with special guests…  The Wallflowers.  It was a fun show, but the drinks at Saltair are pricey!  Good thing we were all given a couple of drink coupons to keep us from going thirsty.  If you know what I mean… and I think you do.  At any rate, I can now check off “see Bob Dylan’s son” off my bucket list. 

One other work related thing.  Commuting is super easy now.  I live less than 10 miles from the office.  That sure beats the nearly 3 hour drive I had in Illinois.  I can also catch a bus a couple of blocks from my apartment that takes me directly to my office without transfers.  I even rode my bike part of the way and used the bus the rest of the way a couple of times.  Gotta love that!

Liz is doing great.  She just got a cool new haircut.  You can see pictures on Facebook.  I think she looks FAB! 

The puppy is doing well, but as it gets colder… it becomes more difficult to get motivated to go for walks. She’s big now… 63+ pounds… and growing.  She has developed an unfortunate trait.  She’s starting to become a digger.  I think we may have inadvertently contributed to this behavior taking root.  Now we’ll have to figure out a way to undo it before it becomes a serious problem.

Kiko is doing OK… has an ear infection at the moment, but he’s doing his thing… which mostly involves sleeping on the bear chair.

I’ve come to realize that I don’t use Livejournal nearly as much as I used to.  That’s kinda sad… really.  I like LJ a lot, but it’s not as conducive to the quick bursts that I’m doing lately.  Right now my platform of choice is Facebook… but I would dump it for something better in a heartbeat.  If Facebook had tag support, better group options (it would be nice to make a posting only viewable by a certain group (a la Livejournal), a decent search, and doubled the max character limit… it would be perfect.  Oh well.

That said…  if you haven’t joined Facebook…  you should…  and be sure to friend me.  I post a lot of fun stuff there… not just navel-gazing. 

Later gang… for my Orlando peeps… I’ll probably be in Orlando for a few days around Christmas.  I don’t have a lot of vacation days with my new job so I’m not sure exactly when, but Christmas weekend for sure.  See you then!

Overstock offered slightly more money and better benefits. Overstock is closer to my house. The job at Overstock is a defined position within a defined department doing a defined set of tasks. There is variety there, don’t get me wrong… but the idea I’m trying get across is that it’s a job that can and has been described.

One on One offered something a bit more amorphous. However, the offer implied growth, change, potentially greater rewards. The job at One on One is not defined… at all.  There are certain things that need to be done and there is the promise of more to come beyond that. As you can see… the two jobs are quite different… even though there are some similarities in tasks.

Here’s the deal…  The job at One on One sounded very good. It sounded like it was right up my alley… so why did I balk and jump in the other direction? I had a moment to think about this because One on One called me back after I turned them down.

The real reason I turned the offer down is uncertainty. After a lay off, the last thing you want to hear from a potential employer is that your actual job hasn’t been created yet. While the job at One on One would have likely been more rewarding overall… that level of uncertainty about what I would be doing took the shine off the whole idea. My exact wording was a bit more diplomatic, but that was the gist.

I’ll be honest, if I had been living in Utah longer or if I had been coming from an existing job, I would have gone with One on One… hands down. Right now though, I need something steady and certain in my life. Sure, it’s only been a month of unemployment. But I’m a worker bee at heart. Up until this layoff, I hadn’t really been without a job since the day I turned 16. And the prospect of not having a job… well, it scared me.

So when I was presented with this choice between two very different employers… I decided to take what appears to be the safer route. The thing is… I know it’s not really any safer. There will be challenges at the new job, there will be change, there will be growth, and there will be rewards. I know this… and yet I definitely feel like I might have let that big fish slip my grasp.

I had this feeling before when I took the job at USA TODAY. Back then, the other job was a technical writing position vs. the more technical job at the newspaper. I always thought it was funny that I turned down a writing job to go work at a newspaper where I wouldn’t actually be writing. At any rate, I had a similar feeling back then… like I let something go that I shouldn’t have.

After 12 years at USA TODAY though, I can honestly say I don’t regret it. I learned a lot there, I grew, I saw change on every level and ultimately it was very rewarding. I suspect the same from Overstock… and I’m really looking forward to getting back to work. Having been unemployed… I know one thing for sure. I don’t like it.

If you haven’t heard me say it… thanks to everyone that has sent a word of support. I couldn’t have made it without you. Lots of love!

Monster.com
Dice.com
CareerBuilder.com
Craigslist.org
Overstock.com
University of Utah
State and Local governments

At this point, I’ve sent out over 60 resumés. Of those, where do you think I got a response back for an interview?

One from an ad by a small marketing company on Craigslist. One from applying directly to Overstock.com.  The vast majority of my resumé sending has been through Dice and Monster. Not one peep from those.

It’s possible that the talent pool is enormous on those sites and therefore you are competing against too many to be noticed. While I think that’s definitely part of the problem. It might actually go a little deeper than that. A lot of the companies on those sites, have opted to outsource some of the HR workload to other companies.

So instead of sending your resumé to someone in charge of HR or to a hiring manager… you get shunted off to another website where you must upload a text only version of your resumé. That text-only resumé is then scoured for keywords… and whoever has the most matching keys gets passed along. All of the qualitative stuff you put down doesn’t matter because no one is actually reading your resumé.

Or maybe that’s just my conspiracy theory brain working overtime.  LOL

In other news…  I have a third interview at that marketing company I noted above today at 2PM.  I then have a second interview at Overstock tomorrow at 2PM. I have a lot of resumés floating around out there. Let’s hope I hear back from a few more very soon. I want to be able to make the best possible decision for my future.

OK. So sometimes fairytales have not so good endings. Remember my last post where I said all was well and good in the world. Well… something happened on the way to happily everafter.

Yesterday morning I received a call from my boss. I’ve been laid off. He was nervous and sad. I was sad and beginning to cry. The weird thing was this. Since I’m remote and I had logged into the network already, I was able to actually talk to my friends around the company via IM and e-mail while my boss was talking to me.

It was kind of surreal. My boss was speaking to me from a script. At the same time I was typing to my colleagues… “I’ve been laid off.” It turned out that my little IMs were a godsend. I received so many supportive responses that within an hour of learning of my lay off, I was already feeling better and it allowed me to focus on the things I needed to do. It was comforting to know that all of those relationships I had built up over 12 years at USA Today actually meant something.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a little shellshocked about the whole thing. It’s hard to grok the concept that it doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do… the bean counters don’t care about that. They look at the numbers and make the cut. Are there still people working at the company that would make more sense to cut instead of me? Of course. That’s not the way lay offs work. It’s not about talent, it’s about accounting. Anyone that tries to feed you a line of bull about how “businesses are hurting and this is necessary so that the company is on a firm footing for the future” needs to pay better attention. If a business was really interested in having a firm footing for the future, they would trim the folks that aren’t producing… not just the ones that make incrementally more than the next guy (not that I even make that much money to begin with).

That said… maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m the slacker that doesn’t produce. Who knows. It’s hard to judge that from where I’m sitting. I like to think that I produce good to great results with the things I did at USA Today… but it’s hard to be objective about yourself. LOL

Well, I’m not saying that this is the end of the fairytale, but damn if it isn’t that stretch of the story where you’re not quite sure if the hero is going to make it. This turn of events came as a complete and total surprise.

I sent out my first resume today for a help desk job at the University. I’ll be sending a lot more resumes out soon. Some final proofreading and layout, and I’ll be back on track with the job search. If I can’t find anything within the next 3 months, I’ll start doing desperation moves like widening the search to all 50 states.

–sam

Well, it’s been like 5 months since I had enough time to think, much less post anything substantive to the good olde series of tubes more commonly known as the internets.  Well, I lot has happened in that 5 months.  Here’s a quick rundown (with bullet points for emphasis)…

• The puppy is now 7 months old.  She’s big, but she was the runt of her litter so while she’s big, her siblings are actually much bigger.  Kiko, the pug, had his 8th birthday recently.  He’s due to have some tooth surgery, but is otherwise healthy.  Lilith, the cat is going crazy, but that’s normal.
• How sly of me to post about the pets before getting to the really big news.  Liz, my lovely wife, decided several months ago that things weren’t working out in her PhD program at Illinois.  She did some soul searching and decided that a clean break was best.  She needed to find a program that worked for her, and more importantly, she needed to find one where she could have a mentor.    Long story short, Liz opted to apply to the U of Utah in Salt Lake City.  She was accepted and she starts this fall.
• I’m glad that last bit got your attention.  I’m sure you’re wondering what I was wondering.  This is not the best economy for Sam to go move cross country.  What’s he going to do?  And what about the house?  This is the point in time where I must explain to you that there is a world of fairy tales.  In this world of fairy tales things like serendipity, fate, and good luck mysteriously intertwine to make for all the happily everafters we often dream about.  I could be cruel and say… “This is not one of those stories.”  Well, cruel isn’t the right word for it because it would be a lie.  This is in fact one of those stories.
• One day, out of the blue, my boss calls me and explains to me that my talents are underused in the Chicago office.  Well that certainly piqued my interest because I thought the next sentence was going to be something like…  and it seems we wouldn’t be needing your talents at all.  You see we’ve had a few layoffs in the last year, and I thought my number might have been up.  Instead, he explained that my talents would be better used in the Circulation Systems department.  Not only that, but things had already been arranged and my new boss would be calling me with the details.  I was sitting on pins and needles for a week until I spoke with my new boss, but the bottom line was better than I could have ever hoped.  My new job wouldn’t require that I report to any particular office.  I could, in fact, work from just about anywhere I wanted to.  Sure, it would be nice if it was close to an office, but I could even work from home.  I think you’re starting to see the fairy tale now.
• Around the same time, Liz and I decided to test the market and try to sell the house.  We didn’t use a realtor.  Instead we hired an attorney to handle the paperwork, then we listed our house on Craigslist.  Yes, Craigslist.  Within a month we had an offer on the house.  Yeah… something like fate might be at work here.  Initially, the offer was really good and we thought we might actually make a little money on the house.  Unfortunately, the arcane art of house appraisals put the kaibosh on that.  Sure, we’ll lose a little money, but considering the kind of money that people are losing on their houses these days…  our $2K loss (from the price we paid, and doesn’t include money we put into the place) doesn’t seem so bad.  Well, even fairy tales have their harrowing moments.
• So… on the second week of June, Liz and I, Liz’s old friend Shannon, and our pets got into the Penske truck and made our way west to Salt Lake City.  It was a fun trip that was only slightly marred by the sad news about the house appraisal.  If you’re moving cross country, I highly recommend the Penske truck.  Cheaper than U-Haul and the truck was pretty spacious (we were able to fit our lives into a 16′ truck).  As an aside, I would like to thank everyone that helped us pack.  We couldn’t have done it without you.  Even if all you did was come over and hang out for a few minutes.  It was great to have the moral support.
• A couple of months ago, I happened to make online friends with Madeline Boudreaux, an SLC local.  If she didn’t know it before, she now has a friend for life.  When Liz, Shannon and I arrived in Salt Lake City, Madeline offered to help us move our stuff into our new place.  She enlisted her partner, Paul, who is a pro at this sort of thing.  Well, with their help (and some very nice neighbors too) we were able to unload the truck in record time.  Now that’s what I call a great welcome.

That’s the big news.  Liz and I are now in Salt Lake City.  We’re still unpacking.  Sorry for the super long rambling post, but it was the only way to get everything out.  If you know something about Salt Lake City, please share it.

Oh yeah…  it’s really nice to live in the same city as my partner in life and love.  I knew our situation was tough before, but now that I’m out of it, I can see it for the hell it truly was.  There may be some aspects of Salt Lake City that I probably won’t like, but I can deal with that if it means I don’t have to make that long ass drive each week.

Hugs, Kisses and All That!
–sam

1. Tara has this very adorable little grunt that she does. She’s not big on licking your face, but sometimes when she “noses” us or is in a really good mood she does this very cute little grunt. Kind of like a baby pot belly pig, it’s just really fun to hear!

2. Tara gets the hiccups. a lot. I’ve never known a dog to hiccup before, but Tara gets the hiccups several times each week. I don’t think she is eating too fast or anything like that (we use the ‘eat better’ bowl and also her treat ball for meals). She just gets the hiccups fairly often.

3. She lost at least two baby teeth last week. I happened to see one hanging sideways by a thread in her mouth one night, and the next morning two were gone. I did not find them, but I can see the new teeth starting to come through the surface.

4. Tara discovered the upstairs and the basement this week. The upstairs is exciting because my cat, Lilith, lives up there most of the time. Although Lilith is not very friendly to dogs, Tara is still intrigued. And the basement is even more exciting because the kitty litter boxes are down there . . . and of course, cat poop! She knows she’s not supposed to go up or downstairs so she’s been taking ninja lessons to effectively tip toe on the stairs without anybody noticing. We’ve creatively blocked both entranceways to upstairs and basement now, and so sometimes she sits at the gate and stares longingly up or down the stairs and whines to let me know that I have blocked one of her favorite pasttimes.

5. When Tara wants to get off of the couch, lounger, or chair, instead of walking or jumping off she lays down and slides her body off of the chair in a snake-like fashion. It is hysterical. We don’t know why she does this, but I think maybe sometimes she is trying to decide whether she really wants to leave or not and then takes her sweet time deciding while she slowly rolls off the place she’s sitting.

Everyone has cutesy names for their pets and loved ones. And we’re certainly not having any shortage of pet names in our household! In fact, Sam and I often make up songs for our pets that go along with their pet names, or that sing to the tune of popular songs. Here are some of our favorite names for our furry four-legged babies. What are some of your favorite “pet” names for your loved ones?

Kiko
kiko biko
kiko butter
kikos fart-anopolis (his greek name)
keekster & keekmeister (from his aunt katy)
keeker beeker
buddy
buddy-boo-bah
snorey-snore-alot

Tara
Tara-bo-bara
Sleepyhead
T-time
Tara-boo
Tarr-ible (when she’s in full-on energy puppy mode)
Tare-bear
baby bear

Lilith
Lily girl
Lily
lily-potamus
sweet baby girl

Many people ask, “So how is Kiko doing with this new puppy?” Well, it’s been a process for sure, but I think Kiko is doing really well with his new charge of “big brother.” At first Kiko barely tolerated Tara, as she wanted to chew on him and attack him in play, all the time. But as Tara has grown and matured some she has started to understand that Kiko is not her chew toy, and she is gentler with him. And as her gentleness grows, so does Kiko’s acceptance of Tara. As of last week, we see Kiko allowing Tara to snuggle with him on the bear chair, and sometimes he follows her out at the dog park. Overall he is still Kiko, who’s favorite pasttime is snoring away while he’s cuddling with you. So, as long as Tara wants to participate in that, Kiko’s all for hanging out! Besides that, we have noticed that Kiko has developed some more food aggression than he had with Bentley. In fact, I think Bentley taught Kiko about food aggression, so I am really hoping Kiko does not pass that on to Tara . . .

Ok, well enough talk. Let’s get to some Kiko-fabulous photos!

Here are some shots of Tara and Kiko at the park, and also some of Tara snuggling with Kiko on the bear chair that night after the dog park (passed out!). Enjoy