Interview tips
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Krakosky
Tank ***
csb
Well-known member
0-6? Why are we talking about the Raider's record in this thread?
Good luck, Dleg! Que sera sera...
Good luck, Dleg! Que sera sera...
The interview went really well, I think...
Even these guys didn't know what grade the job will become. They intimated that the USPHS has gotten a little screwy lately in terms of management. What will happen is that they will set the recommended grade in the announcement, which is set at O-4 (bad for me), but then after they select someone, there are two stops at which the actual billet grade will be determined, on the basis of the announcement (bad), the candidate's skills and experience (good), and "the needs of the Corps" (completely unkown, apparently). These two steps are one guy in Alaska, and another guy after him in D.C. They said they would get me in touch with the guy in Alaska, so maybe he could tell me which way it will fall.
Their recommendation was to go through with it, and to wait as far as the actual issuance of orders, at which I would know for sure.... They said they tried to get someone else recently and he did this and rejected the orders when they came through at too low a grade. They said there is no harm in doing this.... yikes. I can't imagine letting the process get that far - informing my current boss that I am leaving - and then backing out???? No thanks - I need a little more certainty than that. I told them this, but they again said "no really, just wait it out".
Even these guys didn't know what grade the job will become. They intimated that the USPHS has gotten a little screwy lately in terms of management. What will happen is that they will set the recommended grade in the announcement, which is set at O-4 (bad for me), but then after they select someone, there are two stops at which the actual billet grade will be determined, on the basis of the announcement (bad), the candidate's skills and experience (good), and "the needs of the Corps" (completely unkown, apparently). These two steps are one guy in Alaska, and another guy after him in D.C. They said they would get me in touch with the guy in Alaska, so maybe he could tell me which way it will fall.
Their recommendation was to go through with it, and to wait as far as the actual issuance of orders, at which I would know for sure.... They said they tried to get someone else recently and he did this and rejected the orders when they came through at too low a grade. They said there is no harm in doing this.... yikes. I can't imagine letting the process get that far - informing my current boss that I am leaving - and then backing out???? No thanks - I need a little more certainty than that. I told them this, but they again said "no really, just wait it out".
Ble_PE
I need a beer.
^Glad to hear that the interview went well, but that process would be a pain in the *** to go through. Hopefully if it does come down to it, you have clarity before actually making the decision. Good luck!
What do you guys make of someone with absolutely zero presence on the internet?
I tried to look up one of my interviewers, the guy who would be my supervisor if I took the job, and he doesn't even exist on Google or Linkedin, despite several creative attempts to narrow the search. He's younger than me, so I find this even more odd.
I tried to look up one of my interviewers, the guy who would be my supervisor if I took the job, and he doesn't even exist on Google or Linkedin, despite several creative attempts to narrow the search. He's younger than me, so I find this even more odd.
Dexman PE PMP
Internationally PMP'n his PE-ness
I was going to ask if he was one of KF's friends/relatives :Chris:
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frazil
Master of the Boondoggle
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Well, he is listed in the "blue book" so I know he's a commissioned officer, and I personally know the other interviewer....To be honest I am kind of searching for a reason to reject this job if it is offered. Like I said earlier, I had decided, about 2 weeks ago, to just stay put and concentrate on my present situation. Things are going really well for me here, with lots of new stuff coming up, and I feel like it would probably be a stupid move to go off to a new place where I am just one of a few dozen or so officers in the same area, doing mostly the same thing, whereas here I stand out from the crowd. mostly because there is no crowd! It's like I feel that I am "established" here, but then I wonder if that means I am trapped forever, and I go back around in a circle, wondering if that's a bad thing or not...
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2nd interview starting in 15 minutes.... just got an e-mail from my interviewer, telling me that they will be testing me with hypothetical scenarios and judging me based on how well my response satisfies the sometimes conflicting missions of the job (satisfying EPA, advancing the health of the tribes, and building capacity within the tribal utilities.
Way to ratchet up the pressure!
Way to ratchet up the pressure!
Road Guy
Well-known member
We are submitting a proposal to a tribe in North Dakota to build them a road. The Feds gave them the money to hire someone to design and build the road for them...
I suggested we all have "Native American" names in our proposal...
I suggested we all have "Native American" names in our proposal...
Ble_PE
I need a beer.
Good luck dleg!
Sincerely,
Stiffened member
Sincerely,
Stiffened member
Road Guy
Well-known member
ok here is a long rambling question from me...
there is a job fairly close to my house for a city engineer. it keeps getting re advertised...
In a way I really want to apply for it but I don't know if I should just be patient and give consulting a few more years? I would really truly like to make fatty money.. But I just don't know if that will ever happen. I am just not the kiss *** type. (& by fatty money I mean $120K+)
Here are some drawbacks about applying:
1) my current company does a lot of work for them, in fact my boss is the acting city engineer for them 3 days a week - they hired "us" when they couldn't fill the position. We are also chasing some big design projects they have coming out soon. So if I apply , and get offered the job, turning it down might be bad for me because it might make my company look bad..
2) Again my goal is to spend the next 10 years (before I hit 50) making as much $$ as I can. In this job I would be well paid (the upper range of the position is $110- I think I could get $105K) out of them based on what my boss told me they offered him (they wanted him to take the job but he makes too much money). But that is it, no bonus potential, expense reports, etc....right now the city engineer would be a little increase but not much more by the time the sate retirement takes their chunk (I learned that in Boulder)
3) I sort of feel if I leave consulting now I am going to have a hard time going back for a while. City / County management doesn't always translate back to consulting. I had a hard time getting consultants to look at me (out here) coming from the public sector. I wont lie I have had a learning curve coming from " government management" to consulting management. Not really any harder, just different. If I had stayed in Local Government another 5 years I would never have been able to return to doing real work.
4) My direct boss is really not all that sharp. He is a civil / water guy who was transferred into our department when ATKINS got out of the site design business a few years ago. I have 100X the transportation experience he has and more management experience. Sometimes I think I should just be patient and wait it out. Either for him to move on or for them to move him out of the technical manager role. He has told me he is unhappy with the raise he got to be "the boss" that's never a good sign. But I think he was already making $120 or something.. so maybe there wasn't much room to grow.. most of the other PM level guys in our office have no desire to do anything other than manage projects, they don't want to manage staff and don't want to do tons of marketing (which I see as an opportunity for me).
5) my next two bosses up the chain of command, 1 is really sharp, he works 50+ hour weeks, the other is not so sharp.. also works 50 hours a week, but not very productive. the one thing they all have in common is they have houses in Breckenridge... That's truly the level I want to be at.. I wont get there in local government...
The one thing that draws me to apply is that I truly enjoy being in a responsibility position. I hate being on the sidelines watching other people make bad decisions. Right now they(ATKINS) have loaned me out to another County a few days a week to fill in as an advisor to their County Engineer for a big project they are doing.
Maybe I can stay in consulting and help create a niche for myself to draw on the near decade running a large county transportation program and apply that to other governments that haven't had that experience? I like what I have been doing work wise, but I just don't see myself being able to be a major *** kisser or major "rain maker" for a while to command the "fatty money"
Id also like for the wife to be able to cut to part time in the future.. that probably wont happen until the kids get out of the house if salary stays the same..
In Civil Engineering, being able to win work, will always pay more than the ability to do work.
Id love to hear any thoughts you may have
there is a job fairly close to my house for a city engineer. it keeps getting re advertised...
In a way I really want to apply for it but I don't know if I should just be patient and give consulting a few more years? I would really truly like to make fatty money.. But I just don't know if that will ever happen. I am just not the kiss *** type. (& by fatty money I mean $120K+)
Here are some drawbacks about applying:
1) my current company does a lot of work for them, in fact my boss is the acting city engineer for them 3 days a week - they hired "us" when they couldn't fill the position. We are also chasing some big design projects they have coming out soon. So if I apply , and get offered the job, turning it down might be bad for me because it might make my company look bad..
2) Again my goal is to spend the next 10 years (before I hit 50) making as much $$ as I can. In this job I would be well paid (the upper range of the position is $110- I think I could get $105K) out of them based on what my boss told me they offered him (they wanted him to take the job but he makes too much money). But that is it, no bonus potential, expense reports, etc....right now the city engineer would be a little increase but not much more by the time the sate retirement takes their chunk (I learned that in Boulder)
3) I sort of feel if I leave consulting now I am going to have a hard time going back for a while. City / County management doesn't always translate back to consulting. I had a hard time getting consultants to look at me (out here) coming from the public sector. I wont lie I have had a learning curve coming from " government management" to consulting management. Not really any harder, just different. If I had stayed in Local Government another 5 years I would never have been able to return to doing real work.
4) My direct boss is really not all that sharp. He is a civil / water guy who was transferred into our department when ATKINS got out of the site design business a few years ago. I have 100X the transportation experience he has and more management experience. Sometimes I think I should just be patient and wait it out. Either for him to move on or for them to move him out of the technical manager role. He has told me he is unhappy with the raise he got to be "the boss" that's never a good sign. But I think he was already making $120 or something.. so maybe there wasn't much room to grow.. most of the other PM level guys in our office have no desire to do anything other than manage projects, they don't want to manage staff and don't want to do tons of marketing (which I see as an opportunity for me).
5) my next two bosses up the chain of command, 1 is really sharp, he works 50+ hour weeks, the other is not so sharp.. also works 50 hours a week, but not very productive. the one thing they all have in common is they have houses in Breckenridge... That's truly the level I want to be at.. I wont get there in local government...
The one thing that draws me to apply is that I truly enjoy being in a responsibility position. I hate being on the sidelines watching other people make bad decisions. Right now they(ATKINS) have loaned me out to another County a few days a week to fill in as an advisor to their County Engineer for a big project they are doing.
Maybe I can stay in consulting and help create a niche for myself to draw on the near decade running a large county transportation program and apply that to other governments that haven't had that experience? I like what I have been doing work wise, but I just don't see myself being able to be a major *** kisser or major "rain maker" for a while to command the "fatty money"
Id also like for the wife to be able to cut to part time in the future.. that probably wont happen until the kids get out of the house if salary stays the same..
In Civil Engineering, being able to win work, will always pay more than the ability to do work.
Id love to hear any thoughts you may have
That's tough. My instinct is that you have moved around a lot recently, it might be best to stay put for longer. What if you don't like the situation at the new place... all the short stays might start to hurt your ability to find the next job.
I don't see anything about your quality of life, personally. How does that play in to either job? As in, your available time to do stuff with your kids, ski, climb fourteeners, etc.
I don't see anything about your quality of life, personally. How does that play in to either job? As in, your available time to do stuff with your kids, ski, climb fourteeners, etc.
