Ask HN: Casually enquired about a job, mixed feelings about the response
Greetings! This is a throwaway, just to protect all parties.
I'm relatively happy in my current job (great people) but I'm looking around for other opportunities for later in the year when my living situation may change. A friend said that it would be worth shooting his boss an email to enquire about the open positions they have there, so I sent a casual email asking for any more information just to open up a conversation with them and I've got mixed feelings about the response.
It was forwarded on to their HR department (which I didn't know they had) and replied to by them. It was a simple enough response in that it offered a 'telephone interview' in the middle of the day during office hours, and asked me to send a copy of my C.V.
I'm actually feeling quite annoyed by it and I guess I'm looking for other peoples' opinions on how I'm reacting. I've never worked for a company with more than 10 employees and I've thus never run into a HR department before. I think I'm irritated by the person (who is in charge of development there) not responding personally and instead shovelling it off onto someone else, when all I was really looking for was a 5 minute reply to initiate a conversation. That, and asking for a C.V. straight away, already makes me feel like this wouldn't be a place I'd enjoy working. However, I realise that I may be an ass and I could be totally misjudging the situation.
Is it worth me actually putting together a C.V. (haven't needed one in ~4 years) and take them up on their phone interview offer? I already approached another company in the same way a month or two ago and got a response much more along the lines I was expecting (short friendly responses to get the conversation rolling), so it's far from my only opportunity; I just don't have much experience with larger companies and their communication process.
I'd be grateful for any replies; I hope it's not as much of a rambling mess to read as it looks as I type this now.
Large companies have processes and procedures - if you are not comfortable with that (and thats certainly fine from my perspective) then just back away - its no big deal.
Me - I will never ever work for a company with an HR department - I can get along with a "personnel dept" and if you think that is just a name thing and not something fundamental when it comes to a business and its relationship with the employees then you have something yet to learn.
Yes - you should submit a CV and talk to them via phone interview: what's the worst that can happen? They don't like you? If so, then you would've found out in 6-12 months anyways.
And maybe they do like you, and want you - now. For more than you're making, or doing something more interesting. Why not take them up on the chance?