A few days back, I went for a job interview and it was for a position I did not apply for. The company actually called me up a few days prior and told me they wanted to invite me down to their showroom for a chat, I usually don't bother entertaining such meetings because most of the time, the companies that reach out are the small ones that aren't impressive enough, in terms of portfolio and industry presence, for me to even consider leaving my current company for.
This company is one I have heard of before and honestly speaking, I can't say I was very impress with their portfolio, but one thing that piqued my interest during the initial call was how the person told me that their company caters to the market with a higher renovation budget and are more "design centric", the latter I don't really think so from what I have seen from their portfolio, but the former is something that appealed to me, so I agreed and dropped by on Thursday afternoon to listen to what they had to offer.
I met the boss and he is a nice guy, he is only 2 years older than me, and the realization that he already owns his own company at such a young age really made me question what the hell I was actually doing with my life. We had a good chat, he got one of his senior designer to sit in during the interview and because I am coming in as an experienced Interior Designer, I was feeling quite confident about what I can offer, it didn't feel like I was trying to sell myself to get them to hire me, it felt more like they were telling me what they could offer me if I join their company.
During the interview with the senior designer present, I was asked if I knew how to prepare quotations, if I knew carpentry prices and it just felt so weird that the senior designer would think I wouldn't know the basics and ask me all those irrelevant questions, because I do have almost 4 years worth of experience, it's like asking a 4 year old kid if they know how to crawl.
After that, the senior designer talked about my online portfolio and because on my website, I have a tab that was dedicated to renovation budgeting, something I decided to write on a whim one day after getting tired to being given so many customer leads with unrealistic budget, he told me he was very worried when he saw the prices because apparently they were too low, and I can only give a dry laugh. I mean if he thinks those are low now, one day if he actually joins my company in the future for some reason, he is going to be in for a huge shock at the customer leads we get.
Not long after my portfolio was scanned through by them both, they decided that they would like to test me on my presentation skills, we started to do a bit of roleplaying where the boss and his senior designer acted as my clients and I had to do a presentation to them on the spot, they gave me some pictures and told me to just present it to them, honestly speaking, my design talk has always been quite bad so I would always rely on my 3D drawings for my proposals, I stuttered a lot and it was pretty clear the presentation did not went well, so I was ushered out of his office for them to have a quick discussion after that mess.
I will admit, I was quite intrigued by the company and a part of me was picturing myself being part of the company, I was walking around the front area of their office, just imagining myself meeting future customers here, looking at the material library and just soaking in the much nicer and modern looking office environment. About 5 minutes later, the senior designer comes out and invites me back to talk to the boss 1 on 1.
We had a longer chat this time round, not so much about the position but about the industry in general, sharing our experiences, and I could sense that the boss likes me as a person, so I knew that if I wanted, I could have gotten the job, but of course, I didn't really know what I want, so the boss tells me to take the next few days to think about it and he will prepare an offer and reach out to me again once it is ready.
He called me up on Saturday and started to share with me his offer and it was an enticing one because he was offering me a pretty generous basic, but it was a basic that had to be earned by hitting a monthly sales target that will steadily increase for the next 3 months. We spoke for about half an hour on the phone and after that call, he kept trying to tell me I was not young anymore, that I should take this opportunity to grow, it didn't feel like he was forcing me, it felt more like he was sharing his advice. After the call, he messages me to thank me for giving him, which I realize is really rare, for a founder of a company to actually call a potential employee to thank them for their time. I told him I will give him a decision by Sunday, which is today and honestly speaking, it is not enough time to think it over.
It just so happens that I have showroom duty today as well, so I shared the job offer with my colleagues to hear what they had to say and the general consensus is that it is ultimately my decision because there are good and bad to joining the company.
It was quite hard to make a decision, but the fact that I am being so indecisive about this position just made me veer more towards turning down to offer, simply because I am not sure and I do not want to say yes while being unsure, the last thing I want happen is to join the company, regret my decision and then quit a few weeks later, or worst, a few days later, and then be left jobless and unable to return back to my current company.
As great as the company is in terms of what it has to offer me from a monetary aspect, I am ultimately still not very impress with their portfolio, I just feel like if a company is marketing themselves as a "boutique" firm, their portfolio should reflect that boutique status, but sadly, the projects they have are only slightly better, if not, almost on par with the projects my company churns out.
One thing that I felt was odd was when the senior designer shared about how the designers in their company must prepare a mood board to present to the customers, that that it is their company's standard and after he said that and showed me an example, it just made me wonder what is the point of doing all that, because you put in all that effort to find such great photos for the mood board, but the final renovated projects looks like something my company churns out, and as far as I am aware, a lot of my colleagues from my own branch don't really bother doing mood boards, we usually just wing it, and if winging it can produce the same results, then something is really wrong
Ultimately, I decided that the new company was not really worth leaving my current company for, and also because the timing isn't great at the moment.
Before I join a new company, I want to make sure I tie up all the loose end at my current company, make sure I have completed all my projects, collected all my commission before I move on, so I do not have to return to the old company again later as an ex-employee to collect anything, and also, with the CNY break that will be happening in February, joining now just feels a bit pointless, I would rather join after the break, just so if I do end up getting a project, which could potentially be maybe 2 months after I join the new company, I won't have to fight for the sub-contractors time with my other colleagues, who would have already established a solid working relationship with them and will have their projects prioritized. There is a lot of string pulling that happens during the busy period.
I wrote a message thanking the boss for giving me the opportunity, turn down the offer and then wrote at the end that when the timing is right and another opportunity arises, that I hope to be able to work with him then. He didn't reply back so there's that. I was actually expecting him to reply back with something like...
"Sorry to hear that, I wish you all the best"
... or something, because of how the conversation we had during the interview and the phone call felt more like friends talking to each other rather than a boss talking to an employee, but oh well.
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