How's work been?

Top_Shelf wrote:

Has anyone ever used an executive coach/recruiter before to hunt for you? If yes, what's been your experience?

Yes, experience was poor. Much like with a realtor, they don't represent either party's interests, they represent the deal getting done, because that's how they get paid.

The incentives of that business are not aligned with the outcome you want, unless the outcome you want is "I just want to work somewhere that is not where I am currently working, but I'm not really concerned with it being the right place for me."

There probably exists some subset of those folks who really do care, but it's going to be tough to identify such a person without a recommendation.

Thanks, good perspective.

I'd think someone could do a good business with a different mindset of making good fits. KPIs could be, length of tenure of placements, job satisfaction, employer happiness with found candidates, etc.

And, speaking from the hiring side, metrics around what you're describing which affect the long term payout often do exist with recruiters. It's still a numbers game, where the person pushing 3 mediocre hires through is going to beat the pants off of the careful matchmaker doing 1.2 perfect hires in the same time period, earnings-wise.

Now, to change my discouraging tone a bit, if you're in a "eh I just want to passively look right now," it's an excellent way to get someone else to go do a search-engine level scouring for jobs that are a reasonable fit for your resume. With the explosion of "work from anywhere," I can say that there's never been a better time for technical folks to be job hunting. We are paying incredibly high premiums in this market to get top-flight people on board, and as a company that has been 100% WFH since pre-Covid, it's quite painful to have this level of competition driving salaries up so aggressively.

I had a job interview today, via MS Teams, thanks to covid. They didn't have their cameras on - is this normal? It seems weird to me.
The whole interview seemed quite different from what I've done in the past. Like they just wanted to chat about the work I've done and were happy enough to take my word for it. Which I guess is a good thing, but feels kind of weird. I'm so used to spending job interviews being grilled and answering silly trivia and gotcha questions, that it's throwing me off to have a proper conversation.

Anyway, the place sounds pretty cool, wish me luck!

A very quick update! The recruiter I was working with has said they thought the interview went really well. They don't even want me to do the technical test they normally do - they want me to come straight on board. What the hell?!

halfwaywrong wrote:

I had a job interview today, via MS Teams, thanks to covid. They didn't have their cameras on - is this normal? It seems weird to me.

As someone who has sat in on a lot of interviews over the past year or so as a bystander for work reasons, it is a common thing. It's probably a mix of people getting sick of making themselves presentable for a camera this long into the pandemic and just ensuring you don't catch them doing anything unprofessional as well. I do agree it does feel weird giving an interview when you are on camera but you are just talking to blank bubbles.

I don't want to jinx it, but that interview sounds really hopeful that it is a good work environment. When I'm hiring, I just want to casually talk about the work experience of the person, which is more to see if they are a good fit personality-wise with the rest of the team. If I want formal information, I have your resume right in front of me. I also almost never bother with calling the reference either - every worthless idiot I've ever worked with had no issues finding 2 people willing to vouch for them. It's the places that drill you incessantly and need you to be interviewed 3 times by different people that are saying more about their management practices than they are finding out important knowledge about your skillset.

I wish you good luck regardless!

I am fine with informal conversational interviews. But not having your camera on during one is just disrespectful.

A small company where inter-personal relations are vital will usually interview multiple times to make sure of your fit with their culture.

LeapingGnome wrote:

I am fine with informal conversational interviews. But not having your camera on during one is just disrespectful.

What makes it disrespectful? Why shouldn’t each person involved be allowed to choose whether they are on camera? Would a phone interview then also be inherently disrespectful?

So any suggestions on how to ask for a raise. Every company I've ever been at has done a yearly review that typically included a raise, but this small startup I'm working for hasn't done one. I'm likely gonna ask for a review in the hopes I'll get a raise, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

Thank you in advance.

Veloxi wrote:

So any suggestions on how to ask for a raise. Every company I've ever been at has done a yearly review that typically included a raise, but this small startup I'm working for hasn't done one. I'm likely gonna ask for a review in the hopes I'll get a raise, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

Thank you in advance.

Schedule a meeting with your boss (whichever boss has the power to initiate a raise). Come prepared with a narrative and reasons for why you deserve the raise.

If you're going to ask for a review, be upfront that it's also going to be about a raise.

absurddoctor wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:

I am fine with informal conversational interviews. But not having your camera on during one is just disrespectful.

What makes it disrespectful? Why shouldn’t each person involved be allowed to choose whether they are on camera? Would a phone interview then also be inherently disrespectful?

If you want to do a phone interview then just do one. Doing a video interview where you expect the applicant to be on camera but you yourself can't be bothered shows how little you care about them.

The last two years I have interviewed at least a dozen people over video calls. I hardly ever turn on my camera for day-to-day team meetings, but for interviews I certainly did. Even though it is an inconvenience for me it is the right thing to do.

Veloxi wrote:

So any suggestions on how to ask for a raise. Every company I've ever been at has done a yearly review that typically included a raise, but this small startup I'm working for hasn't done one. I'm likely gonna ask for a review in the hopes I'll get a raise, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

Thank you in advance.

Biggest thing is have a reason you think you deserve a raise that you can explain to your boss. "I want one" isn't a reason. Could be inflation, market-rate for your job, you've taken on additional responsibility, you've grown your skills and have more value to the company, whatever.

Jonman wrote:

Schedule a meeting with your boss (whichever boss has the power to initiate a raise). Come prepared with a narrative and reasons for why you deserve the raise.

If you're going to ask for a review, be upfront that it's also going to be about a raise.

I was gonna write an email asking for the review and do that before a meeting, is that cool? I've put together metrics on how my almost 70 clients are doing, and they've all improved since I started.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Biggest thing is have a reason you think you deserve a raise that you can explain to your boss. "I want one" isn't a reason. Could be inflation, market-rate for your job, you've taken on additional responsibility, you've grown your skills and have more value to the company, whatever.

Well what got me thinking of this is that a former co-worker asked me if I wanna apply at their company, and he mentioned the pay is 20-30k more than I'm making. I hated that guy so I didn't wanna work with him, and I really like the company I work for.

LeapingGnome wrote:
absurddoctor wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:

I am fine with informal conversational interviews. But not having your camera on during one is just disrespectful.

What makes it disrespectful? Why shouldn’t each person involved be allowed to choose whether they are on camera? Would a phone interview then also be inherently disrespectful?

If you want to do a phone interview then just do one. Doing a video interview where you expect the applicant to be on camera but you yourself can't be bothered shows how little you care about them.

The last two years I have interviewed at least a dozen people over video calls. I hardly ever turn on my camera for day-to-day team meetings, but for interviews I certainly did. Even though it is an inconvenience for me it is the right thing to do.

Ah, if there is a requirement of the candidate to be on video while the interviewers were not I’d agree that would be pretty disrespectful. I always have my camera on when interviewing people in case that makes them feel more comfortable, but make a point of telling candidates in advance that it’s optional on their end.

On our fourth week of all-day testing conference calls. Cannot wait for this to be over so I can go back to writing code.

IMAGE(https://images.complex.com/complex/images/c_fill,dpr_auto,f_auto,q_auto,w_1400/fl_lossy,pg_1/okysascnutjr9vpzw4sg/red-flag-emoji-viral-twitter-trend?fimg-ssr)

So my project manager discovered that her boss, the CEO, and the COO are searching for her position. (Small company, everyone's schedules are public, and they didn't hide it). As my office is a team of 2 (IR is her and me, the Institutional Research Analyst), I think we are getting thrown under the bus for the data team's issues.

Does anyone need a research analyst with an ethical standard that precludes lying to our client (in this case the US government)?

My contract should end in October, I can live with that. Although at this point the late July go-live looks very much like wishful thinking to me. If I was a betting person I would say September is more likely.

They like me! They really like me! Just found out that I’ve been offered a retention plan. Basically, if I’m still working next June (and the June after), I get an extra month’s salary as a bonus. It’s a pretty neat incentive to stay, and it’s neat to be wanted.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

So my project manager discovered that her boss, the CEO, and the COO are searching for her position. (Small company, everyone's schedules are public, and they didn't hide it). As my office is a team of 2 (IR is her and me, the Institutional Research Analyst), I think we are getting thrown under the bus for the data team's issues.

Does anyone need a research analyst with an ethical standard that precludes lying to our client (in this case the US government)?

The US government!

Mixolyde wrote:
UpToIsomorphism wrote:

So my project manager discovered that her boss, the CEO, and the COO are searching for her position. (Small company, everyone's schedules are public, and they didn't hide it). As my office is a team of 2 (IR is her and me, the Institutional Research Analyst), I think we are getting thrown under the bus for the data team's issues.

Does anyone need a research analyst with an ethical standard that precludes lying to our client (in this case the US government)?

The US government!

Well, the VA EDU benefits division. But the reports do get disseminated to congresspeople who will never read them.

My company is always hiring. Chicago based, CPG market research. But lots of folks are remote and I haven't been into the office since 2020. DM me if any of the positions are of interest.

IRI LinkedIn

I swear to Christ if I have to push back a day off one more time because some dipsh*t gets the Rona because they felt sick and just thought it was allergies I'm going to, well, I don't know what I'm going to do. Female Doggo and complain and still come in to work since #missionfirst.

So seems like they posted my old job as a direct position for a third of what I will be making at my new job.

Good luck with retention...

Hey friends, me again. A little while back I asked y'all how to ask for a raise, and y'all gave me some great advice. I thank you for that. Now, however, I'm waffling back and forth on actually ASKING, and in my brain there are a few reasons:

1. I'm admittedly nervous. I've never actually asked for one before and I'd be really upset if they said no.
2. The last two hires in my department were guys in India, so now I'm thinking, if I ask, they can be like, "Screw you we'll just hire another, cheaper guy in India to do what you do."
3. I'm worried they'll ask more of me, like coming into the office every so often. I was hired in October 2020, and they said once the pandemic passes they want me to come in twice a month. They've not mentioned it since and I prefer it that way. I never wanna go into the office.

So I guess my question in all this (and I know these things aren't wholly rational), should I just keep my head down and be happy I'm employed at all, or should I go through and ask, damn the consequences?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Are you getting paid less than you should be? Can you justify asking for a raise (workload, performance, industry comps, etc)? If so, there’s no “just be happy you have a job!” You’re worth what you’re worth. If you’re happy where you are (and more or less happy with what you’re making), the worst that happened is they say no. Then you can take appropriate action: accept it, acknowledge their concerns and make appropriate efforts, or start looking around. There’s no bad answer. No company is going to let you go because you asked for a raise.

Depending on your role/skillset, your company may actually be terrified that you might just walk out on them. Software Engineering employees, for example, are in immense demand right now.

For me; knowing one way or another about an update to compensation is better than not-knowing.

And if you don't ask, they won't give it to you.

Just did my first day at orientation... my boss was there too... rehire that left only 6 months ago. Said he left because changes needed to be made... they were then they begged for him to come back and he did.

Everyone seems excited he's back and are going out of their way to come say hi. I take this as a good sign.

Also we have like 400 jobs open right now... If you are interested in aerospace... now is a good time. I get referral bonuses too.