Now the corollary!

More and more I see “job descriptions” that do not follow the same rule that they expect applicants to follow. They tend to be “run on” documents that talk about the organization (why? You can look at their web site if you are that interested), they talk about their values (why? Wouldn’t you expect a health or social service agency to have some altruistic values?).

I would like to see a description of a position that could succinctly tell me what they would expect of me; not a laundry list of all the things I might get asked to do in a pinch, like clean the kitchen sink. So I guess this has gotten me to refine, more and more, what I want to ask when I interview the folks that are interviewing me, when we get to the point of “do you have any questions for us?”  “yes; as a matter of fact, I do”.

• Tell me, in a few words, what you expect the person in this position to be responsible for?
• Is this a clinical position, or is it a supervisory, managerial, administrative position?
• What is your management style? Please be specific. They probably already asked you what kind of management style you do well with. I know that I do not appreciate a demeaning micro manager. Please trust me to do my job already.
• Tell me, right up front, the idiosyncrasies of your agency, so that I don’t spend my first year second guessing. What is great here? What are the problems here?
• And, in the case of community health, which is my specialty area, “what are your relationships in the community? What do you want to accomplish?” “which community based organizations to you interface with?”
• And since I love to recruit and mentor students, I would need to ask “how open, interested are you in recruiting and mentoring students in related health and social service professions? Do you encourage and support this?”

If you have the sense that the interviewers are interested in you, ALWAYS  ask for a walk through to see your potential working area and meet some of the staff. That will give you a lot of clues about whether this is a good fit for you. Can you sit in a tiny cubicle? Is there a window? Is everyone disgruntled, or happy? Can you were sandals in the summer? Are you attached to a head phone and facing a computer screen all day? (I cannot / will not / could not do that ever again!).

To be a productive employee, you need to be respected. You need a supervisor who doesn’t just give orders, but has your professional growth at heart, whether in the agency, or helping you to move on to your career goals.

It is very difficult to have lost a position at this age, with my experience. And somewhat embarrassing. Do I invest in a shopping cart to push around now, or wait awhile?

On the other hand, I have applied for several positions that I would be interested in, and have an interview next week for something i would really like to do.

[tags]insurance industry, telephonic case management, quality assurance[/tags]