Need Input on Strange Job OfferHello all Recently, I posted here about an odd situation I was experiencing in my job search. Over several months' time, I had interviewed multiple times with a company for a senior-level marketing position. After interviews with all the executives, supplying samples of my work and completing an assignment for them, they followed up with my references. The references indicated to me the line of questioning was odd in that the focus was on "what's really bad about her? What's wrong with her? Does she fight with her co-workers? What's she really like?" that went beyond the usual "What are her weaknesses or areas to improve on? The company contacted me shortly thereafter to let me know they were very interested in me but needed to re-evaluate their plans and would get back to me in a few weeks . I recently heard back from them via a voice message in which they said they were ready to move ahead and wanted to speak with me about next steps. I was out of town on business for a few days but e-mailed that I would be back by a certain day and would follow up the next day. I did call and left a message. What ensued was a few days of frustrating telephone tag. I still have not connected with the company directly although I have left several messages. I have not heard back since the original telephone tag attempts. Should I just write this one off as weird? At what point do you stop contact attempts? If they have returned calls which you missed, keep going after them. Try to give them definitive times when you can be reached so that maybe they can plan ahead. If you have left several messages that have not been returned over the past couple of weeks, you have a decision to make... either continue to call and try to show them your continued interest in the job, or make the assumption that they are no longer interested and move on. Personally, with what you described in your first posting and in this one, I would not invest any more time in pursuing this position. If I was still interested in the job, I'd continue trying to reach them, but what you might say in any voice mail you have to leave is that you're still very interested in the job and you very much like them to call you either way, if they're still interested in you or even if they're not, because you don't what to become a pest and keep calling if they've made some other decision - I have pretty good luck with that approach. Although the questions you mentioned are a little odd, it's not unusual at all to ask what someone's weaknesses are on the job or what someone could improve on or do better - the idea behind that type of question is founded on the notion that none of us are perfect and that we can all improve or get better at something! Make sense? Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert | |
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