Beethoven In Trance - Episode 46

Finally, I am getting to an end of the job transition saga...

I accepted an job offer yesterday afternoon. It's a data analyst position in national acquisition team in the company. To some extent, I feel like going back to sales again, which I like. Comparing to the previous job that I got turned down, this position is actually better.

Applying for this position and interviewing process is interestingly not that difficult. The hiring manager seemed to like my background when I first talked to him about the position. I was encouraged to apply, and I did. It took a while for HR to coordinate the interview but finaly I was scheduled to talk to four people in one day. The first interview with hiring manager went well, and the second and third interviews were ok, but not stellar. The last interview was, for the lack of the word, interesting. The interviewer, another manager in eMarketing, is also posting a new position. Therefore, he is also interviewing candidates. So, I was somehow double interviewed, and I was told during the interview that I could also apply for the newly posted position in eMarketing. And I did the next day.

By the end of the week, I was already offered by the hiring manager in national acquisition, and I was also scheduled to have three interviews with eMarketing the next week. The two hiring managers had reached an agreement that I could go through the interviews in eMarketing and I could potentially pick one offer from the two (given that I get the second offer from eMarketing as well). Everything sounded good at that point, and I went through three more rounds of interviews with eMarketing the next week and waited for a final answer.

Then things started to turn. eMarketing was bringing more candidates for interviewing. The national acquisition team is eager to bring me onboard as soon as possible, while the eMarketing seems to be taking time. I was asked by HR for preference, and I picked eMarketing (I had been seeking advice from people around and I was told eMarketing is a better choice). However, it seems that the choice wasn't mine eventually. This message wasn't forwarded to either of the managers according to HR. I was told by HR that I need to make a final decision yesterday to accept or turn down the first offer from national acquisition team, and at the same time, eMarketing team won't give me an answer till two days later. I went to talk to eMarketing team and I was told I don't need to make a final decision right away, and I can wait till Thursday when eMarketing made up their mind, then I can make a final decision then. Well, the conflicting messages were running in circle between me, HR, and two managers. And eventually, it turned out that I need to make a final decision yesterday. And by the way, it was already 3 weeks after I interviewed with the job in national acqusition team.

So, I have one bird in hand, and one bird in the woods. I like the one in the woods, but the one in hand is nice too, and more importantly, it's in my hand now. And I don't have any garantee that I can get the bird in the woods either. So I made the final decision yesterday afternoon to accpet the first offer I got from national acquisition team. By the end of yesterday, the job hunting saga is finally coming to an end.

It was an interesting adventure, and certainlly much politics involved as well. The two hiring managers were good friends, according to them, but I don't know how good the friendship is now. HR plays the role as well in this saga, as the contact person was conveniently out of office yesterday.

All in all, I am happy with the decision. I got what I applied for initially. The hiring manager seems to be a nice person and I look forward to working with him. I will be the only analyst in his group, and there are two account managers under his management as well.

All sound good so far. This is a promotion and I get a higher salary and better gain share. I will be transfering to the new job by the end of this month. Will see what happens next.