As a job applicant, the last job that I applied to was my current position as a structural engineer. The actual position that I applied to was turned out to be a little different than where I initially landed, but it served to start the conversation between myself and my employer. I found out about the company through some initial online research. As an East Coast resident, I didn’t have much familiarity with the company as they tended to operate in a more West Coast space. I had to do some initial online research to get a good feel for what the company was all about. It was through that initial research that I began to realize the “why” behind the firm, what was really important to them, and what they stood for. Everything that I discovered through my online research was positive and caused me to investigate further.
After my initial application, I had a phone interview scheduled with three individuals. The interview was good, and the discussion was positive and informative, for the most part, but I wanted to talk to more folks at the firm to get a better understanding of what kind of opportunities would be available for me.
Throughout the application process, I spoke with three more individuals in the firm, with progressing levels of leadership and responsibility. I begun to understand where their needs were, and how my strengths could help fill in those gaps. I was able to get a broader understanding of the firm and their practice, and how my specific skill set filled a need.
Throughout the application process, I became more and more excited about the prospects of working with this firm, and seeing how my strengths and passions fit a unique need for the company. By the time I had accepted an offer and then started my employment, I was fully engaged and ready to hit the ground running. The key conversations that I had with the decision makers during the application process were critical in me understanding the firm and them understanding what I could bring to the table.
2 replies on “Week 1 – Post 1”
Hi Matthew!
Thank you for sharing your great experience. You presented a good job application experience and the job is different from your previous job, so you need to do more preparation for the interview, as you said, using public resources to learn about the company. At the same time because of the different geographical position, so you needed to do more to prepare compared with the locals, it brought you more challenges, but they are worth it, I feel very delighted that the company also attached great importance to your efforts and gave you a lot of advice. In my opinion, it is good for the company and the future employees both, which will promote the long-term development of the company. Good luck with your job!
Hi Matt,
I think that it is awesome that you did some research before applying to your job! I think at times it can be easy as a candidate to want to apply to all of these different jobs and not really take the time to research and understand the company or job position that we are applying for. I am glad you had such a positive interview experience. It sounds like it was quite lengthy seeing as you talked to so many individuals but taking advantage of finding out more about the business is a great strategy and can really help you see it from different employee aspects. Seeing as you took advantage of all your interviews during the process I think it really set you up for a great experience and sounds like it really prepared you for your current role. This is a great example of making the most of the interview process!