Decision-Making and Self-Awareness After Interviews

Strategic Thinking in Offer Evaluation#

After interviews, while gradually receiving offers, it's important to maintain reasonable waiting times for existing offers while using them to compete with each other. After all, no amount of salary negotiation talks can compare to having other offers in hand for comparison.

Job titles, career paths, and various benefits were all part of my evaluation criteria. Although the people I met during interviews weren't necessarily future direct collaborators, they somewhat represented the company culture. I tried to think: if the entire company gathered similar people, could I accept working in such an environment?

Beyond that, after receiving offers, I mostly went back to score and total up the work conditions that aligned with the future life goals I had set before interviews. A decision matrix is a great framework I use before making major decisions.

Why do we need decision-making methods?

I think people always have emotional components. For instance, during the interview process, many hiring managers really appreciated me and were willing to offer more resources and conditions to attract me. But when facing my expectations for future life, I knew the gap wasn't small. Whether sincerity could bridge these differences required honest self-reflection.

The Twists and Gains of the Final Choice#

Speaking of sincerity, the offer I ultimately accepted is a great example.

Initially interviewed for a Staff Engineer position, after one round I was asked if I minded continuing interviews for a Senior position because there was a really impressive candidate with relevant industry background in the pipeline. I agreed with the mindset of learning from them.

Surprisingly, after the next technical interview where I felt I didn't perform well enough, I received an invitation to switch back to the original Staff Engineer position to continue interviews. Within limited time, they were very sincere, helping to complete all interview procedures within a short timeframe. However, when drafting the offer, a new round of discussions began.

In the draft offer, although the salary amount was correct, other job titles were mistakenly listed, and the start date was also wrong. I wrote to ask them to confirm, but received a reply saying they wanted to correct the position to another job title. However, for me, this title's market value wasn't clear, so I discussed whether we could use both titles in parallel as a combined designation.

Although this discussion was fruitless, they were willing to write a formal document proving that at this company, both were completely equivalent in scope, and the title change was only for internal communication and promotion discussion convenience.

During the negotiation process, I also worried whether I was being too picky. But the process of insisting on discussion and mutual understanding made me discover their high goodwill. This open communication style and willingness to make explanations and adjustments for candidate concerns actually made me feel this was a great choice.

I think sometimes how a company handles problems reveals more about corporate culture than the problems themselves.

Clarifying Self-Awareness of Values#

During this job search process, I discovered I had different requirements for language abilities. Sometimes others didn't care as much as I did during interviews, but I obviously had higher standards for the granularity of expression I could achieve. Appropriate self-forgiveness and maintaining self-compassion are also important.

Beyond language, I also found that this interview journey helped me understand my values more clearly:

• Valuing respect and equality
• Caring about transparency and honesty
• Needing an environment that accepts continuous learning, maintains flexibility, and pursues continuous improvement

And I seem unable to casually become a mature adult who just pats shoulders saying, "As long as the money's right, everything's fine."

Understanding My Core Characteristics#

My own core characteristics also became more clearly evident during this journey.
Such as:

• Diverse directions for problem-solving, constantly adjusting perspectives on problems to find optimal solutions
• Having a holistic grasp of timing for optimizing processes and technology
• Having my own thinking framework and neutral entry points when facing conflicts

Final Mindset Adjustment#

Maintaining a stable state, not dancing to results, constantly checking whether my heart is settled, being genuine with myself, not accepting emotional pressures to make decisions that don't align with my future desires. Try more deductive reasoning, thinking about how myself in 10 weeks or 10 months would view current decisions.

"Do you have any other advice?" asked the boy.
"Don't measure how valuable you are by the way you are treated!" said the horse.
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse

This job search journey wasn't just about finding new work to make a living, but also a small journey of self-dialogue and exploration. During the interview process, I wasn't just proving myself to others, but also getting to know myself anew: my values, my strengths, and the lifestyle I want.