AngelSoft, don’t go into details. Tell them simply that you took time off to be with your daughter during her formative years. You don’t have to tell them how long you were planning on spending with her, or how long you’ve been looking. My response would be short: Early on the pregnancy was difficult and I took time off for health reasons. I then decided to spend some time with my daughter during her formative years. I am now ready to return to my career.
IMO this is a small thing and will not be an issue for people hiring - so there is no reason to feel nervous about your answer. No one will think it is stupid to take time off for health, nor will people think it is stupid to spend time with your family.
Their big concern will be how long you intend to stay employed, they will not want to be hiring again in a few months. Do your best to assure them that you plan to stay.
What Khadaji said – taking a little time off for the birth of a child wouldn’t raise my eyebrows at all if I were hiring.
Maybe if you wrote yourself a little script of how you want to say this, as kind of a security blanket? You wouldn’t have to read the script during the interview, but you could have it ready if you started feeling flustered.
Well, the HR person was out sick yesterday, rescheduled the interview for next Wednesday. I was realyl hoping I’d be able to get squeezed in this week. Ugh.
Seriously? It’s now 40 minutes past the time she was supposed to call back and nothing. Nada. I am getting so fucking annoyed right now. I really want this job, but it seems they are going out of their way to not let me even prove that I am capable of doing it. :mad:
I have a question about what is or isn’t appropriate in applying for another job in the company where I already work.
This would be for a very small department of 4 other people. I know them all pretty well, as far as I know they all think I’m ok, and we all get along very well. There is one potential sticking point – the job lists a master’s degree as a requirement, and I have a bachelor’s (the guy with the job now, who’s retiring doesn’t have a Master’s either). In fact, I already do a part of the job – in the job I have now I plan the logistics and the technical part of continuing medical education events, and this job would involve planning the content as well. So I work with them all regularly, and there is no friction of any kind that I’m aware of.
So what kind of things should I be thinking about in communicating with these people and paving the way to get the job? Are there comminications that would be innapropriate?
She finally called! It was basically half of the interview I already had with her. She said there were six “new questions” they had to ask me that is now part of their hiring process, but I’m pretty sue it was stuff she already asked (they were the standard sort of “name a situation where you blah blah blah.” I HATE those questions because I blank and can never think of a good one.)
The good news: She seems to love me, and I am in a group of 50 whittled down from 400 (?!) applications. They want to bring that down to 30 to put into their two training sessions starting in April and June. Even if I don’t get into that initial 30, there’s a good chance I’ll get put into one of the two later training sessions starting in August of November.
The bad news: The next person to contact me is on vacation next week and the week after. So if I don’t get a call from her by Friday (what are the odds I will? Plus, I don’t have much free time on Friday anyway, so it would have to be tomorrow,) then I have to wait over two weeks for the next phase, which according to the person I talked with, will be pretty much the same stuff she asked me all over again. After that would be a face-to-face interview. And they want to get all this done before mid-April since the class starts late April. I don’t see that happening, seeing they have been working pretty slow so far.
My name was given to somebody who has started a small but very successful business. I got a call and we talked for about thirty minutes, and he said he would call to setup an in person meeting the next week. Apparently, next week meant the next day. Had the interview yesterday with the two owners, i.e. the entire firm. We did not click as well as we did on the phone, but all in all I thought it was good interview.
Now, I am waiting to hear back next week, again. They are very busy for the rest of the week, and need to find time to decide if they are even going to hire somebody. I know if they choose to hire somebody, it will probably be me. I am the only person they have talked to, and they really don’t have the time to interview people. But, the agony of waiting. Just do it! These two guys are working 80 hour weeks, I can help with that.
The funny thing is is that is’ a VERY large company. Like…one of the biggest in the world, I would imagine. (Edit: Well, not that big. Not in the top 500, it seems, but still, everyone has heard of it.)
The job is for a field engineer for radiology equipment (MRIs, CTs, and the humble ol’ x-ray.)
The training sessions last about six months, a mix of classroom and field work.
He called me about two hours after I sent the email, wanting to set up a time for me to go in and talk to him.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t here, and didn’t get home till about 6:30 – so I’ll talk to him tomorrow. (Actually, I’d kind of deliberately sent it right before I knew I wouldn’t be here, because I didn’t want to sit around being obsessive all afternoon, and I didn’t really expect quite that prompt a response. :D)
Pls. continue to keep fingers crossed until further notice.
I heard back from the IRS. I’m in category B for both positions I applied for. This means I passed the assessment, but not as well as those who are in category A, so they’ll call those people first, then get to category B if there are any spots still open. I’ve got veteran’s preference and an outstanding GPA (they asked for transcripts), so that’ll help bring me to the top of that pile, too.
The HR person says that the department head that’s hiring a new position is pretty set on requiring a Master’s degree as a minimum qualification for it. I know the guy, but not well or on any personal level.
Would it be inappropriate to send an email to him directly, expressing my interest and offering an explanation of why I believe I’m such a good fit for the job, despite not having a Masters?
I should note that our company’s online application system has a way to upload a resume, but doesn’t have a method of uploading a cover letter, which is where I would normally address a question like this.
I don’t see why a direct email to someone you’ve met would be a problem – what’s the worst-case scenario, “well, okay, maybe I will hire someone without a master’s, but it won’t be you because you emailed me about it”?
Here’s hoping it still goes your way!