True Colors

A couple of weeks ago, I responded to a recruiter's feeler about a contract job doing QA for a company which he did not know anything about, but I knew them as the main competitor of a product I did QA for a couple of years ago. He lined up a phone interview for me with the hiring manager, which was rather neutral. The questions she asked were mostly out of the final exam for a degree in Quality Assurance, my answers were mostly "well, it depends on what, exactly, you are testing." It was a pleasant chat, but inconclusive. She struck me as being very young, and without a broad range of experience.



Last week the recruiter calls, he has been asked to work with their HR department to line up an in-person interview. This is somewhat unusual for a contract - usually the next step is a face-to-face interview with the hiring manager, who usually has the authority to decide yes/no on contractors. Sometimes that interview will include a chat with the manager's boss, sometimes not.



After not connecting with HR for a couple of days, recruiter lines up an interview for 2 pm today. He has given me a single contact name, but it is clear I will be speaking with more than one person.



Long story short, I am there till 6. Met with 6 people, including the woman who did the phone screen, who turns out to be a middle-aged engineer who is much easier to communicate with in person.



They all speak my language (video and audio quality analysis) and it is so nice. And this is for a regular employee position, not a contract.



It's early in their interview process, there is no ETA for a decision, and it may not happen. But it was great to go on an interview in a place which does exactly the kind of work I want to be doing.