I got a phone call Friday night at 8pm for an interview on Tuesday. Hiring manager asked me to come up with a business plan for my first twelve months, what I foresaw myself doing/working on, etc. He said it would be a more conversational interview, just talk about your business plan for 10 minutes and the remainder of the hour would be a QA. The interview would be with the Director and the Director’s Deputy.
First of all, what kind of government man is working at 8pm on a Friday?
Second red flag – why is the Director of an Agency and one of the VPs of several thousand person government agency directly interviewing a mid-level position? There are so many senior positions stuffed in bureaucracy none of whom single handedly make a decision. Seems to be overreaching and digging down a little too low. The hiring manager (himself a senior supervisor) probably has very little power. If the Director of a several thousand-person agency is making a direct hiring decision at the mid-level position, the supervisor hiring me is probably emasculated of any power and wouldn’t be able to support me in conflict or have my back, since everything has a direct line to the top.
Thirdly, less than 24 hours before the interview, hiring manager says Director would like a hard copy of the business plan. Ten minutes to present a 12-month business plan with less than 24 hours notice? No wonder government output products are shit.
Finally, I spent more than 10 minutes trying to decipher the provided source material before coming up with a better, more streamlined plan to the right.
And yes, I did submit this to great effect.