[Previous entry: "cogito, eggo sum"] [Next entry: "fuck"]

01/03/2005: "stupid floating stat holidays..."

It's enough to make you want to cry. Only 3 days into the new year, and already I'm being delayed by a day.

I got the link to the online personality profiling quiz bright and early this morning, did it immediately, sent off the results, and waited. Finally, I decided to call the recruiter at 4pm today to see if she'd received everything, and if she'd heard anything more from the company. Well, it turns out that the company that does the personality profiling is closed today, thanks to a floating stat holiday from New Year's Day. Ergo, the recruiter didn't get the 10-page in-depth analysis of my profile, and couldn't send it off to the company. Therefore, the decision will most certainly not come today. Argh.

Having to wait for a decision is only half of the aggravation that I'm going through with this process. Not knowing one way or the other makes it really hard - if not impossible - to plan for either working in Tillsonburg or Calgary. I should be confirming an apartment in Calgary right now, but I'm putting it off until tomorrow because I don't want to commit and then not get out there, and get stuck with a place I don't need and won't ever use. The other half of the aggravation is how the tail end of this hiring process is going, and the decision to decide based on personality.

Well, fine, if you want to decide based on personality, do so. But to properly evaluate personality, I think you actually need to meet with someone, talk with them, work with them. A personality profile is not only impersonal, but it can very easily be manipulated. If I had really wanted to, I could have instantly become a more detail-oriented leader-type person than I am currently for the test I took this morning. Heck, if I hadn't been well-rested or focused, I could have been an ill-tempered, introverted grump that comes off as annoyed by online tests.

My suggestion, that I asked the recruiter to forward on, was to hire both on a 3-month contract. They've been operating without any sort of engineer for nearly a month now, and they moved the previous person in that position out because they simply weren't getting the job done. That to me spells "backlog", which two people could get through very quickly in 3 months, as well as work ahead quite nicely. For the investment of time they've put into this already, one extra 3 months of salary would go a long way to helping them make up their minds. Of course, I still maintain that both of us should be hired... figuring out who is in what position or has what responsibilities could be determined down the road, after an initial probationary period.

I'm going to send an e-mail to the managing director and the hiring manager tonight, essentially informing them that I'm putting myself on short notice to be at their doorstep for the rest of the week, in case they decide to ask for a second interview. (Of course, I worded it such that it casts doubt as to the abilities and veracity of the personality profiling. Sneaky me.) Hopefully that will show drive, interest, a desire to help, and even tact. I gotta do something, because doing nothing won't help.