2016 Job Interviewing Experiences - Black Man Moving Up Edition 1, Tech Start-Ups & More

[Reginald Noble]

Creating this thread to give other brehs advice/insight on the market currently for white collar jobs in these disrupting firms paying low $100k's. I have added nick names for anonymity for the companies naturally. Don't try to decode them, there is no logic to the naming. I have been having phone interviews up the ass lately. Hopefully this will help and show you are not alone in these trials and tribulations. My field is very in-demand but we still have to deal with fukkery. See #3

1) "Tical" - Sourced from external recruiter. I have just completed my 3rd phone interview and that is just with one company. I am pretty sure I am the "fire" candidate right now otherwise they wouldn't be putting me through the ringer like this. I got my would-be boss first and now they interviewed me with the two people consulting for her, occupying the role I would have. They are looking to hire a full time person to help scale the biz. The two are Pros that have about 5 years more exp. than me but not specifically in what I do. They are looking at hiring me because they need a well rounded guy but someone with my specific skill focus to start with because that is what they are weak in right now. Based on what I've heard so far my asking price will be about 110. Very visible position with a lot of authority/responsibility. A tremendous chance to both grow (and potentially fail as well). Some long ass hours may be ahead probably but it's in an industry I like with the opportunity for some equity as well. Title level would probably be Director. Boss would probably be no non-sense and expect results but cool at the same time (no micromanaging).

The reason I say fail too is the company is in the mid stage of growth, Series B funding 2 years ago and needs to get to the next level to get to Series C and D etc. There is some volatility that might be outside of my control, so ultimately it's up to me on whether I want to take the risk or not. As you know we tend to be the "fall guy" when things go wrong and reinforce "See I told you not to hire them negros". That could be just me being a little paranoid but always keep that in the back of your mind just in case.

Rating: If you had to picture this, it's 2 dogs still sniffing each other's butts to figure out if they can be homies or not. Can we kick it? 6/10. Maybe. I feel like it's an American Idol audition where the 3 Judges will vote. Hopefully I get 2/3.

2) "Yo Momma Bidge" So this company they contacted me with the internal recruiter this week in response to my LinkedIN application. This is not a tech start up, but a major well known place that has gone through massive restructuring in the past 4 years. So it will be a "start-up" environment with a lot of younger pros (but experienced, same age range as me late 20's early 30s) looking to make their mark. The interest level here I think is high. She did a quick initial 10 minute phone screen to verify I wasn't "Sam I Am" or "Billy Bob Fakin it" I guess. She said I have everything I need to send you in they will be in touch shortly to set something up. Asking price will probably be 105 or so I understand start-ups it's more risky hiring people but damn that was a breeze. Not sure if it is a good or bad thing. I know they are on the upswing though so I just may have gotten lucky break. They contacted me out of 16 that applied on LinkedIN (keep in my at least 10 of those people were probably unqualified period and I have a premium account though) So my tip on this is never apply to a LinkedIN job with more than 50 applicants cause premium or not your shyt ain't getting seen it's just an application collector at this point.

Rating: If you had to picture this, it's that secretly bi-polar chick that looks like a 9/10 on the surface and you wondering what ungodly surprises are around the corner. TBD until I meet with the hiring manager.

3) "Bust-O-Tron Ass Negros" Two of my LinkedIN applications were a complete bust. One of them was for a start-up that just got their Series A late last year. The dude who called me had no clue what he was recruiting for and he was a major stakeholder/board member of the firm we got through the entire call and questions and at the end asked me if I had experience in the skill that constitutes over 90% of my LinkedIN profile and Resume It was like talking to a 5 year old child. He didn't know his head from his ass and also asked me about occupying roles outside of the job description.

The second one the idiot never checked his e-mail and I said I had a conflict, warned him 2 hours ahead of time and saw 3-4 missed calls during my conflict meeting. I e-mailed him again in the afternoon and told him I was out of the meeting and CCed his alternate e-mail address requesting a follow-up time. This guy never got back to me and it's been a week. I'm not following up with some nimrod that doesn't check his e-mail prior to phone interviews. That is a red flag about the company and it means they are collecting applications and just phone interviewing for record keeping purposes.

Actually there is a third one now that I recall. This internal recruiter for a sourcing firm reached out to me about a position with a sourcing firm that pretty much fit my resume to a T. She was on my LinkedIN network for about a year. We scheduled a call and she asked me some dumb ass questions that could easily be seen on my resume. She also fumbled over herself failing to understand I sent her a resume and a full cv and the difference between the two. I clearly iterated both in e-mail and vocally that one is a longer version with more positions listed. She is like what position are you talking about again? Meanwhile this bytch has my LinkedIN profile supposedly pulled up on her screen. I am speaking slowly and clearly as a bright blue day and this bytch is still confused. On top of this she was very judgemental about my experience in terms of tone and my 1st question to myself is like if you don't like what you are hearing why did you contact me , plus you're a recruiter and should understand my industry or the job market in general better than anyone else. You're a basic bytch. At that point I checked out mentally and just gave robotic answers and just said "Great thanks for your time". One thing you should know about open positions if the people who are gate keepers are fukkboys and basic bytches please charge it to the game and move on. Do not waste your time. They aren't serious about finding talent for the role.

That is all for now. I have another warm lead and another one that is probably a dead fish. We will see in the coming weeks which one pans out. My best advice also is the same as I would give about Women. Play the field and stick with whichever one takes the bait the most eagerly, with the proper precautions of course. You don't want to eat a poisonous pufferfish of course.

 

[theworldismine13]

subs

 

[Reginald Noble]

#2 "Yo Momma Bidge" has committed to an in-person interview the first week of March as of yesterday.

The three people interviewing me have worked at an agency I am familiar with in the past. My only concern is that particular agency has a military style of running things and I am more of an out of the box thinker and thinking big picture.

I excel at execution but my focus for this particular role would be communicating the big play (strategy) and seeing it through. After all that is what they probably need to hire me to do ultimately.

 

[CHL]

This should be applicable for twism next year when he hits the big 5-0 and graduates high school

 

[mc_brew]

This should be applicable for twism next year when he hits the big 5-0 and graduates high school

OUCH!!!!!

 

[theworldismine13]

This should be applicable for twism next year when he hits the big 5-0 and graduates high school

No it's good for you when you graduate from an Australian alternative high school for delinquent youths and hit the big 18

 

[Reginald Noble]

"Yo Momma Bidge" is out:

Comes back with the following this morning: "Apologies, but we need to cancel [Omitted] . The team has identified a few potential finalist candidates and has requested we not put forward anyone else at this time. We will be in touch if this changes."

My reply was something along the lines of : OK thanks for the heads up. Good luck with the rest of your search.

A lot of big companies are disorganized and on that B.S. - How do you schedule an interview with a candidate almost 2 weeks out on a Friday mid-day then Monday morning all of a sudden there are 3 short listed candidates that appeared out of thin air?. The initial head hunter who works for the company told me I would be the first candidate they would be interviewing. CACs lie all the time and I don't know exactly what recruitment gets money from or what their job performance is rated on. Cause it's certainly not just for placing candidates. Do they get money for just talking to black candidates? Doubtful.

To me this is a red flag for the company and a potential sign it could be a fukked up place to work. This is why you gotta apply to like 1000 gigs just to get 100 quality responses, 10 interviews and 2-3 offers depending on if you're lucky enough.

What a lot of companies don't realize is candidates black list employers just like they black list us. Then when your black ass is at the top of the talent pool sitting like this evaluating all these offers you will remember the time they slighted you in the past and either command really big bucks to say yes or just shut them down and say "Never in my life will I work for this company in it's current incarnation"

Remember, hustle hard and have an abundance mentality. Even when you have an offer in hand maybe peruse a few that are still really interested and keep contact with them. You never know if the one who offered you it may not work out and you may want to leave in month 3. That's when if you be polite and don't burn bridges you can swing over to the other place as a fallback option.

Treat people with respect throughout the process as much as possible even if they don't treat you with it and you'll hold the leverage in the long run.

 

[Reginald Noble]

Update: Got an in-person with "Tical" tomorrow.

Wish me luck brehs

 

[Reginald Noble]

Interview with "Tical" rescheduled for later this week.

My future would be boss was very apologetic and made sure to contact me promptly with details upon realizing a conflict she had. It also seems she will make some accommodation as to where we can meet so I can keep my job search discrete.

I think we have a winner here. I have already drafted up "My First 3 Months Plan" for the gig and have some recommendations for them moving forward to showcase my expertise.

Don't want to get ahead of myself here but things are looking good so far.

 

[Reginald Noble]

Had interview with "Tical" today. 50/50 chance of getting it. She meets with the board of investors next week to discuss funding. I probably passed her gut check and another dude who works there says they've been starving for someone to fill my role for a while. My future boss and everyone I interviewed or interacted with is probably in my corner. But it could all come down to some dude I never met that waves a magic wand that contains funding for the company:

There may be a possibility the position won't be able to exist. The only way I'll get knocked out the box is if they do the unthinkable and decide not to fund the position. However, with a start-up that's how it goes and I've been burned/let down before. It would be a terribly bad decision not to hire someone for what I would do, but there are a lot of dumb investors out there and don't let anyone tell you any different . Investors that can't tell an <h1> header from <href>. It's crazy how skilled valuable workers with great intangibles can all go to waste because some dumb idiot with $$$$ don't know what to do with it. Give me $50 mil and I'll make $5Bil with it, guaranteed.

Anyways the search continues until that employment contract is signed....

Talking to another guy on Friday who owns another start-up. I'll call that one "Mogadishu"

 

[Reginald Noble]

Mogadishu phone interview has been rescheduled for later this week.

Tical I will follow up at the end of the week as well.

2 new players have re-emerged: "Muotombo" and "Abraham"

Both of them were leads that turned cold before - Muotombo I entertained the prospect probably around Sep-Oct of last year. But there are 2-3 different roles available now vs 1 back then.

Abraham was a dead lead that re-surged and is sourced under a new recruiter that applied to a month ago. The system did not catch my profile so I'm being submitted brand new as if I've never applied before. Abraham the recruiter says the internal hiring manager wants to phone interview me sometime later this week.

Current Priority:
- Tical
- Muotombo
- Abraham

The lesson you should learn here is try not to burn bridges and if nothing else is good, sometimes you need to circle back around to old shyt - Things do change. Sometimes as quickly as 6 months.

 

[Reginald Noble]

Abraham might be the leader of the pack right now. Spoke w/ Recruiter the other day and they love my background and the salary is solid. Biz model is good and they haven't needed funding (been self-sufficient) for about 5 years or so.

Their growth rate is high and my potential future boss looks like a cool dude that knows his shyt. Real industry vet. I could prob learn a lot from him. Similar to Tical they check off most of the boxes. So it's really down between those two.

If Tical drops out then the answer is simple. But rarely is something in life ever simple - Because of Murphy's law I'm expecting Tical to come back now with a final discussion either today/tomorrow or early next week. My Phone interview with my direct boss for Abraham is soon, so as you can imagine timing will be tight.

I think we may be winding down here. I been actively looking for about 3 months, can feel something around the corner hopefully.

Brehs should always have a strategy and think ahead for the "what if" situation of comparing 2 offers. 3 is easy but when you get down to 2 it's hard. There are a couple things to consider obviously:

- Salary/Benefits
- Growth potential and the role itself (Do you need to be a team player? Or can you own and drive it all?)
- Stability of the Biz and the concept (is it conceptually strong from the start or have pieces been added to it, is there a strong core biz that they can fall back on in hard times?)
- Work Culture and Environment (Do they allow remote working? Is the commute good? Who would you be working with?)

Personally I like both roles because the target salary is within range along with benefits probably largely being the same.
Growth potential is certainly there for both. Either one for me will be a solid step up towards my desired career path. The role itself is also good on both points. I would own and drive most of it with some collaboration with other team members as well.
As far as Stability of the Biz this is where they differ. One has a lot of potential competitors but the other has some too. Tical's competitors are way behind and so are Abraham's. But Abraham is way ahead of the game and seems to have the deeper features on lock that will appeal to some of the more prominent clients out there. There is a B2B element to both corps which is always a good thing as SMB B2B is growing fast and won't stop anytime soon in this country. Meanwhile Big Biz is on the decline.
Work culture and environment would be relaxed in both situations. Some occasional travel may be required for both.

If I had to choose today given the same salary I'd probably choose Tical just because I think there is more long term potential there. Abraham may be good for 2-4 years but could max out at some point due to the competitiveness of the industry. A big bird could swoop in and see it's doing well and you know how M&A goes when it comes to previous employees. 50/50 chance there's a shakeup and you get ousted. Tical nobody is gonna buy this at least until 5 years from now. I'm looking to get some equity in either one.