am I reading this wrong? re job interview.

So I've been making a vague pass at becoming re-employed. Today I had an interview at a local brewery. I had originally applied for the position many moons ago and never heard back after initial contact. The site I had found the job on more or less berkeleyed me... So I bypassed it. Two months or so go by no reply... I figure its dead. I move on. The other day I got an email from the owner asking if I had time to come in and talk. Fast forward to today. It snowed good but I had my interview so I went. Was early. Met with the owner... Nice dude BTW. Talked for a few minutes. He asked me about what I knew of his product. I professed my love for his porter..... Which is true cause its delicious. Turns out they are in the middle of a big move and the contractors for the new facility are over budget and behind as he wanted to move in yesterday. He also tells me that the position I had applied for ( driving beer truck) had been filled. However there may be additional openings as the new facility gets up and going. Problem is he says... Is Hes not exactly sure when that's gonna be. He then asked for my DL info to make sure he could insure me and took it with my resume. He was unable to give me a solid time frame as to when a position might open up.... But it was clear at least to me that it wasn't due to my interview... It was due to the mess with the new beer hall. We parted ways after about 20 min and he went back to work. He was quite busy as were his workers ... Its apparent they're doing well. He actually got into another bar while we talked.

So here we are. I have no definitive answer as if it well or not. All signs point to yes in that he took my resume and went so far as to take my DL for a background check. He called me back after two months and the original job went south to see me. However the no timeline thing has me worried. Am I just being paranoid? I have a legitimate problem with paranoia... I have medication for it. I probably just need to htfu or something. Does it sound positive to y'all?

Sounds positive to me, inasmuch as it sounds like the guy is basically inclined toward being interested in hiring you.

That said, you're not making the uncertainty up. I wouldn't take this as any sort of guarantee that there will be a spot when they get up and running in the new place, or that you are the one for any spots that do open.

It doesn't sound like he was blowing you off. I don't think a guy that busy would call you up and take 20 minutes to talk to you for no reason.

That said, I don't own or manage a brewery or beer hall. What do I know?

Sounds like you aren't in a huge hurry to find something so it wouldn't hurt to wait it out unless something better came along. He is likely trying to get some potential employees lined up as he has a chance. I would say it is positive.

He interviewed you after he filled the position you applied for. Good thing. He'll clearly have more positions open in the near-somewhat near future, and he has you on the mind.

That is very representative of the hiring environment.

It's a good thing.

He'd like to hire you, and has probably eliminated hundreds of candidates. But he's not gonna commit quickly or flippantly. He will wait until things are more clear. If you are no longer available, he will look to the next candidate.

Hang in there.

Patience is about the only asset worth anything these days.

Sounds positive to me!

they sound to busy and in need of help to hire people, which is good, if he liked you he may consider you for a better job than you applied for, Cheers!

If you can sit, fine, but I'd keep looking. If you're available if/when he calls again then great! But I hated being out of work and would keep hunting.

Sounds positive.

I work in the craft brewing industry, and the situation they are in does not sound too weird. We are going through a situation that isn't too dissimilar here at work (holding off on buying equipment, not hiring people). Sounds like he wants to hire you as soon as he has the space and funds available.

That said, there is no way to tell how long it will be before he is ready to hire you, or what position will open up. I would continue looking for another job, and keep this one in mind. You can always jump ship if a better opportunity opens up.

Also bear in mind that enjoying the beer a company makes is very different from whether or not you will enjoy working at that company. Being a brewer can be great, but is a lot of hard work and is often not the best paying career. At the end of the day, you are working for a pay check. However, it may be worth a minor pay cut to get on early with a small, regional brewery that has a lot of momentum. Guys who get on early tend to end up with the enviable positions later on.

I say it's positive. I've found the better the job and higher the pay, the longer it takes between initial contact to starting day. I think the best thing is the situation you're in. He likes you and wants to work with you, just figuring out what position makes sense. Be patient. This is good.

Beer Baron wrote: Sounds positive. I work in the craft brewing industry, and the situation they are in does not sound too weird. We are going through a situation that isn't too dissimilar here at work (holding off on buying equipment, not hiring people). Sounds like he wants to hire you as soon as he has the space and funds available. That said, there is no way to tell how long it will be before he is ready to hire you, or what position will open up. I would continue looking for another job, and keep this one in mind. You can always jump ship if a better opportunity opens up. Also bear in mind that enjoying the beer a company makes is very different from whether or not you will enjoy working at that company. Being a brewer can be great, but is a lot of hard work and is often not the best paying career. At the end of the day, you are working for a pay check. However, it may be worth a minor pay cut to get on early with a small, regional brewery that has a lot of momentum. Guys who get on early tend to end up with the enviable positions later on.

You're absolutely right on the employer vs. product. I've worked plenty of times in the service industry where I liked the product, but couldn't STAND where it was coming from. Retail is a motherberkeleyer. THAT being said- I liked this guy. He was no bullE36 M3. He even said of his meeting with the contractors the other day "No offense to you guys but do your job and get the berkeley out of my building".... This tells me he's all about kicking ass. I like that. He's also into fun... I saw a few different things from pro hockey teams (The San Jose Sharks visited his brewery the last time they were in town) and he explained he was big into it. So I mean, from my initial contact, he seemed a very cool person, if not a bit harried. And with this being from what I can tell their first major expansion, this smells of good things for me. I have no illusions of this being a cakewalk, I expect to bust my ass for this one. I know little about brewing beer, but I like cooking, I like creating things, and I like beer. What I do know of um... "spirits distillation" and what i DO know of beer brewing tells me it's something I can handle fairly easily. So, even if I'm sweeping floors or taking out trash, I figure it's a way to get into it.

Maybe this is irresponsible speculation on my part but I will focus on what was not said...

You originally applied as a driver.
Someone else was hired.
Now, months later, the boss is dipping back into the previous round of driver applications.
He can not provide you with start dates and seems vague about what the position will actually be.
He plans to check your driving record.

My guess is that the recently hired driver (or another driver) is not working out. The boss does not want to say too much as it is likely known that they are not busy enough to hire another driver. This does not mean he does not want to replace a driver.

I vote positive. Sounds good to me.

In reply to JohnRW1621: This was sort of the impression I got. He had mentioned he had a couple guys out sick and injured..... Easiest way I can think of to get hurt is being a dope with a beer keg. I had also noticed his truck was buried in the previous nights snow... While it was clear his other workers had been there a while. This tells me that possibly the driver was not there... As he had also mentioned typical delivery days were Tuesday through Thursday. So there's a lot of little things that tell me there's more than meets the eye but he's unable to commit to anything.

Personal story (hopefully there's a moral in here somewhere): I've been with my current company for over 7 years now. A recruiter found me and asked me to come in for an interview for a software developer position. It was not what one would call a stellar interview... I was flustered and could tell it was a little out of my league. Never really heard back and pretty much wrote them off. About two months go by, and they call and ask me to come in for a QA interview - this surprised me, as I didn't think I knew the first thing about the subject. They clearly knew me better than I did, because I somehow nailed that interview and have moved up in the company quickly and consistently ever since.

Moral: Patience can pay off. I certainly wouldn't wait on the brewing company if something else comes along in the meantime, but I wouldn't write them off just yet. As you know, I'm in your area - let me know if you need any connections (mostly IT-related) or anything. Best of luck!

Off-topic PS: Your voice sounds EXACTLY like a software developer that works here (noticed that playing GTA with you a few weeks ago and forgot to mention it).

Lol... I've never done software Dev.... I dont think they'd let me in that room how I look.

The work is not realy any more difficult than any other production job. You will have no issue with what technical skill is required. I was more commenting that it frequently pays less than other comparable jobs because so many people want to be craft brewers.

May I ask what brewery?

If they are small and regional, I am actually surprised that they would have a delivery driver position.

This may sound counterintuitive, but it could be that they are producing enough to no longer want to self deliver, but to just go to moving everything through a distributor.

Flat earth brewery. Out of st. Paul. They're not that big yet... I doubt they're past state lines right now.... All they do is bombers kegs and growlers.... No 6 packs or anything. As far as cash goes... Here's the beauty part. I literally need 15 hours a week at minimum wage to make up the salary difference from where we were when I was employed and the wife was at her old E36 M3 job, to where we are now with me not working at all and my wife and new kickass job. So I really can afford to do whatever I want. I've always liked making a product, I've done bakery work in the past.... And I like beer. I have no doubt the romance of being the little guy is just that, but I've spent my entire life doing what I have to do. Multiple jobs, whatever paid well and so on. With Tue past year off that I've had and the subsequent reevaluation I've made of my life... I've learned more with less is more fun. I actually have grm to thank for a lot of it. In any event.... I'm really hoping this pans out for me.

Hi mndsm,

I once asked a very successful executive how he achieved his position. He said, “if you want a job, start doing it”.

Call the guy up and just say, you’re super busy and I’m super bored…I’m open to any creative solutions you might have.

RX Reven' wrote: Hi mndsm, I once asked a very successful executive how he achieved his position. He said, “if you want a job, start doing it”. Call the guy up and just say, you’re super busy and I’m super bored…I’m open to any creative solutions you might have.

This is an excellent suggestion. I believe I will do that.

I like beer. I know nothing about craft beer, really. I want a job at brewery.

I second the suggestion to see what they can work out. If you make clear that you do not need a set schedule but are fine being semi on-call to come in for the busy days, that is an excellent way to get your foot in the door. They will almost certainly run into crunch time when they need an extra person to help package, keg, or clean.

I don't believe I've had any Flat Earth, but the name sounds vaguely familiar. I may have tried them at a festival or something while I was doing an internship at Schell's (who also do Grain Belt).

If you did a local festival- (Schells and GB are local) you had Flat Earth. Franco (the lead dude) is very passionate about his brew.