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Bon Journal

Dream job come true

She heard the name from afar. Curious about who they were, she researched the company at length. They were pioneers, innovators in the idea of treating energy like currency. Some of its philosophy sounded very attractive: using flexibility to deal with uncertainty.

There was a Euromoney story about their exploits in India. The magazine cover had a big Texan cowboy and a wiry Indian man - clearly the cowboy was winning the rodeo.

A career magazine featured a Stanford MBA graduate who spoke positively about his experiences with the company. His career progression was competitive but rapid. And there seemed like endless possibilities.

So she called the personnel office to find out how she could apply for a job. She wrote to the MBA, who was now a director in the firm's European office. She also responded to a newspaper advertisement by a recruitment firm for the company.

Three ways of trying to get in - surely this sent the message to the company how keen and serious she was about her desire to work for them.

The multi-prong strategy paid off. Dressed in her most expensive business suit, she met the recruiter and personnel officer who asked her preliminary questions and told her what to expect. Next were individual one hour interviews with managers of different departments. Ten face-to-face interviews and two international telephone interviews later, she got an offer.

It was the beginning of a dream come true.

4 December 2001 Tuesday

part one
Dream job come true

part two
A generous beginning

part three
Witness to departures

part four
Make the deal, restructure later

part five
Mark your salary to the market

part six
First mover advantage

part seven
Believe in the dream

part eight
Intelligence over wisdom

part nine
Into the lioness' den

part ten
Options translated

part eleven
Forward learning curve

part twelve
Land of the big egos

part thirteen
Click with the clique

part fourteen
Endron