Friday, June 06, 2008

The Thrill of the Chase

Dear Hubby works for a Fortune 500 Company headquartered in Cleveland, OH, but one that does business all over the country (including our home state of Louisiana). He's been with them for 8 years in about 6 different job capacities. Some were moves he initiated, others were the result of someone asking him to take on a new startup initiative.

He enjoys his current position, but there's not much room for advancement. His department is highly specialized, although thanks to the 6 jobs within the company, Dear Hubby's breadth of skill is impressive.

A corporate level job was posted a few weeks ago, so he took the leap and applied. He's had two phone interviews with the hiring manager, one phone interview with corporate human resources, and had to submit a writing sample.

The top two candidates - yes, Dear Hubby is one of them - are being flown to Cleveland for in-person interviews. Fortunately the perimeters of the job are such that he can work out of any company office, so relocation isn't necessary. (On the other hand, if we ever decide to move almost anywhere, he can just transfer his home office location.)

Here's where Dear Hubby and I differ. I would be on 'pins and needles' as the expression goes. This has been going on for weeks. Any idea how much sleep I'd lose? And interview? Yikes. Can I choose a root canal instead?

But no. Dear Hubby recognizes it for the game that it is. He's good at analyzing what info the interviewer is really trying to get at. He thinks very quickly on his feet and is never caught off guard (well, except for the one time on January 10, 1987 when he met me - ha ha).

I'm sure he'll be disappointed if he isn't offered the job, but he's pretty philosophical about whether or not "it's meant to be." He's so laid back and, well, cool about the whole thing.

I hope my kids inherit this trait from him.

5 comments:

TorAa said...

Since a blog is also public, I do not know how to comment this situation.
I'm also working for a Fortune 500 company, represented in - 183 countries - my last update. And my office is in Norway. Mostly from home - which is very "green" - I can work from home without the need of transportation but a broadband. I like it - and I do produce at least 3 times as much compared to "in the Office".

well well, it's 1:10 am here. Need to go to bed.

btw. Thanks for kind words. mmmm

hugs for those

Nadine said...

Sounds like he is a level headed, calm man. I bet he gets the job. I wish him well.

Shionge said...

Wish him best of luck Elle and yes, my hubby been through many job interviews and the tons of homework & research on the organisation is amazing :D

That is a guy thing I suppose Elle, don't loose too much sleep my friend :D

Sue said...

Best of luck to dear hubby! And I would be like you - unable to sit still or sleep, waiting to find out.

I think Shionge is right too - that is definitely a "guy" thing, to be able to just let things happen.

Keep us posted!

Elle*Bee said...

Oh, toraa, thanks for stopping by. I've been thinking about your, naturally and saying a little prayer for you and your family.

I do get the sense that your country is more advanced than ours in that regard, but hopefully we'll be catching up. Dear Hubby's current job has him driving about the tri-state area ... a lot. He's put over 70K miles on the company car in two years and although we don't pay for it our of our personal bank accounts, environmentally, I have not doubt that we're paying big-time.

Hugs to you.

nadine, it's interesting b/c when I met him in college, he has aspirations of ... president. As of the United States. Clearly I'm not First Lady material, but hey, he chose wisely. Still, he intuitively understands "the game" - not that he's a phony person, but aren't most job interviews a bit about giving them what they want. I've been horrible at that.

Oh, shionge, I don't lose sleep over HIS job hunting. I used to lose a lot of sleep over my own job interviews, however. Fortunately, I've been blessed to stay home with the kids for the past several years so it hasn't been an issue, but I suspect it may be sometine in the not too distant future (stay tuned)....

Thanks, sue, Dear Hubby is also in the insurance biz. If all goes well at the interview at the end of the month, he'll move from fraud investigations (external) to internal auditing/investigations (internal). It would be a step up for him, plus it would allow him to move from claims dept. to finance dept. and broaden his skills. Always a good thing in this day and age.