Singapore, Here I come

I’ve tweeted, buzzed and announced it on Facebook. But I haven’t blogged about it. I am moving to Singapore. For one year. I’ll be going back to the Greatest Company Ever. Working out of their office in Singapore.

I wasn’t necessarily looking to move to Asia. I was actually networking for jobs on the East Coast. With my job situation not panning out, and missing my family too much, I was contemplating a move back East. I wasn’t expecting to move so far East.

But, the opportunity presented itself to work with (actually for) one of my dearest friends, for The Greatest Company Ever, to experience living in Asia, and to get a substantial raise that will help me knock out my debt. I couldn’t turn it down.

Now I’m planning my USA GoodBye tour, trying to rent out my apartment, secure my cat in a new home, sell my furniture, put whatever I don’t sell in storage, say goodbye to everyone I need to say goodbye to. Oh yeah, and, I’m going to start working for the Greatest Company ever, here in Chicago at first. So, I’ll be working while attempting all of this.

My challenges?

My mother lives in The Bay Area.

My father lives in the DC Area.

Two coasts.

Two parents.

Lots of frustrations.

I am determined to spend Easter in DC. I love Easter at my Dad and StepMom’s. My little brother and his girlfriend are coming down from NYC for the weekend. My older brother and his fiancé will be in town. And my StepMom FINALLY got reservations at Volt (restaurant of Brian Voltaggio, from Top Chef, and the husband of an old co-worker and dear friend from my NYC days, who, come to think of it, I haven’t seen since their wedding day).

So, I have a mother on the West Coast, Family on the East Coast. And Easter in the middle.

As of now, my USA GoodBye tour involves a drive from Chicago to DC (to deliver my cat to my brother’s) then a flight back to Chicago, and, possibly, a flight from Chicago to San Jose to see my mom, then a flight probably from San Jose to DC for Easter, than a flight (or probably more than one flight) from DC to Singapore.

Google.cn

Wow.

I have been evasive on this blog in the past about who my former employer was, simply referring to it as the Greatest Company Ever. But it has now been three years since I left, so I will say it, it was Google.

I loved working there. I drank the primary colored Kool-Aid. I worked with smart, ambitious, fun, extraordinary people. Often the hours were long. And sometimes, like any job, it was frustrating, annoying, and there were bad days.

Yes, Google came with free lunch, espresso machines in the office, Happy Hours once a week, a great office near Bryant Park with a terrace. There were foosball tables, scooters, massage therapists, and engineers working in shorts and flip flops. But it was also hard work. High expectations. Little to no patience for complaining. You could never say, I can't do it or can't be done. It was an office comprised only of Type A personalities. The bar was set high. And really, because I loved the product, and I loved the people, I was happy to aim high and work hard.

I worked in recruiting. I staffed some exciting projects. In particular I was fortunate enough to be in international staffing, often conducting phone interviews with candidates around the globe, frequently for offices that hadn't opened yet.

One in particular was Beijing. I initially wasn't sure how I felt about Google going into China. In order to place servers in China, in order to have a Google.cn rather than Google.com, they had to cooperate with the Chinese government. I remember the buzz and criticism at the time, that this went against Google's premise to do no evil. That participating in the censorship contradicted this premise. However, any company doing business in China has to cooperate with the government.

There were many reasons why I thought it was good and important for Google to be in China, even with the censorship. The biggest being the people. From the top down, Google hired Chinese. I know. I logged many late nights, early mornings, and Sundays placing phone calls to China. Conference calls, phones screens, all with the goal of finding and hiring the best, the brightest, the “googliest” that China had to offer.

I interviewed candidates from entry level to managers. There are great challenges in hiring the right manager, and I love a challenge. But really, my heart was more into the entry level hires.

Kids right out of the most elite and competitive universities in China. Kids who had never worked before, who were so eager to speak to me. I remember one interviewer in particular who was so nervous, he kept giggling on the phone with me. They were aggressive in their enthusiasm to work for Google.

I am both saddened and impressed with Google’s current stand on China. There was so much hope and excitement about Google coming to China. I hate to think of the Googlers that I interviewed losing their jobs. But I believe (or really maybe just hope) that being there these past three years did make a difference. And by taking this stand, changes will occur.

Previous posts about Google Greatest Company Ever

The best kind of conference calls...

I'm in New York this week ... working from my old stomping grounds in our new york office. I just had the best conference call..the kind when you call in and your co-worker/friend in California is on the call, and your manager who is sits right next to you is on the call and you spend ten minutes goofing off and gossiping waiting for everyone else that needs to be on the call ... only to be stood up.

It's like going to class and seeing a note that class has been cancelled.

Advice on being interviewed

Answer the question that your interviewer asks you.

If they say, what was your major in college, don't talk about every class you liked and didn't like, and all the dreams you had as a child. Tell the interviewer the major you studied.

get to the point.

and when the interviewer asks again, after your rambling, wandering response that doesn't answer the direct question ... answer the question, do not carry on with meandering comments on the education system.

answer the question.

Google.cn

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/magazine/23google.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

There has been much discussion about this lately. I think it's an interesting article - it's a long one - but for me, obviously, I found it worth reading.

No guarantee of comprehension

As mentioned previously, in my day job I recruit for the international offices of a fantabulous company. Being an ever expanding corporation and with my flexibility of scheduling and my tenure with the company, I am frequently tossed new requisitions to fill and new continents to tackle. At one time this summer I had a candidate on every continent, well except for Africa, and North and South pole...anyway...lately I've been doing less recruiting for China and more recruiting for Brazil. Below is the read receipt from an email I sent to a candidate for a role in our office in Sao Paulo:

From: email from brazilian candidate
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 6:31 PM
To: me
Subject: Notificação de leitura

(email address) with subject "FW: It was a pleasure speaking with you today" was displayed this is no guarantee that the message has been read or understood

Wish You Happy Every Day

In my 'day job' I interview prospective candidates for my company's office in Beijing. The majority of my candidates are university students or are only a few years out of school. In the past I have recruited for higher level positions, and while there is a certain challenge to finding the right match for a manager or executive level position that I do enjoy, I've discovered that my heart really lies in helping out recent grads. Their enthusiasm and gratitude is genuine, and I love to check in on them periodically through out their career. I've found that my Chinese candidates are especially eager and grateful. I can say without prejudice that I work for one of the best companies in the world. Alright, truthfully, maybe I'm not THAT objective, but it is a great company. My point is, my Chinese candidates are all very excited about interviewing for my company, and I am touched by their excitement.

This is an example of the sweetness from some of my candidates, the following line is from an email from someone I interviewed earlier this week:

"Chinese Spring Festival is coming. Wish you happy everyday."


The Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival is China's most important holiday.

Part of how they celebrate, or prepare for the new year is to clean house. I think that tonight I will prepare for the New Year, and do just that.

We are entering the year of the Dog, and leaving behind us the year of the horse. So to you I say, Happy New Year, and I wish YOU happy every day!