How to Prepare for a Career and Land a Job at Apple_7

The Offer 223 found a replacement—a girl who probably reneged on her offer with another company. I’ll never know how far this reneging chain goes. The guy who reneged on Apple (to go to Microsoft) took a much more honest approach; he told Apple about the Microsoft offer (which was apparently unusually high), and they were sup-portive of him accepting the other offer. He never needed to worry about bumping into his Apple interviewers years later, because they knew what had actually happened. In an ironic twist of fate, I met this guy three years later in an interview room at Google. I didn’t know his name previously, but the candidate’s “how I got to Microsoft” story sounded so eerily similar that I made the connection. So, no, I don’t think that reneging is always and absolutely the wrong thing to do. After all, the decision impacts you far more than the company. But it should be taken very, very seriously. It can damage your reputation, your school’s reputation, or your friend’s reputation if he/she referred you. And, of course, it hurts the com-pany itself. Think long and hard before doing this, and avoid taking any more interviews once you’ve accepted an offer. Declining an Offer (and Building a Connection) Turning down an offer does not mean severing contact; it should be viewed more as “taking a rain check.” Think of it this way: you liked the company enough to go through the full recruiting process, and they liked you enough to give you an offer. This is a connection you defi nitely want to maintain. You should turn down the offer in whatever medium you’ve been using for communication and with whomever you’ve been corresponding the most. That is, if the recruiter has been calling you regularly, you should decline the offer over the phone with him. Alternatively, if you’ve been e-mailing your manager the most, you 224 The Google Résumé should decline the offer first to the manager over e-mail. You should follow up these correspondences with short e-mails or phone calls to whoever else you’ve talked with frequently. In your e-mail or phone call, use these tips to avoid burning bridges and to strengthen your relationship: Be polite and professional. No matter how tense the prior negotiations have gotten, you should always address your recruiter in a nice and respectful way. Some people may be particularly upset about your declining the offer, after spending so much time and money on you, but don’t let this bother you. Be open and understanding, but stand fi rm in your decision. Provide a non-negative and non-negotiable reason. Saying that the company is “too bureaucratic” is insulting, but saying that you would “prefer a smaller company at this point in time” is not. You should make sure that these reasons are not things the company could provide (such as a differ-ent location, if the company has only one location) or be prepared to reopen negotiations if they do. When declining over the phone, you should be prepared to say what offer you have accepted and why. Ask to stay in touch—and mean it. Close your e-mail to the recruiter or manager with a note expressing a desire to stay in touch. You can follow up a day or two later with a LinkedIn connection. If you have friends or colleagues who might be interested in the position, ask the recruiter if they’d appreciate some referrals from strong candidates that you know. You’ll probably be doing your friend, and the recruiter, a favor. And it’s a great way to stay in everyone’s good graces! The Offer 225 Your Questions Answered Au Revoir, Vacation Days Dear Gayle, I’ve been planning a three-week trip to Europe for over a year—dates set, flights booked, etc. The issue is that I’m now applying for a new job and, if I get it, I’ll be expected to start about six weeks before my trip. I obviously won’t have built up enough vacation time by then to take this trip. How do I handle this? ~T. K. Dear T. K., The appropriate time to inform the company of your preplanned vacation is when you get the offer—not before, not after. If you mention it before, you run the risk of the compa-ny’s using this as an easy way to ding you in favor of another candidate. If you mention this after you accept the offer, then you run the risk of the company’s balking at your request and either refusing the vacation time or at the very least being nasty to you from day one. Situations like this come up more than one might expect, and they’re usually easily accommodated. Just before you accept, send your primary contact an e-mail explaining the situation as follows: I’m really excited about joining your company. (continued) 226 The Google Résumé (continued) Before I accept the offer, I do need to inform you of one potential complication. I’ve had a three-week trip to Europe (from DATE to DATE) planned for over a year. I recognize that this trip is at an inconvenient time—just six weeks after my proposed start date—but, unfortunately, the dates aren’t flexible. Is there some way to accommodate this? I’d be happy to do whatever you think is best—take unpaid time off, go “negative” on vacation days, etc. Thank you! Most likely, the company will just have you go “negative” and you’ll have to be very conservative with vacation days to earn them back. Once you work things out with your primary contact and sign your offer letter, you should inform anyone else who needs to know. It would be an ugly surprise to your manager to discover this trip in your fi rst few days. In the event that the company refuses to accommodate your vacation time, you may be able to appeal to your second-ary contact (if any). ~Gayle Representative Representatives Dear Gayle, People always say that “you’re interviewing the company just as much as they’re interviewing you,” and that’s where my question comes in. I finished a full round of on-site interviews and enjoyed the experience as much as one could. The potential future coworkers seemed nice enough, smart enough, etc. It was the HR people I didn’t like. The Offer 227 My first phone screen was with a woman from HR whom I just didn’t mesh with. She was basically reading off a script and seemed to barely register a lot of my responses. When she responded with anything other than an “OK,” it was to argue with my answer. I guess I did well enough though, to keep going. When I came on-site, I met with a different person from HR—this time a man—and I again felt it was a somewhat hostile interaction. There was none of that friendliness that I’m used to seeing from recruiters. He talked with me for all of about five minutes when I came, and then made me sit in a chair outside his office for over 30 minutes until my fi rst interviewer came to get me. When I asked him where I could get a drink of water, he actually seemed annoyed that I would disturb his precious time. But it’s a good job, and I liked my actual coworkers enough. Should I let this bother me? ~E. B. Dear E. B., I’d definitely look into the situation more. You have raised some valid red flags, but there are a few explanations. 1. You got unlucky. Maybe there are only two bad recruiters in the entire group of 301 recruiters, and you happened to get them. 2. It’s symptomatic of a bad culture. You didn’t say that you loved the people—just that they seemed fi ne. Maybe things really are bad under the hood. 3. The recruiters are too busy. The actions of both of your recruiters could be explained by a very under-staffed HR department. (continued) ... - tailieumienphi.vn