Resume, Job Help, & Job/Career Advice

It's my first full week off since February 2016. I haven't checked e-mail since Saturday early morning.

By Tuesday mid morning I have 394 e-mails. Should I even bother to see how many I have now?
 
Fwiffo said:
It's my first full week off since February 2016. I haven't checked e-mail since Saturday early morning.

By Tuesday mid morning I have 394 e-mails. Should I even bother to see how many I have now?
Click to expand...

Of course.
 
My GF has been giving me the silent treatment for a week now, so I'm guessing this will be a solo adventure after all!
 
Fwiffo said:
It's my first full week off since February 2016. I haven't checked e-mail since Saturday early morning.

By Tuesday mid morning I have 394 e-mails. Should I even bother to see how many I have now?
Click to expand...

There are 225bn emails sent each day, that's 124 per person each day. You're getting more than your allotted share.
 
Gotta say working for the govmint is a pretty sweet gig. They've issued me a metric tonne of cool toys and then left me alone to do a bunch of CEUs to pad my resume for the next job.
 
There's a reason companies are banning personal items on desks

At my firm they preach two things. First is the clean desk policy because paper tends to harbour confidential information that any bloke can come by and swoop up. Now that we are moving towards open concept offices, transparent window panes and rows of open collaborative space, your clutter interferes your neighbours so put everything away. Of course I suppose if they gave me back my office with a lockable door none of these two issues would be a matter.
 
Clean desks are a definitive sign of a nice, cosy limited scope of authority and responsibility, often masquerading as being a professional who has GUP.

Sadly, most organisations are so dysfunctional they cannot perceive this truth.

There is some research into this, not sure if it was Jung or someone later. And of course, there is the effective volcano desk principle, let it pile up and if it erupts through moving to the top through filtering then, it is time to take resolute action.

So in conclusion: clean desks are for wimps.
 
Lord Buckley said:
Clean desks are a definitive sign of a nice, cosy limited scope of authority and responsibility, often masquerading as being a professional who has GUP.

Sadly, most organisations are so dysfunctional they cannot perceive this truth.

There is some research into this, not sure if it was Jung or someone later. And of course, there is the effective volcano desk principle, let it pile up and if it erupts through moving to the top through filtering then, it is time to take resolute action.

So in conclusion: clean desks are for wimps.
Click to expand...

Quoted for excellence.

"Cosy, limited scope of authority and responsibility"

Love it
 
Getting a lot of no thanks here because of visa issues. If even an upstanding and tax paying citizen like myself can't immigrate to the US you guys really shouldn't be worried about immigration. I'd suggest you and your executive branch focus on other issues first.
 
I guess that's because upstanding and tax paying citizens of your kind are a dime a dozen in the US. How many tens of thousands have been laid off over the last decade? All of them with largely the same, hardly transferable skill set. Unless you bring revenue, nobody needs you.
 
I bring the most revenue. People say I'm as close to the revenue as possible. The closest. So close that I close all the deals. They say I'm the the best closer. The best. Period.
 
Perhaps we need to rename this thread. I thought it was for career search, job advice and moaning about work episodes not comparing professional dick sizes.
 
After signing a seven figure contract to an outside consultancy and their subcontractor I find the two floors of the office I belong in are now flooded with new faces. On Friday, I received 24 hour notice that in addition to two conference rooms surrendered on two floors, we will have to relinquish two more.

That effectively means one conference room for six people in two floors for a division of about one hundred people unless you count the odd sofa and tables in the "cafe" area of one floor which aren't used for food anymore because consumption of anything more than a fruit or cracker is banned on working floors.

I have 10 directs, 2 more in another office, and 2 I sent to work staggered hours partially because of these problems. How am I supposed to conduct a proper weekly staff meeting without resorting to holding it at a bar downstairs? (which is also curtailed as I can no longer expense because we have plenty of conference space at work now). Let's not even mention the directs of my direct.

I thought surrendering my office and having to book a dozen spaces every week for one on ones was bad enough.
 
Oh, the horror of those corporate offices! Do like I do: keep business units small, below 12 in an office and you need never worry about booking meeting rooms or how many are social loafers contributing naff all. In saying that, I do have a rather large organisation out in the field and across continents. But emails, phone calls and an odd Skype to give them a team hug now and again is enough to keep the wheels of industry turning.

I purposely still use Skype with those out in the sticks, as it really get the heckles of corporate IT people up. Yeah baby, I don't care if the Americans are listening in, I'm cool with it. Is it because your office has something to hide? That generally shuts them up.
 
Fwiffo said:
There's a reason companies are banning personal items on desks

At my firm they preach two things. First is the clean desk policy because paper tends to harbour confidential information that any bloke can come by and swoop up. Now that we are moving towards open concept offices, transparent window panes and rows of open collaborative space, your clutter interferes your neighbours so put everything away. Of course I suppose if they gave me back my office with a lockable door none of these two issues would be a matter.
Click to expand...
How many 20-somethings do you work with?
 
Lord Buckley said:
Oh, the horror of those corporate offices! Do like I do: keep business units small, below 12 in an office and you need never worry about booking meeting rooms or how many are social loafers contributing naff all. I purposely still use Skype with those out in the sticks...
Click to expand...

I have four teams under me - two teams under one manager and two teams reporting to me. If I were in a sheet metal factory, some are in procuring raw material, others are in doing something with the sheet metal, others maintain the machines that do something with the metal so they are loosely related to one another. I would prefer to have all my directs in one staff meeting for 90 minutes a week to make sure things flow from A to B.

Due to staggered hours and co-location, I have two other staff meetings. I delegate the staggered hours one (I attend 1 in 2 or 1 in 3) and the co-located one only because they are under a totally different HR rule so I have to tell them how bringing booze into their office is OK but not OK here or vice versa.

I don't have strong enough leads or even that one manager that I could entrust the whole running of a team with. That's because any potential headcounts that exhibit a spark are immediately reassigned to the brain trust departments and not mine.

That said it's ironic we use Skype worldwide. The Germans asked Amazon, Google and Microsoft about turning over data to the US government. Only Microsoft gave assurances that they wouldn't hand it over. Whether that was a false promise or not, who knows but they now win the contract. We use Skype, Office online and all of that stuff.

Arnathor said:
How many 20-somethings do you work with?
Click to expand...

I have one woman in her late 20s working for me. I'm not sure about the men but I reckon the youngest is about the same age or maybe a year or two younger. I'm now getting to the stage people applying for jobs are getting to be younger than me - not all candidates, but a good 1/3 of the CVs now as I don't hire very senior positions. I do tell recruiters to exclude anyone with less than five years experience but these days that could include a lot of mid to late 20s people who spent time in postgraduate studies.
 
Fwiffo said:
I have four teams under me - two teams under one manager and two teams reporting to me. If I were in a sheet metal factory, some are in procuring raw material, others are in doing something with the sheet metal, others maintain the machines that do something with the metal so they are loosely related to one another. I would prefer to have all my directs in one staff meeting for 90 minutes a week to make sure things flow from A to B.

Due to staggered hours and co-location, I have two other staff meetings. I delegate the staggered hours one (I attend 1 in 2 or 1 in 3) and the co-located one only because they are under a totally different HR rule so I have to tell them how bringing booze into their office is OK but not OK here or vice versa.

I don't have strong enough leads or even that one manager that I could entrust the whole running of a team with. That's because any potential headcounts that exhibit a spark are immediately reassigned to the brain trust departments and not mine.

That said it's ironic we use Skype worldwide. The Germans asked Amazon, Google and Microsoft about turning over data to the US government. Only Microsoft gave assurances that they wouldn't hand it over. Whether that was a false promise or not, who knows but they now win the contract. We use Skype, Office online and all of that stuff.



I have one woman in her late 20s working for me. I'm not sure about the men but I reckon the youngest is about the same age or maybe a year or two younger. I'm now getting to the stage people applying for jobs are getting to be younger than me - not all candidates, but a good 1/3 of the CVs now as I don't hire very senior positions. I do tell recruiters to exclude anyone with less than five years experience but these days that could include a lot of mid to late 20s people who spent time in postgraduate studies.
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Fwiffo Fwiffo , since you regularly lament the fact that applicants are younger than you. Enquiring minds want to know: how old are you?
 
Thruth said:
Fwiffo Fwiffo , since you regularly lament the fact that applicants are younger than you. Enquiring minds want to know: how old are you?
Click to expand...

I don't lament. It's more I have to accept the reality I'm no longer the bright young chap who is in charge. I am facing the prospect the younger cohort will be my boss and try in futility to impart what little wisdom I've attained on them that some aspirational dead ends should be avoided for the sake our mutually dwindling time on Earth.

I know what I shall do. I'll start a poll on this.
 
I am lucky, in that my industry, for management positions favours the steady and mature. You reach your peak mid-forties and then plateau until retirement. Other industries intrigue me, other than being a fighter pilot or similar profession where acute reaction speeds are necessary, I am at loss how certain banking disciplines (as an example) you're basically out of the game at 35. How can that be? You're only warming up and beginning to apply the skills you've learnt.
 
Fwiffo said:
After signing a seven figure contract to an outside consultancy and their subcontractor I find the two floors of the office I belong in are now flooded with new faces. On Friday, I received 24 hour notice that in addition to two conference rooms surrendered on two floors, we will have to relinquish two more.

That effectively means one conference room for six people in two floors for a division of about one hundred people unless you count the odd sofa and tables in the "cafe" area of one floor which aren't used for food anymore because consumption of anything more than a fruit or cracker is banned on working floors.

I have 10 directs, 2 more in another office, and 2 I sent to work staggered hours partially because of these problems. How am I supposed to conduct a proper weekly staff meeting without resorting to holding it at a bar downstairs? (which is also curtailed as I can no longer expense because we have plenty of conference space at work now). Let's not even mention the directs of my direct.

I thought surrendering my office and having to book a dozen spaces every week for one on ones was bad enough.
Click to expand...
Start holding meetings outside at the local coffee shop/bar/restaurant and bill it to the company.
 
I would hope the world's organisations prefer steady and mature for middle management. It would be to everyone's detriment if the young and manic made a 180 degree turn at the helm of the Titanic to match the flavour of the month on LinkedIn. All, of course, in the false illusion that real and sustainable achievement is something that can happen in less than two or three years.

When it comes to people management, you achieve something when you change your staff's behaviours. Behaviours are introduced, coached, practised, and finally ingrained in a measure of years. Limitations of the human psyche and paradigm.
 
A word of warning about LinkedIn, all the current scams "This is the MD calling and you need to transfer...." etc are getting all their initial information from this website. Be careful what you put on there, particularly who you report to and also obviously, don't put your real birthdate on there. I'm not saying manage your exit from this platform, as someone in HR told me, they give extra special attention to those whose applications have come from those not on LinkedIn. As once you go live, it's difficult to doctor your career, so being on here shows a modicum of honesty.

However, I have caught a few scoundrels on there myself, the University of Canterbury (Seychelles) and such like.
 
Rambo said:
Start holding meetings outside at the local coffee shop/bar/restaurant and bill it to the company.
Click to expand...

I can't. Unless it's a client (they're my staff) or approved by the head honcho or there are visitors from other branches, there is no longer any expensing. The rationale is they built a cafeteria/lounge on one floor and that is where all celebratory things should be held. Deloitte has one down the street for their staff. They even said they have a few kegs in the building that you can order and pay for (yourself) to do the celebrations, but I have a feeling someone didn't read about legal liabilities and drunk driving.
 
Fwiffo said:
I don't lament. It's more I have to accept the reality I'm no longer the bright young chap who is in charge. I am facing the prospect the younger cohort will be my boss and try in futility to impart what little wisdom I've attained on them that some aspirational dead ends should be avoided for the sake our mutually dwindling time on Earth.

I know what I shall do. I'll start a poll on this.
Click to expand...

So how old?
 
as usual fwiffo's workplace fascinates me - I've never seen anything like it. Everything is micro managed - nothing on desk, no food, no this no that and yet you can booze all you like in work hours, absent for hours and expense nearly anything you can think of. It's the complete arse about of anywhere I know. Supposedly they have an Oz office - I wonder if they can employ any Australians and keep them with a place like that.
 
fxh said:
as usual fwiffo's workplace fascinates me - I've never seen anything like it. Everything is micro managed - nothing on desk, no food, no this no that and yet you can booze all you like in work hours, absent for hours and expense nearly anything you can think of. It's the complete arse about of anywhere I know. Supposedly they have an Oz office - I wonder if they can employ any Australians and keep them with a place like that.
Click to expand...

I think in investment banking and insurances in this field, it's still seen as manly and the right thing to do to still have a six vodka martini lunch. My understanding in the old world of the stock exchange in London before the Big Bang, it was an unwritten rule that there were no major deals after lunch as it was assumed that you would be at least rather merry, if not pissed.

I use to have an old boss of mine who had been a raging alcoholic who terrorised his work force. Before he gave up the booze, he said he use to go to bed with a half bottle of whisky to see him through the night on top what he had drank in the day. I got talking to a colleague about the number of old time managers in engineering construction who had been alcoholics and my colleague explained that back in the day, on these pipeline projects and new build construction sites, there would be no project office. So the managers, engineers and foreman would go to the local pub and use that as the office. So invariably, they all became drunkards. Seems rather plausible to me.
 
For the record, I did not join the wine reception after the town hall yesterday at work. I put my own career in jeopardy to go to dinner with a lady friend of mine at an alumni event.

Six vodka martinis for lunch? I have trouble just doing three x 3oz and going back to work.
 
this shit...

https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/jobs-with-tough-interview-questions/

27 Jobs With Unbelievably Tough Interview Questions
Glassdoor Team February 23, 2017

It’s almost time. You have just days until your dream job interview, and you are doing everything possible to get this right. You’ve read interview reviews and questions shared by other job candidates on Glassdoor and spoken to everyone under the sun, from your second cousin once removed to your old high school classmate who now works at the company. But even with all this research ahead of the big interview, there are some interview questions that could catch you by surprise. During today’s tough interview process, almost any can be thrown your way, so you need to be prepared for anything.

To help, we’ve identified 27 jobs with tough interview questions to give you a better sense of the tough, strange and unexpected questions that can be asked in any job interview in any industry. How would you answer these?

1. “How do you explain a vending machine to someone who hasn’t seen or used one before?”—Global Data Analyst, Bloomberg L.P.

2. “How many fire hydrants are there in Los Angeles County?”—Software Engineer, Disney Interactive Studios

3. “If your current employer had an anniversary party for you, what five words would be written on the cake to describe you?”—District Manager, Express

4. “Who in history would you want to go to dinner with and why?”—Flight Attendant, PSA Airlines

5. “Prove that hoop stress is twice the longitudinal stress in a cylindrical pressure vessel.”—Test Operations Engineer, SpaceX

6. “What’s the capital of Canada?”—Team Leader, OpticsPlanet

7. “Name a brand that represents you as a person.”—Brand Strategist, Twitter

8. “Estimate how many employees in the next building”—Data Scientist, Risk Management Solutions

9. “How many happy birthday posts do you think Facebook gets in one day?”—Sales Operations, Facebook

10. “If you could take anyone on a road trip with you, who would you take and why?”—Educator, lululemon

11. “What is the first thing you’d print with a 3D printer if you had one?”—Linux Systems Administrator I, Rackspace

12. “If you had to take only one item to a deserted island, what would that be?”—Customer Service Specialist, Squarespace

13. “Please describe an instance where you had to make a decision without all of the necessary information.”—Analytics, athenahealth

14. “How do you reverse a text string on the Unix command line?”—Developer, Capital One

15. “If you are in a boat with a boulder and you drop that boulder into the lake, how does the water level before and after you drop the boulder in the lake compare?”—Mechanical Design Engineer, Apple

16. “You have been asked to lead a multi-million dollar, multi-year grant that will be supported across several companies and universities. How do you start?”—Research Scientist, Ford Motor Company

17. “Sell me on one idea, and then sell me on the opposite of that idea.”—Solarwinds Administrator, Blizzard Entertainment

18. “How would you go about to find the top five Java Developers in a certain area.”—Technical Recruiter, Google

19. “What is the probability of an integer from 1 to 60,000 not having the digit 6?”—Quantitative Developer, AKUNA CAPITAL

20. “If you were a Muppet, which character would you be?”—Donor Family Advocate, LifeNet Health

21. “Give me 48 cents using six coins. Tell me quantity and value of the six coins.”—Human Resource Manager, Wintec

22. “Write an equation to optimize the marketing spend between Facebook and Twitter campaigns.”—Analyst (Data Science), Uber

23. “What is the angle at 3:15?”—Implementation Consultant, Fast Enterprises

24. “What part of the newspaper do you read first? What does this say about you?”—Audit, BDO USA

25. “If a coworker had an annoying habit, and it hindered your quality of work, how would you resolve it?”—Production Technician, Procter & Gamble

26. “Throw your resume aside and tell me what makes you you.” —Sales Executive, Zillow

27. “How would you find the square root of 1.2?” —Hardware Engineer, Jump Trading

How To Prepare for Tough Interview Questions

One of the best ways to prepare for a tough interview is to do your research to find out what to expect. By using sites like Glassdoor, you can educate yourself about the interview process, what types of questions might be asked as well as learn more about what it’s like to work at the company. On top of doing online research, reach out to anyone you know — from personal friends, to family members, even acquaintances — who works at the company or has a similar job title. You’ll get even more insider advice on what the company is actually like under the hood or what your interviewer is really looking for.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind. (1) Always practice your answers to questions out loud with a friend or in front of the mirror — trust us, everything sounds different when you run responses in your mind. Plus, if you have planned answers in advance, it’s unlikely you’ll blank when they ask that tough or wacky question. (2) Make a mental list of questions you would like to ask during the interview, and ensure you are prepared to counter with a response when the interviewer inevitably asks if you have any questions for them. Remember this is your chance to interview the company as much as they are there to get to know you. (3) Finally, don’t forget to dress the part, get enough zzz’s and eat healthy foods to energize yourself. You’ll do great!
 
The Proven Path to Doing Unique and Meaningful Work

I thought it was funny when he pauses, "What to do?" It's like a European person's grasp of English. I hear my German coworkers say it all the time.

As I always preach to the impatient ones - stay the course or in this person's analogy, stay on the f!&#ing bus.
 
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