Anatomy of a Laid Off Worker's Job Hunt in 2009, Day 15, 3/19/09 (Updated Weekly)

Today, I was invited to a job site to participate in two hours of testing by human resources at a third-party logistics, transportation, and packaging company that I would really like to work for. The primary factors influencing my desire to work for this company are: proximity to my home and childrens' schools, opportunity to add to my IT experience, on-the-job-training and technical certification opportunities, and permanent role with good benefits. Thanks to God, I did very well on the testing and received a call back from my headhunter within an hour of leaving the site letting me know that the Helpdesk Manager--whom I haven't met yet, but interviewed with on the phone--wants to setup a day-long final interview for next week. I expect to receive a job offer following successful conclusion of that interview.

So far during this job search, I have sent out over 20 resumes and interviewed with two IT departments for a Software Trainer position and a Helpdesk Analyst position. As far as the more promising position as Helpdesk Analyst, I've had the following interactions:

• One pre-interview with my headhunter plus resume workup,
• Interview preparation by headhunter,
• A 35-minute phone interview with the Helpdesk Manager,
• Interview preparation by headhunter,
• Phone interview with Recruiting HR Manager lasting 34 minutes,
• 350-question online personality test which I completed in 30 minutes,
• Test preparation by headhunter, and
  
• 2 hrs of cognitive testing onsite.

Next week I will meet the Helpdesk team members and IT brass for and expect an offer following the day-long introduction. The managers want to observe how I interact with other team members including lunch. Apparently they've interviewed a lot of other candidates, and we have all been technically proficient, but the manager want to hire people that have good personalities with a strong customer service orientation who also interact well in a team environment.