A Major-League Sinking Curveball

Wow. Here I am at dinner with the hiring manager for the St. Paul job, and I'm confident... take an agressive stance... crowding the plate a little... and he throws me one high and tight, and I almost land on my keyster. He doesn't think he can (politically) bring me in at a managerial level, because of the number of eminently promotable people on the staff and a culture of promoting from within. Oof!

Then he follows with the changeup. But he himself might not even be there in a year, as he has other opportunities he's being short-listed for, and will need someone to replace him! Oh! I didn't see that one coming, either.

At this point, I'm reeling and have no idea what's next. Then he throws the sinking curve. One of the people I was set to interview with the next morning, who I thought would report to me - may even be my new boss instead! I missed that one clean. Embarrassingly so.

So the next day I need to play this with all the interviewers as if I am coming in to be considered for a job just like the one I have now, not a position to run that whole department of people like me. What I wanted to do was go home right then. Go back to the dugout and sit out the rest of the game. Talk about discouraged. He had me baffled. Still the nicest guy you'd want to meet, but his thinking about this had changed significantly since our first discussion a month ago.

The next morning, a new plate appearance...

And I think I did really well, left a good impression, handled the unexpected turn of events just fine. At least that's my take on it. The position is still worth talking about, I haven't changed my view of that, but... it's now not any better than if I got one of the two remaining possibilities still lingering at my current company (neither of which are making any progress). So, if they do make progress, they will look roughly the same as this St. Paul position. Unless, of course, the compensation is different, which I don't know at this point.

I should hear something about next steps by Friday - and then nothing until 10/19, since the hiring manager is vacationing in Europe for two weeks (while I wait...). So I hope Friday brings good news.