BB&T- PM

Well, time again for me to interview. About a month ago, I applied for a job in Gastonia as a BSO PM II ( Business Services Officer- Portfolio Manager). I interviewed with a guy named Mark for the position, and to make a long story short, I didn't get the job. A side note on this interview:

After I had applied online, he gave me a call at work and told me that he wanted to have a phone interview with me. I said "ok", figuring that it would be a short and sheet get-to-know-you interview:

"Hey Steve this is Mark _______. I just wanted to call and let you know that I'd like to have you interview for the BSO PM job. This will just be a get to know you phone call where you can tell me a little about yourself and I can tell you about the position>"

"Sounds great! Is there anything I need to do in the mean time?"

"No, just review the job description and let me know if you have any questions about it."

"Wonderful. Thanks Mark! Look forward to talking to you on Friday."

"Me too. Have a good day."

Ok, pretty straight forward stuff. So I went back and started my general prep for interviews- asking tons of questions. Since I was under the assumption that this was just a general phone call/meeting, I focused a lot of my effort on what I had done up to this point in BLA (Business Loan Administration). I must have filled 2 or 3 pages with everything I had done, outlined my resume, made notes to make sure I asked about him, etc.

A co-worker of mine tipped me of to an Intranet site where I could find the standardized question set that BB&T uses when interviewing for certain positions. SHe forwarded me the link to the questions for the BSO PM, and I printed it off, figuring that it would be something good to look at. The BB&T format is a series of 9 behavioral questions designed to identify whether a candidate would perform well in a situation. It require you to call on past experiences in work, school, etc. It's a long process and a big deal and something you really study for.

I studied myself, the position, and wrote down tons of questions for the meeting. I figured that if the phone call went well, then he would invite me down to meet in person.

Well, Mark calls on the Friday that we agreed upon, and I picked up the phone, after staring down the clock for about 45 minutes. We exchange some pleasantries for a few minutes, then he drops the line.

"So, uh, Steven, I have a series of about 9 standardized questions or so that I'd like to ask you. They're designed to help you elaborate on your experiences so far as a Credit Analyst. And, uh, you know just answer to the best of your ability, and if you need a couple seconds to think of an answer, that's completely fine with me."

Oh, shit. I wasn't prepared for this. I immediately started grabbing my papers with the questions wishing that I had spend 1, 2, 5 more minutes just looking at the questions before this "interview." A couple seconds silence is bad enough in person. A couple seconds on the phone is eternity. Why would he want to do this in person????

"Ok, yeah great."

We spent the next 2 hours on the phone. I answered to the best of my ability, and I think that he liked me. I didn't make any faux pas like I normally do, but I wouldn't say I blew it out of the water. I ran him into the end when he had to get off and go to a lunch meeting, which felt good.

I got the call about a week later saying that I didn't get the job, but that he was interested in keeping my information in case another opportunity comes open. I hate that fucking word. It's a good word, for sure, and I wish that BB&T hadn't bastardized it so much to the point that it makes me sick. Even a downgrade in job is an opportunity. It's a nice way of saying that you took a job for more money at a better place to work with better people that aren't you. It's a good, all encompassing word, but I get tired of it, just like the phrase "it is what it is." That one means "you're screwed and have to do a shit job anyways."

I was pissed that he didn't warn me that it was going to be the full interview. Otherwise I would have prepped for the real interview, not some mock "feeler" meeting. I was irritated to be honest. After the end of the interview, I asked him what the next step was and he told me he would think about it and make a decision. I couldn't believe it- who hires someone without meeting them first? I think that was part of the reason I didn't get the job. I say this for 3 reasons:

1. I am attractive (yeah I said it)
2. I am well groomed
3. I am presentable and can speak articulately.

Although these seem like simple things, there are some PM's and some people that I work with that can hardly find their desks and are so obese that any client contact would make the client change their mind. Needless to say, an in person interview is better for me. It's hard to keep a smile when you're talking on the phone. Also hard to say "Ok", "I understand" and "Yeah" 100 times over the phone.

Ok, enough of the short side conversation. The reason behind this was to explain that I received another "opportunity" to interview for a position, another PM job, this time in Mooresville.

Professional interviewer?

Recently thinking that I should just become a professional interviewer- or would that be interviewee? I seem to be having many of them recently- 3 separate ones in the last month, all within BB&T and it's subsidiaries. If you count the two separate ones I had today, it could be more. I'll expand on this later, but suffice it to say that I find myself once again preparing for these interviews like I did several years ago- by drowning them in questions. As I've said before, it's the easiest way to not only find out exactly what you will be doing (so you don't end up taking a crap job) but to also fill the space when you run out of things to talk about (yourself). It also makes people think you are career minded and focused, blah blah. Granted, my success rate is not 100%, otherwise I wouldn't be writing all of these posts. But from my experience..

More to come. Finishing up my second interview of the week tomorrow (Tuesday). I'll have more details and hopefully my timeline of what I have done in search of a new position.

Found a job, still in search

The title says it all. The last time this I posted this was during the summer of 2007, right after I took a job form and quit Career Builder. Clearly it was a telemarketing scheme, and I got fooled. I spent some more time looking and finally found a job with BB&T. Yeah, a bank. I had no experience applying and even interviewing for it, but to be honest I saw that my friend was interviewing and I knew that if he could get an interview, I definitely could.

I interviewed in late October 2007 and dominated it. I came armed by asking as many questions as possible and knew as I was driving back that I probably had the offer. A couple weeks later I got an offer. A decent offer. One catch. Well, two. BB&T has this Leadership Development Program where they have you come live in Winston Salem NC and go through this commercial track to learn all about banking. BEcause they pay for all this training (and pay me a salary at the same time) they put a contract on it so that I don't go jumping ship the moment I graduate. The contract you say? 5 years valued at $46,000, which is amortized down each month. It was a big decision, but if anyone had read my prior posts, you would know I couldn't afford to not take it. So I signed the contract and started in January of 2008.

It's been just over 2 years now (almost 2.5 years) and I am completely miserable. I had a pretty crappy experience in the program, because, God forbid, I wanted to focus on work and not drinking. Clearly that was not a good idea, because I got shitted over with my placement, and I find myself stuck in a job that I dislike in a city that I hate. I don't have many friends that I hang out with here because I am gone every weekend, and am waiting to "roll out" like they told me I would. The problem is that everything they fed to me in the program was complete shit, and I am stuck with almost $27,000 of debt if I choose to leave.

Any future posts will focus on any interviews I have coming up and just general thoughts I have had and conversations with friends that have shaped my opinion of BB&T and what I want to do with my life. Do I know what I want to do? Yeah, but the answer won't impress or astound anyone. Suffice it to say that I am sick and tired of the corporate crap and I've found that socializing and kissing ass does way more for you than working hard and getting your work done. More on that later, but I am back in the game so to say! Hopefully I will have a friend contribute to this blog with some of his ideas about life, etc. If not, then it will just be me.