|
The short answer is, I do all my interviews over the phone.
The long answer is,
I'd love to drop everything, buy an expensive
round-trip airline ticket on short notice, hop on a plane,
and meet an 'end client' as soon as they call. 'End clients',
especially client managers, are fun and easy to meet because they have good people
skills. I enjoy meeting people, especially new people.
Unfortunately, during the week, I don't have 1 to 2 days
of free time per prospective client. Therefore I don't fly to
distant cities for technical interviews with end clients.
End clients are wonderful. Most end clients have good business skills and
understand that a face
to face meeting is 'not' a practical option. The vast majority
of prospective end clients
are perfectly happy to interview me over the 'phone'.
In this business, if you want to stay in business, you don't
spend $3,000 per end client, in return for a small (10%) chance to compete for
a short-term contract position (valued at $55 x 10% = 5.50 per hour).
I'd love to be in
two places at the same time, but I can't. It'd be wrong to
lose time and pay at
work, and, in addition, lie to my most recent client.
One of the challenges is that very few out of
town managers/interviewers
are available for face-to-face meetings on weekends, Sundays
and holidays.
Please disclose requirements in advance.
If a prospective client in a distant city
has a history of requiring all day long face-to-face
meetings, then I want to know about that history 'before' we submit my
resume to that client.
Please do not withhold this information from me because
this adds additional time to my process. If you fail to disclose
important facts about a position, you shouldn't be representing
me. In this business, 'time' is our most valuable commodity. Please do not waste it.
|