An Offer!

I received and accepted an offer from Construction Documentation Services yesterday to be their new VP of Sales and Marketing, though we are still negotiating the compensation and writing the job description. Because it is a young company with a small team, I have structured my deal with a 3 month trial to allow all parties a chance to opt-out with no hard feelings. Once we are all comfortable, we will complete negotiations on my package, including compensation and job description.

So, does the job meet the criteria that I set at the beginning of my search? Mostly.

Is it a great team? - I've known one of the founders for over 7 years and have grown to know his co-founder pretty well during the interview process. It's a smaller company than I had originally envisioned (I will be employee number 5) but I feel good about the core group and their philosophies and embrace the chance to create the branding and marketing strategies by building on the results that the founders have achieved thus far.

Is their product remarkable? - Absolutely. While the company name doesn't indicate this, and it will be changed shortly, they've found a completely revolutionary method for verifying construction on large projects.

Do they have a great story that needs telling? - By all means. There is no universally accepted method for large construction verification. CDS is the first and will set the standard.
When you think of large construction projects (think Safeco Field, for example) budget overruns come to mind. With CDS on the job, the developer, contractor and all related parties have a powerful tool at their disposal to control costs and complete jobs on time and on budget (like, say, Qwest Field - A CDS project.)

This job search has been a productive period of introspection for me. Now as I transition back to those in the working world, I'm excited about applying what I have learned as an entrepreneur and a career searcher and hope that it can make me an effective executive and happy person.

The Devil in the Details

Seth Godin does have a point in his blog post about hiring choices. Yes, it is possible to put too much emphasis on how a candidate executes his or her career search and interview sequence. This is especially true in technical positions when hiring managers turn a blind eye to candidates in T-shirts and flip flops. But I know that I have been burned few times after ignoring an interview gaffe or a poorly worded letter. More often than not, traits such as attention to detail, organization, effective communication, etc. provide a window into the work habits of a candidate. Poor performance in these areas can often overshadow the work experience, industry expertise or existing relationships that we crave in an ideal hire. In the end, the headaches can outweigh the benefits and make us wish we paid attention when the new guy showed up 5 minutes late to his interview.