Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Job Hunting - Part 3

Job hunting activity has picked up the last 2 weeks and I am in the process of 2nd interviews with 2 different companies. My 1st interviews would really be better referred to as meetings as there was little of the formal Q & A that you'd typically see in a first interview. The interviewer spent a lot of time telling me about the position and the company and then basically turned it over to me to ask for a brief overview of myself. That was about it and then we talked of the next steps in the process. As one interviewer described it to me, "I just wanted to meet you and see if the person matched what I had read on paper."

One job is a trainer position with Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, which is the project Epic is here working on. While the job description is trainer, because this is a greenfield start-up, there will be lots of potential to get involved in other HR things. There would be no leadership responsibilities and I'm not yet sure how I feel about that as I've always really enjoyed managing a team. The potential variety of work, the estimated pace and amount of work and the chance to help build a 7 star health care facility from the ground up are pretty enticing, however. The other benefit of this position is that I'd work in the same building as Brian making the fact that we only plan to have one car a non-issue. (Brian's hoping as a CCAD employee, I get an underground parking spot so he doesn't have to find a space in the atrocious parking lot outside the building!) At this point, I've met with the Senior Director of Training & Development and had a second interview with the Director of HR and the OD Manager. The next steps are for them to pow wow and decide who will come in for 3rd (final?) interviews. There is a chance I may have to interview with the financial arm of the project as well.

The other job is a position with the Al Ghazal Transportation company. They are part of the Abu Dhabi National Hotel group and oversee limos, buses, taxis and a rental car division. This is a Training Manager role and closer to what I did at TDS, but with a smaller scope. What's intriguing about this position is that they have a new director from the UK who wants to 'reinvent' the culture. He wants to set up a more structured environment and specifically to provide more training opportunities for the drivers. This position also has the potential to work in other areas of HR and I'd have a lot of autonomy. The challenge might be the amount of work. It sounds like the culture is very laid back and work hours are only 8-4 5 days per week. While I'd have the ability and authority to create programs and structure, I'm not sure how important this is to the workers on the ground or the leadership below the Director. I'm nervous that this could be a frustrating and potentially boring job. Today is my second interview with the company and I hope to learn more about the goals and plans for the position.

So, two very different opportunities should I actually be offered either one. Lots to think about, which is a good thing. And, of course, I'm still sending out copies of my CV each week, so who knows, maybe I'll get another call soon.

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