Posted on: 27-07-10 17:14:03
I had an opportunity to talk to the one who interviewed me. He said the following:
1) I did not produce the canadian equivalancy of my degree.
2) He found a candidate who is available and experienced in this field locally ( I too have similar experience but not in canada )
3) I do not have P ENG. I have PMP and other candidate too has PMP.
4) He encouraged me to apply to little lower level positions. ( Below project manager ) He did not mean ENTRY LEVEL POSITIONS. Once joined with the company, i need to start the process of P ENG. I can not get P eng unless i work for a company for minimum 1 year.
I know university of toronto and WES do equivalancy of degrees. Any others do?
What is the processing time?
Thanks,
Update on my interview with one employer in vancouver :
Manager - Corporate recruiting, it is her position, called me over phone and had chat with me for 20 min on friday afternoon. In general she asked questions, and i answered. More of HR questions. She expressed satisfaction and said she will fix another phone interview with her team. I was interviewed for Project manager position.
She sent another email on friday evening to state that my second interview is fixed again next thursday. This time, it will be with Vice president, client relation manager, and one engineer + the HR who interviewed me earlier.
Four people on the other side. Is it normal?
This is my fourth interview in the last 45 days.
Out of three interviews i attended in the last 45 days, i understand two companies have filled up those positions. Third one, no news yet.
Hi NM,
As a project manager and a P.eng in electrical working in Canada, I may be able to relate to your situation better.
1. First and foremost, please stop giving excuses for being unsuccessful and finding faults with the employers: Your comment that they are dumb, they have no technical knowledge, are biased with canadian experience etc. All these does not help you in getting a job.
2. The employer has considered your experience and took the initiative to call you for interview. If they are biased, they would not have bothered to look at your resume, there is no need for them to call you. This itself says they are willing to consider but they are not sure if you can meet their requirement. It is you who should prove their decision is correct and you are worth it.
3. As a PMP, you need to convince how you helped the company make more money not how you made more money out of the company. You should have concentrated more on your innovative ways of completing the project that helped the company made more profit and stopped at that. By bragging about the bonus, you are putting them off by saying you expect big bonus for doing your job effeciently.
4. Don't challenge the employer that they did not ask you about project management questions but concentrated on technical only. They know what they want in the candidate and your resume might have given that impression. It is you who need to make the decision if you want to be a technical PM or not. Some PM positions really need a technically competent person, not a clerk who takes notes, go back to the engineering and get back to the customer. This is especially true if you are in industrial automation field. I was even doing field engineering work as a PM over the phone with the engineering group.
5. My boss, the project director is not a technical person but damn good in finance and contracts. So he may ask a stupid technical question. But his requirement is not technical. You need to be quick in understanding what they are really looking for and relate to that.
6. Don't worrry about who takes the initiative in the interview: Make it more of a discussion session, not a question and answer type. Remember it is your interview, take the initiative make the best of it and convince them than wait for them to take the lead instead leaving them to figure out you are good not.
Hope I did not confuse you and all the best.
Quote:
Originally posted by gktaurus
Hi NM,
As a project manager and a P.eng in electrical working in Canada, I may be able to relate to your situation better.
1. First and foremost, please stop giving excuses for being unsuccessful and finding faults with the employers: Your comment that they are dumb, they have no technical knowledge, are biased with canadian experience etc. All these does not help you in getting a job.
2. The employer has considered your experience and took the initiative to call you for interview. If they are biased, they would not have bothered to look at your resume, there is no need for them to call you. This itself says they are willing to consider but they are not sure if you can meet their requirement. It is you who should prove their decision is correct and you are worth it.
3. As a PMP, you need to convince how you helped the company make more money not how you made more money out of the company. You should have concentrated more on your innovative ways of completing the project that helped the company made more profit and stopped at that. By bragging about the bonus, you are putting them off by saying you expect big bonus for doing your job effeciently.
4. Don't challenge the employer that they did not ask you about project management questions but concentrated on technical only. They know what they want in the candidate and your resume might have given that impression. It is you who need to make the decision if you want to be a technical PM or not. Some PM positions really need a technically competent person, not a clerk who takes notes, go back to the engineering and get back to the customer. This is especially true if you are in industrial automation field. I was even doing field engineering work as a PM over the phone with the engineering group.
5. My boss, the project director is not a technical person but damn good in finance and contracts. So he may ask a stupid technical question. But his requirement is not technical. You need to be quick in understanding what they are really looking for and relate to that.
6. Don't worrry about who takes the initiative in the interview: Make it more of a discussion session, not a question and answer type. Remember it is your interview, take the initiative make the best of it and convince them than wait for them to take the lead instead leaving them to figure out you are good not.
Hope I did not confuse you and all the best.
Taurus,
I appreciate all your comments.
With respect to point no 1 i will answer you why was making such comments in my previous posts.
My experience is basically in EPC contracts in high voltage, medium voltage and low voltage projects.
I spent my 50 % of my career in high voltage and 50 % on medium voltage.
1) The first interview was for project management position in high voltage area.
The lady from HR was very much interested in my skills and said she will arrange another interview with the higher level manager for a face to face interview.
The next day, i was told that their higher mangers feel i did high voltage work few years ago and so would have forgot all high voltage works! There was no technical interview and they decided like that ! I got annoyed and sent an email saying that i prefer a face to face interview with that higher level manager and i will ask questions, same way he can ask me questions on high voltage. In fact i challenged them ! But that guy prefered not to take up my challenege !
( Normally i wont do in this way but i got annoyed by their taking such decision with out an interview)
If i was in their shoes, i would have taken this challenge, but they never responded ! Why this? Is he technically incapable or had some other un ethical reasons do decide not to have face to face interview? I have no answer.
2) The second interview was for project manager position but for medium voltage project.
This technical guy as i told you earlier asked me during interview a stupid question.
When i was explaining what site tests will be performed in a switchgear, he asked me about a test ( Basic insulation level test) which is normally a type test at factory.
I answered it in that way then he wanted to hide his mistake and said there are othere tests...... so..so... that will be performed in factory.
But i had an opportunity to talk to this guy few days a go, and he said i have lots of high voltage experience ( as if i dont have medium voltage experience ! ) and if i accept a little lower lower level position i can grow faster in their company with such technical and project management knowledge i have.
So it means either he is incapable or he decided on some body else already ( Remember the interviewer is from our neighbour country) and gave some excuses for not choosing me.
3) The third interview was even more worse.
I had a face to face interview with the same employer 1 year ago for a project manager position when i immigrated here. I was interviewed for 90 minutes ( technical, contractual, project management etc ) and was asked for all info regarding D/L etc and was told to be in touch with them. Since then they never responded. So i decided not to apply to this company for long time ( For last 1 year )
I applied to this company after 1 year and this time they prefered to call me for an interview but no questions asked ! How contrasting it is! First time 90 minutes and second time no questions !
Now you you would have understood why i made such statements about the employers here.
But still i am looking for a right employer who will genuinly interview me and decide. Hopefully i will get a genuine employer soon.
Taurus,
I appreciate all your comments.
With respect to point no 1 i will answer you why was making such comments in my previous posts.
My experience is basically in EPC contracts in high voltage, medium voltage and low voltage projects.
I spent my 50 % of my career in high voltage and 50 % on medium voltage.
1) The first interview was for project management position in high voltage area.
The lady from HR was very much interested in my skills and said she will arrange another interview with the higher level manager for a face to face interview.
The next day, i was told that their higher mangers feel i did high voltage work few years ago and so would have forgot all high voltage works! There was no technical interview and they decided like that ! I got annoyed and sent an email saying that i prefer a face to face interview with that higher level manager and i will ask questions, same way he can ask me questions on high voltage. In fact i challenged them ! But that guy prefered not to take up my challenege !
( Normally i wont do in this way but i got annoyed by their taking such decision with out an interview)
If i was in their shoes, i would have taken this challenge, but they never responded ! Why this? Is he technically incapable or had some other un ethical reasons do decide not to have face to face interview? I have no answer.
2) The second interview was for project manager position but for medium voltage project.
This technical guy as i told you earlier asked me during interview a stupid question.
When i was explaining what site tests will be performed in a switchgear, he asked me about a test ( Basic insulation level test) which is normally a type test at factory.
I answered it in that way then he wanted to hide his mistake and said there are othere tests...... so..so... that will be performed in factory.
But i had an opportunity to talk to this guy few days a go, and he said i have lots of high voltage experience ( as if i dont have medium voltage experience ! ) and if i accept a little lower lower level position i can grow faster in their company with such technical and project management knowledge i have.
So it means either he is incapable or he decided on some body else already ( Remember the interviewer is from our neighbour country) and gave some excuses for not choosing me.
3) The third interview was even more worse.
I had a face to face interview with the same employer 1 year ago for a project manager position when i immigrated here. I was interviewed for 90 minutes ( technical, contractual, project management etc ) and was asked for all info regarding D/L etc and was told to be in touch with them. Since then they never responded. So i decided not to apply to this company for long time ( For last 1 year )
I applied to this company after 1 year and this time they prefered to call me for an interview but no questions asked ! How contrasting it is! First time 90 minutes and second time no questions !
Now you you would have understood why i made such statements about the employers here.
But still i am looking for a right employer who will genuinly interview me and decide. Hopefully i will get a genuine employer soon.
NM,
I am a senior PM in the same area: HV transmission and distribution and some what guesssed you will be doing the same from your posts. Don't get me wrong, I was just trying to show you the other side of the story.
for your information,
1. If a company decides not to hire you, why are you challenging them? Do you think by doing this, they will hire you? You are actually making them feel better that they made the right decision not to consider you!!!. Do you think you will succed in any organization by challenging people. A smart PM don't challenge, he will negotiate. You showed immaturity on your part and might have shut the door permanently. For some reason, they decided not to hire you, why not be smart and thank them for the time and ask them to keep you in mind for any future positions? Please accept to learn take a NO.
Remember, you may not be considered not for your technical knowledge, but for your people skills.
2. You are being too judgemental if they do not consider you. I some time do interview but the technical part in this field is to know your awareness. Most of the time it is how you manage people and resources. I have been in this field for the past 5 years and remember, people management is the most important in a PM here than your technical knowledge.
3. My goodness: Have you heard of the global recession last year? They interview people hoping to get some projects / when they are bidding for projects and if they don't get projects, they keep you on hold and you decided not to apply to this company. I see this situation all the time in our company.
4. There are only a very few employers in Canada in this field and among them only a few consider hiring. Every opportunity not utilized properly is the opportunity lost. So be diligent in your approach. In our company, they hired people with commerce and arts background for PM positions and they all turned out to be good PMs, because again the employer is more concerned on how you deal with the situation and people than technical knowledge alone.
5. There is no such thing as a right employer, they don't interview you to figure out how to fit you in their organization. You need to understand what they want and convince them that you can fit the role they are looking for.
Good luck with your job search.
Taurus,
I challenged them b'cos they said (Without testing me ) i forgot my high voltage works experience. If i dont challenge them it is as good as accepting their comment. Is it not? I prefer not to accept that comment professionally.
Neither i prefer such companies who make judgement with out proper interview.
I would have kept quiet if the reasoning was not given. But they prefered to say a reason.
I know to some extent that only few companies do high voltage works here.
I have in my line of experience medium voltage and low voltage too.
As i said i am looking for genuine employers who make (proper )interviews and take decisions.
Thanks for your inputs, especially the fifth point.
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