Interview tips

[Dexman PE PMP]

Last day at the project office is now set at June 19th.

Original plan was to stay full time here until the 19th, then a few weeks of split time between offices, then go full time downtown sometime mid July. This would have worked out really well because the project they want me to work on downtown won't really be up and running until August, it would allow me to help the current project until a replacement comes on (turns out another engineer will leave on Friday, leaving only 2 here) and still get some training/orientation done downtown before the new project kicks off.

Then senior management stepped in. Said I have to be downtown on the 22nd, non negotiable. Luckily the guys I will be working with know the situation of the transfer and know I have to be made available to help with both the project I'm currently leaving as well as some lingering project closeout stuff from the previous project.

I guess I got my first glimpse into working downtown. I'm so excited. /sarcasm

 

[Dleg]

Do you have a new downtown dress code? Pants below your buttcheeks? Purple hair?

That was my impression on my last trip downtown, riding on the 16th street mall shuttle, anyway.

 

[Road Guy]

nothing like a good government turf war!

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Do you have a new downtown dress code? Pants below your buttcheeks? Purple hair?

That was my impression on my last trip downtown, riding on the 16th street mall shuttle, anyway.

No more than 6 earrings, no more than 2 concurrent hair colors, nipple coverage is encouraged. Hipster hat, glasses, and loafers optional.

 

[snickerd3]

^ I naturally have at least 3 shades of hair colors... the rest I'm covered

 

[engineergurl]

Do you have a new downtown dress code? Pants below your buttcheeks? Purple hair?

That was my impression on my last trip downtown, riding on the 16th street mall shuttle, anyway.

No more than 6 earrings, no more than 2 concurrent hair colors, nipple coverage is encouraged. Hipster hat, glasses, and loafers optional.

6 earrings total or in a single ear?

 

[knight1fox3]

What about flair? :dunno:

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

The standard 15 pieces. Not sure if I will go with the minimum or go all out like Brian with 37. After all, I do want to express myself.

 

[Dleg]

I had an informal interview by phone today with the guy in Alaska. Very laid back, sounds like the office is a good place to work. We set up a formal interview a week and a half from now. I filled him in on my situation - I may stay here if EPA comes through, maybe Arizona, etc. He explained why the position has been open for so long - PHS officers generally afraid to work on a detail to an outside organization (as opposed to an HHS agency). That's no big deal for me, since that's what I am doing now, and his program is 100x more stable than mine. But no more dog vaccination expeditions up the Yukon - rabies is pretty much eradicated in the interior now

At the same time, my bosses fired off their letter to EPA today, essentially throwing down their glove, and copied to everyone in the Pacific (all the other utility directors, EPA directors, and our congressman - all of whom were involved in this a year ago and thought it was resolved). I heard back informally from my chain of command there, "not sure how our management is going to take this". Oh well - go ahead and make my decision for me!

 

[Dleg]

I had the formal interview for the AK position this morning. It seemed like it went pretty well. Here is one of the interview questions:

"Let's say you have flown out to a remote village to perform some O&M consulting, at the request of the tribe. You are there for one night, and will leave the next day. You get there, and the utility manager isn't in, and you find out that she is out for the day working on her fish trap (or something like that). Someone helps you then track down the system operator, and they find him at the washeteria, inebriated and unable to work. How do you approach this situation?"

LOL. There were similar questions, but not quite as nutty.

 

[Road Guy]

Pull out the poop buckets?

 

[cement]

what's a good answer there?

 

[Dleg]

I don't know - they didn't give me the answers, and hinted that there was no right answer and just wanted to gauge my approach to tricky people problems. I answered that there's not much you can do in that situation, since the work needs to get done, so I would at least get the operator (drunk in washeteria) to agree to meet the next morning, and have someone get a message out to the manager at the fish trap to do the same. I would certainly not do the work for them, because that would just reinforce the behavior, but I would certainly start looking into the problems and do my own background research and develop some options to discuss with them the next morning. And if necessary, stay an extra day. :dunno:

 

[Dleg]

I should have said I'd grab a beer with the operator and then go fishing.

 

[Dleg]

^Turns out I should have said that!

I was asked to call in yesterday, and was told that they intend to offer me the job, but they aren't sure how long or even if it will go through. The other candidate was an Alaskan Native, and like all the Native American federal programs, he would automatically get the job if he meets the qualifications. So we'll see. They seemed to think they could get me in, anyway, due to some other factors (maybe this other guy's performance record or something). They seemed to believe that enough to want me to call in and confirm that I am interested in moving forward. I talked to my wife and we agreed that we should go for it, if offered. The bottom line is that I can't stay in Saipan forever, so might as well take this opportunity because it's close to being the best.

I had the opportunity to ask what the correct answer to the question above was. He told me that there were a few, and that my answer hit on a couple. The one that I didn't hit on was that I could have joined the manager and helped her with her fish trap, in order to learn more about the culture and establish a good rapport. My thoughts are that if that's how they think in that office, then I think I would enjoy working for them.

 

[cement]

I had the opportunity to ask what the correct answer to the question above was. He told me that there were a few, and that my answer hit on a couple. The one that I didn't hit on was that I could have joined the manager and helped her with her fish trap, in order to learn more about the culture and establish a good rapport. My thoughts are that if that's how they think in that office, then I think I would enjoy working for them.

that's a great answer, and I agree about the attitude there

 

[Road Guy]

so the city of boulder has been advertising for a PW Director for a while now.. salary range listed is $120K-$160K

wonder if I could fake being a liberal for that mid point salary?

 

[Dleg]

Yeah but you still couldn't afford to own a home there.

 

[Road Guy]

Wouldnt need to..

It's like a 15 mile drive

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Just starting my 4th week in the downtown office and I'm already getting annoyed by the need for so many to create busy work in a pathetic attempt to justify their position. It's a gnat's ass above having 5 managers remind me to put a cover letter on my TPS reports...