First IS Interview
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justgreene
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 2:01 pm
First IS Interview
Well, I just finished my first Skype interview with an international school. WoW! I am not sure what to think? It was with a school in Ecuador. I feel the interview went well. I just need to learn more about the school and the surrounding area. We didn't talk about the "package" so obviously that will be a big factor if I get an offer. I know the job fairs are coming up so things could change. I am just excited to have an interview.
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jessiejames
- Posts: 76
- Joined: Thu Feb 20, 2014 7:00 pm
Re: First IS Interview
Congratulations..job hunting is an exciting time.
Response
Its less common to have package negotiation in the first virtual interview. Typically the first interview is with a recruiter to determine your competency in meds/peds, etc. the second interview which is with senior or executive leadership and is intended to determine if you are a good "fit" for the ISs environment. Its typically in the second interview that contract negotiations occur, if they occur at all. Many ISs dont barter/debate an offer or contract. What happens is you get an email with their offer, and you can reply to it what is essentially a "counter offer", and that might happen a couple times, but its not a F2F conversation typically. If you want that opportunity you have to do so in the second interview, even if you havent been made an offer, you need one of your questions to be near the end "what compensation and salary would you be able to offer me for this position?". The recruiter will either decline to answer citing the absence of their salary scale, or some other excuse or they will say that based on your resume your be at step X on their salary scale, and then may or may not describe the general benefits package.
Its really at fairs where you find yourself in an interview one moment and then negotiating an offer the next moment. Some candidates get really excited when the conversation evolves into discussing HR issues and they believe that doing so is the recruiter making them an offer, when its really just the recruiter gauging their interest in their compensation level. They want to know if the range of what they are offering is going to excite you, or if you have a neutral reaction. Its the fairs though where you can blink and one moment your selling them on what a great IT you are and then the conversation shifts without any transition to "this is what we can offer an IT of your experience" and now you have to switch gears from sales to negotiator, and you need to be prepared walking into each interview to understand clearly what you want and what the economies of the IS and the region are, since you generally only get one opportunity at the bargaining table.
Its really at fairs where you find yourself in an interview one moment and then negotiating an offer the next moment. Some candidates get really excited when the conversation evolves into discussing HR issues and they believe that doing so is the recruiter making them an offer, when its really just the recruiter gauging their interest in their compensation level. They want to know if the range of what they are offering is going to excite you, or if you have a neutral reaction. Its the fairs though where you can blink and one moment your selling them on what a great IT you are and then the conversation shifts without any transition to "this is what we can offer an IT of your experience" and now you have to switch gears from sales to negotiator, and you need to be prepared walking into each interview to understand clearly what you want and what the economies of the IS and the region are, since you generally only get one opportunity at the bargaining table.