The plane has landed...
Well I've got some great news to share...
What a week lest week was! So much happened so quickly that today I think is the first day where it's sunk in that my job search is over. At this point last week I was in the midst of a series of interviews with Hard Rock Cafe and with each one, my chances of getting an offer from them looked better and better. The week prior I had got word that Armani was checking out my references and that my background check went through fine. So with these two "irons" in the fire so to speak I knew something was going to happen at some point.
I had my final interview with HRC on Wednesday which went so well that by that same night my would-be boss called me twice to try and speak with me. (I had an intuition that he would want to make an offer, so I didn't pick up the phone because I didn't know what I would say). Thursday he phoned again in the morning and left a message for me to call him back. The next call came from their HQ with a message to call them back as soon as possible. One might wonder was I was so hesitant to make a decision but what you don't know is that I had accidentally found out from my HR contact with Armani that a meeting I would be having with them this Wednesday would be to extend an offer. So as you could imagine I didn't want accept something from HRC without finding out what Armani had in mind. Once I had heard the offer from HRC (yes I finally did have the conversation with them) I got on the phone with my Armani HR contact to let her know Hard Rock had made me an offer and asked if it was possible for me to meet with them sooner so that HRC didn't feel like I was taking forever to make a decision. Within 30 minutes of leaving that voicemail for her, my would-be boss from Armani called me to see what was happening. I played dumb about knowing that they were going to offer me so I told him what was happening with HRC... He said that as soon as he heard that they might lose me he got concerned because I was a "big priority" for them and that they really wanted to secure my place with the Toronto openings. He then proceed to make a generous offer and said that I've got big potential to grow with their brand. After my acceptance of the offer he congratulated me for being their first Toronto external hire! We are still meeting this Wednesday to go over the formalities of the offer and to discuss start date and training and what not. He wasn't totally prepared to give me all the details as he didn't expect to make the offer till next week. He did say though that he's thinking of having the group fly to New York around May 7th or so to go through a proper orientation to the brand and meet key partners in the business. When I meet with him this week I'm going to push for a couple weeks in NYC just to get the experience of working in the stores and getting a feel for how they operate. The store here in Toronto doesn't even open until the end of July so needless to say we've got some time to kill and lots to learn before that happens.
Once I got off the phone with Nick, I inevitably had to let HRC know that I was going to decline their offer. I can't tell you how hard this was for me to do. I certainly didn't expect after months and months of going through numerous interviews with employers and recruiters, that it would come down to one day where so much would happen. HRC much like Armani had treated me so well throughout the process and I really felt bad in a way because I knew they really believed in me and wanted things to work out in the biggest way. I don't think there were other candidates either which I know only added to my guilt. I can still hear the disappointment in his voice when I told him that I was going with another offer. I don't like letting people down, it's something I've struggled with my entire life, so to disappoint someone so easily is a tough pill to swallow. It took me a couple days to wash that feeling out of my system and now I am finally starting to build excitement not only for my meeting on Wednesday but also my future. I'm not sure at this point what this opportunity will mean for me in the long run, but I'm glad that I've been as particular as I've been on this employment journey, so that I can feel the pride I feel knowing that I'm going to be working with one of the most prestigious brands in the world. We've all got to start again somewhere.
What a week lest week was! So much happened so quickly that today I think is the first day where it's sunk in that my job search is over. At this point last week I was in the midst of a series of interviews with Hard Rock Cafe and with each one, my chances of getting an offer from them looked better and better. The week prior I had got word that Armani was checking out my references and that my background check went through fine. So with these two "irons" in the fire so to speak I knew something was going to happen at some point.
I had my final interview with HRC on Wednesday which went so well that by that same night my would-be boss called me twice to try and speak with me. (I had an intuition that he would want to make an offer, so I didn't pick up the phone because I didn't know what I would say). Thursday he phoned again in the morning and left a message for me to call him back. The next call came from their HQ with a message to call them back as soon as possible. One might wonder was I was so hesitant to make a decision but what you don't know is that I had accidentally found out from my HR contact with Armani that a meeting I would be having with them this Wednesday would be to extend an offer. So as you could imagine I didn't want accept something from HRC without finding out what Armani had in mind. Once I had heard the offer from HRC (yes I finally did have the conversation with them) I got on the phone with my Armani HR contact to let her know Hard Rock had made me an offer and asked if it was possible for me to meet with them sooner so that HRC didn't feel like I was taking forever to make a decision. Within 30 minutes of leaving that voicemail for her, my would-be boss from Armani called me to see what was happening. I played dumb about knowing that they were going to offer me so I told him what was happening with HRC... He said that as soon as he heard that they might lose me he got concerned because I was a "big priority" for them and that they really wanted to secure my place with the Toronto openings. He then proceed to make a generous offer and said that I've got big potential to grow with their brand. After my acceptance of the offer he congratulated me for being their first Toronto external hire! We are still meeting this Wednesday to go over the formalities of the offer and to discuss start date and training and what not. He wasn't totally prepared to give me all the details as he didn't expect to make the offer till next week. He did say though that he's thinking of having the group fly to New York around May 7th or so to go through a proper orientation to the brand and meet key partners in the business. When I meet with him this week I'm going to push for a couple weeks in NYC just to get the experience of working in the stores and getting a feel for how they operate. The store here in Toronto doesn't even open until the end of July so needless to say we've got some time to kill and lots to learn before that happens.
Once I got off the phone with Nick, I inevitably had to let HRC know that I was going to decline their offer. I can't tell you how hard this was for me to do. I certainly didn't expect after months and months of going through numerous interviews with employers and recruiters, that it would come down to one day where so much would happen. HRC much like Armani had treated me so well throughout the process and I really felt bad in a way because I knew they really believed in me and wanted things to work out in the biggest way. I don't think there were other candidates either which I know only added to my guilt. I can still hear the disappointment in his voice when I told him that I was going with another offer. I don't like letting people down, it's something I've struggled with my entire life, so to disappoint someone so easily is a tough pill to swallow. It took me a couple days to wash that feeling out of my system and now I am finally starting to build excitement not only for my meeting on Wednesday but also my future. I'm not sure at this point what this opportunity will mean for me in the long run, but I'm glad that I've been as particular as I've been on this employment journey, so that I can feel the pride I feel knowing that I'm going to be working with one of the most prestigious brands in the world. We've all got to start again somewhere.
posted by Derek at
1:16 PM
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