I could kiss you...
I'm leaving in the morning for Las Vegas. I'll be back on Tuesday. If I'm able to, I'll check in, though I doubt I'll have much time for computers.
Be nice to each other and take care of each other.
I'll leave you with this story that happened about 15 minutes ago:
One of our trainers left the company back in early August—he went back to teaching high school math full time. Ever since then, we’ve been looking for a replacement. Why, I keep asking myself (as well as my supervisors) am I not being considered for the position? It is what you hired me for, after all.
So today we had another presentation. Our interview process is lengthy, to put it mildly. First we do resume screening, then we do phone screening, then we invite a small handful of people to come give us an hour long technical presentation, then we all vote on whether or not to bring them back for an actual interview (which, by the way, takes about another four hours).
The man who came in today was our fourth presenter since August when we posted the opening. I’ve voted no on all the previous candidates for one reason or another. I was afraid to vote no again today, thinking perhaps my boss would think it’s just sour grapes on my part. But the guy just wasn’t that good! As it turns out, that didn’t matter. It was 8 against 4. He’s not coming back.
So Donn, the department head, reiterated that the most important element we’re searching for right now is platform skill. Excuse me? That’s not what you said after the last interviewee. Last time you said the most important element was technical knowledge. Which one is it, man?
Based on that, one of our writers, Iris, suggested that we look for people who are more engaging. Look at resumes that say “Dynamic” “Energetic”, stuff like that. It was all I could do not to get up and walk out of the room. I’m glad I had paper with me. I wrote notes for my blog instead of listening to any more of that tripe. You want dynamic? You want energetic? I’M SITTING RIGHT HERE! HELLO!
I was surrounded by the implicit insult—I’m not energetic, dynamic, engaging enough. If that’s their (revised) number one priority, then why the fuck aren’t they letting me be a trainer yet? It’s what they hired me for BASED ON MY TECHNICAL PRESENTATION TO THEM!
I want to train. I do NOT want to be a technical writer. I wouldn’t mind doing course development, but damnit, I want to train. That’s not news. If my skills are what you’re looking for, then why in the hell are you holding me back?
As I was furiously scribbling notes to myself, Gary, our primary course developer (and a friend of mine) said—in front of the whole department—“Why have we been looking for someone else for the last 3 months? Aimee could be up to speed by now and in a classroom already.”
Donn didn’t respond.
About 5 minutes later, Iris said it again, and was immediately backed up by Gary as well as Barbara (the training coordinator).
They were shut down by Dave, one of the senior trainers. Fucker.
Then Bob, the other senior trainer, said, “Hey, Aims, I have an internal O & M class in the third week of November. Want to team teach it with me? Can you be up to speed by then?”
Hell yeah!
Barbara asked if I had the technical knowledge yet. I replied, “Nope, but you’d be amazed how fast I can learn when I’m motivated.”
We walked out of the training lab and I wanted to kiss Gary. And Iris. And Barbara. Man; maybe the individual people here aren’t so bad after all. Maybe it’s just the management….
Be nice to each other and take care of each other.
I'll leave you with this story that happened about 15 minutes ago:
One of our trainers left the company back in early August—he went back to teaching high school math full time. Ever since then, we’ve been looking for a replacement. Why, I keep asking myself (as well as my supervisors) am I not being considered for the position? It is what you hired me for, after all.
So today we had another presentation. Our interview process is lengthy, to put it mildly. First we do resume screening, then we do phone screening, then we invite a small handful of people to come give us an hour long technical presentation, then we all vote on whether or not to bring them back for an actual interview (which, by the way, takes about another four hours).
The man who came in today was our fourth presenter since August when we posted the opening. I’ve voted no on all the previous candidates for one reason or another. I was afraid to vote no again today, thinking perhaps my boss would think it’s just sour grapes on my part. But the guy just wasn’t that good! As it turns out, that didn’t matter. It was 8 against 4. He’s not coming back.
So Donn, the department head, reiterated that the most important element we’re searching for right now is platform skill. Excuse me? That’s not what you said after the last interviewee. Last time you said the most important element was technical knowledge. Which one is it, man?
Based on that, one of our writers, Iris, suggested that we look for people who are more engaging. Look at resumes that say “Dynamic” “Energetic”, stuff like that. It was all I could do not to get up and walk out of the room. I’m glad I had paper with me. I wrote notes for my blog instead of listening to any more of that tripe. You want dynamic? You want energetic? I’M SITTING RIGHT HERE! HELLO!
I was surrounded by the implicit insult—I’m not energetic, dynamic, engaging enough. If that’s their (revised) number one priority, then why the fuck aren’t they letting me be a trainer yet? It’s what they hired me for BASED ON MY TECHNICAL PRESENTATION TO THEM!
I want to train. I do NOT want to be a technical writer. I wouldn’t mind doing course development, but damnit, I want to train. That’s not news. If my skills are what you’re looking for, then why in the hell are you holding me back?
As I was furiously scribbling notes to myself, Gary, our primary course developer (and a friend of mine) said—in front of the whole department—“Why have we been looking for someone else for the last 3 months? Aimee could be up to speed by now and in a classroom already.”
Donn didn’t respond.
About 5 minutes later, Iris said it again, and was immediately backed up by Gary as well as Barbara (the training coordinator).
They were shut down by Dave, one of the senior trainers. Fucker.
Then Bob, the other senior trainer, said, “Hey, Aims, I have an internal O & M class in the third week of November. Want to team teach it with me? Can you be up to speed by then?”
Hell yeah!
Barbara asked if I had the technical knowledge yet. I replied, “Nope, but you’d be amazed how fast I can learn when I’m motivated.”
We walked out of the training lab and I wanted to kiss Gary. And Iris. And Barbara. Man; maybe the individual people here aren’t so bad after all. Maybe it’s just the management….
posted by Aimee at
2:40 PM
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