Job search advice needed - mr. flea had a job interview on our trip to Dublin, on June 1. He has heard nothing. (Note it is now July 7.) Over a week ago, he got a job offer from another company and emailed the Dublin people to say, "Hello, I got a job offer from another company and was wondering what the situation was with the position I interviewed for?" He received no reply to that. Is there anything he can do at this point except wait and see?

In related news, yesterday he found out he didn't get an interview for a federal job he applied to (the cuts are made by central HR, on an unusual points system). Today the person who is the boss of the position called him to say he was their top choice and they are trying to figure out a way to interview him anyway. I hate the federal government's hiring rules, and I hate the job search roller coaster.

flea, I get your hate-on for fed jobs. D's deep desire is to get onto the fed side of the comp sec biz, and it's a roller-coaster of fiddly-fucking.

Also, re: the Dublin job? I think waiting is the option...but perhaps their lack of communication is an indicator that perhaps the org would have some serious drawbacks?

so the casting is just "dreamcasting" - not really about anything?

Either that or they're talking about book trailer vids. I know Penguin does video teasers for Richelle Mead's books that include interviews with her, and given that they use models for the covers, maybe they also cast actors for the teasers?

But she definitely hasn't sold rights yet for tv or movies--at least not publicly.

Today the person who is the boss of the position called him to say he was their top choice and they are trying to figure out a way to interview him anyway. I hate the federal government's hiring rules, and I hate the job search roller coaster.

Indeed.

The key to federal hiring is (I hate to say it, and I'll deny it if asked) not to be entirely truthful on the questionaire, and then make sure your resume has all the codewords in the job description/qualifications. If you know you're actually the most qualified, you gotta lie to get to the short list, because veterans get 10 points and that can bump the best-qualified applicant down the list if he or she doesn't massage the truth a little bit.

Federal job announcements are so easy to apply to now, that all postings get hundreds of applicants. Applications use a resume and a set of questions: you gotta score yourself the very highest on the questionaire in order to get out of the slush pile.

What happened with me, flea, is that I didn't make the short list for my job when I was first hired, even though they wanted me (because there were veterans applying). So they went back and queried some of the other applicants and got them to drop out ("Do you really want to work here?"), and then re-ran the list, and I scored high enough to be interviewed and get an offer.

I'll deny I gave this advice, but this is how the game is played.

Yeah, mr. flea had the HR person in his current office go over his application to make sure it had all the codewords and stuff before he sent it in! She says it must have been veterans that bumped him down the list, but how many veterans with PhDs in environmental engineering can there be? (Don't actually answer that.)

The Dublin organization is fucking IBM, whose HR department I could run better from home part-time. Don't even get me started on those idiots.

how many veterans with PhDs in environmental engineering can there be?

Not that many, I would think. I would want them to go back to HQ and make sure that the quals of those higher on the list actually check out. Like I said, it's hella easy to apply to federal jobs now, and I think loads of people are just randomly applying for everything even remotely related to their skill-set, and it ends up penalizing the people who are actually qualified for the job.

Is there any reason not to call Dublin and try to actually talk to someone?

I hope the federal job works out, because then I could come visit you!

Admittedly, I'm likely to be in Atlanta later this year, but that's still a bit from where you are, and it looks like you won't be there then! But I want to visit you!

We are only an hour from Atlanta! And don't you have some old Christian punk rock friends in town as well?

I can't see the family moving before Christmas at this point, because school starts in 4 weeks and it would suck for the kids to move halfway through the fall.

Okay! Then I should try to see you!

And yes, we do. Although they may not be there by then either, because they're currently looking for a bus they can convert into a house. I'm trying to sucker them into coming out west.

We could do a Buffista thing, with Ginger, right? Who else is in range? It's be November. Week before Thanksgiving, I think. I'll have to check.