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Oct. 4th, 2007
Yesterday in the evening I sent my resignation e-mail to my contacts in England. They wrote me back this morning and said very nice things about being sorry to see me go, but completely understanding and accomodating about my leaving and how much work I want to do before I stop and paying me to find and train a replacement, if I was willing.
And then, in a miraculous twist of logic, I posted a craigslist ad RIGHT AWAY seeking a replacement. See, I was quitting this job because it was feeling like too much work, especially right this week, so why did I then start a hiring campaign which requires...work? Do I really want to interview dozens of people and sift through resumes and cover letters? But after the brief overwhelmed feeling of 50 e-mails in my box, I wrote out a detailed description of the work that was also fairly conversational and informative of the process, then forwarded it to everyone who responded, thinking this would weed out a significant portion of people who have zero interest in taking trips to Evanston and stand at a copy machine for hours at a time. The first two prospects, I made concrete plans to interview/train them the week after next, and I'm going to assume one of them will take it. If not, then I'll go back to the gigantic pool. Because there's no rush for me, even if I feel rushed by the bombardment of people looking for work.
During this process, I've been observing how I work as far as what appeals or turns me off. I can't tell if I would be an awesome HR person or a horrible one. Here's what I've found will make me skip over people:
3. Making me have to click to some other link to a site that hosts resumes. Just send an attachment, people. And don't send letters of recommendation too. And generic cover letters on top of the one in the email.
2. Saying you will help "advance my company". Actually anything that uses lots of jargon about assets and being eager and buzzwords that don't really mean anything concrete. I liked people who said "I work at [this job] and need more money and I did this other thing that's similar plus it would fit my schedule."
1. Not being able to follow directions. In my detailed response, I tell people if they are still interested, to send me three dates in the next month that they are available at 10 am (that are not a Sunday). Someone wrote back saying, "my schedule is flexible, so why don't I make it easier and you tell me when you want me to come in?" Ok, no. I said give me dates. Don't tell me what makes it easier for me. I know this isn't exactly the standard procdure, but I've made it clear that I'm just a guy doing a random odd job, I'm not corporate hiring manager. Someone else wrote back after reading the description and had questions, which included: 'you said we're be reimbursed for copies and that they expect 800-1000 copies per shipment, does this mean I have to pay upfront for the first set of copies?' Answer: please see the dictionary under "reimbursed".
Bonus: I hate hate hate when people put "references available upon request" at the bottom of a resume. Yes, yes, we know. Or at least, you ought to have them (if you are seeking employment in our specific capitalist system which is requiring resumes anyway) and we know you'll give them when we ask. That isht is a waste of space on the paper to state the obvious.
So anyway, the two people I'm meeting are a mom who works part-time freelance already, including transcription work, and a woman working on her MFA at a low residency program in Vermont who lives in Evanston. Given that I was working on my MFA at the time I started this job, it seemed like an auspicious sign. Even if her name is sort of ridiculous, like Autumn Showers**. You can't pick your parents though.
I just got a hilarious response from someone: "it looks like this may be more involved than i anticipated - also, i'm a little uncomfortable with an employer in england who has access to my bank account." Which, given that I did put this ad out on Craigslist, I can see how it would seem sort of shady! But its not like part of the requirements for the job are handing over your checking account number -- what she's referring to is how I described the invoice process and how they do direct deposit.
So yeah, this is what I've been obsessing about for the past 24 hours. In between binging on Soulseek and obtaining so much music my head has nearly exploded. I feel rather discombobulated.
Oh! Except I went to Sidekicks last night and it was weird. Well, it was fun and I met two new people who were awesome (they are good friends with JH, so I'm not surprised!), but the bar itself felt odd because it was game one of the Cubs in the playoffs and so the 6 people that were there were only watching the game. The KJ finally turned on the system pretty much spent an hour and a half indulging our singing and then sent us home. Which was just fine. After all, I'm going back on Saturday night too.
** This isn't her real name, but really, it's kinda close in metaphor and cadence.
And then, in a miraculous twist of logic, I posted a craigslist ad RIGHT AWAY seeking a replacement. See, I was quitting this job because it was feeling like too much work, especially right this week, so why did I then start a hiring campaign which requires...work? Do I really want to interview dozens of people and sift through resumes and cover letters? But after the brief overwhelmed feeling of 50 e-mails in my box, I wrote out a detailed description of the work that was also fairly conversational and informative of the process, then forwarded it to everyone who responded, thinking this would weed out a significant portion of people who have zero interest in taking trips to Evanston and stand at a copy machine for hours at a time. The first two prospects, I made concrete plans to interview/train them the week after next, and I'm going to assume one of them will take it. If not, then I'll go back to the gigantic pool. Because there's no rush for me, even if I feel rushed by the bombardment of people looking for work.
During this process, I've been observing how I work as far as what appeals or turns me off. I can't tell if I would be an awesome HR person or a horrible one. Here's what I've found will make me skip over people:
3. Making me have to click to some other link to a site that hosts resumes. Just send an attachment, people. And don't send letters of recommendation too. And generic cover letters on top of the one in the email.
2. Saying you will help "advance my company". Actually anything that uses lots of jargon about assets and being eager and buzzwords that don't really mean anything concrete. I liked people who said "I work at [this job] and need more money and I did this other thing that's similar plus it would fit my schedule."
1. Not being able to follow directions. In my detailed response, I tell people if they are still interested, to send me three dates in the next month that they are available at 10 am (that are not a Sunday). Someone wrote back saying, "my schedule is flexible, so why don't I make it easier and you tell me when you want me to come in?" Ok, no. I said give me dates. Don't tell me what makes it easier for me. I know this isn't exactly the standard procdure, but I've made it clear that I'm just a guy doing a random odd job, I'm not corporate hiring manager. Someone else wrote back after reading the description and had questions, which included: 'you said we're be reimbursed for copies and that they expect 800-1000 copies per shipment, does this mean I have to pay upfront for the first set of copies?' Answer: please see the dictionary under "reimbursed".
Bonus: I hate hate hate when people put "references available upon request" at the bottom of a resume. Yes, yes, we know. Or at least, you ought to have them (if you are seeking employment in our specific capitalist system which is requiring resumes anyway) and we know you'll give them when we ask. That isht is a waste of space on the paper to state the obvious.
So anyway, the two people I'm meeting are a mom who works part-time freelance already, including transcription work, and a woman working on her MFA at a low residency program in Vermont who lives in Evanston. Given that I was working on my MFA at the time I started this job, it seemed like an auspicious sign. Even if her name is sort of ridiculous, like Autumn Showers**. You can't pick your parents though.
I just got a hilarious response from someone: "it looks like this may be more involved than i anticipated - also, i'm a little uncomfortable with an employer in england who has access to my bank account." Which, given that I did put this ad out on Craigslist, I can see how it would seem sort of shady! But its not like part of the requirements for the job are handing over your checking account number -- what she's referring to is how I described the invoice process and how they do direct deposit.
So yeah, this is what I've been obsessing about for the past 24 hours. In between binging on Soulseek and obtaining so much music my head has nearly exploded. I feel rather discombobulated.
Oh! Except I went to Sidekicks last night and it was weird. Well, it was fun and I met two new people who were awesome (they are good friends with JH, so I'm not surprised!), but the bar itself felt odd because it was game one of the Cubs in the playoffs and so the 6 people that were there were only watching the game. The KJ finally turned on the system pretty much spent an hour and a half indulging our singing and then sent us home. Which was just fine. After all, I'm going back on Saturday night too.
** This isn't her real name, but really, it's kinda close in metaphor and cadence.