Phone screen with manager and then out of the blue a request by that manager to speak again. The follow-up discussion was about creating an annual marketing plan for the company as part of the next steps. Mind you there was not even an in person interview before the odd request. An annual plan is a tall order and not the norm. A quarterly pro-forma plan may have been more inline. Never the less the request was made and accepted. Before starting out on the project it was asked when they would like to have this. The reply from the VP was there is no due date. During the holidays and end of year wrap up with other jobs it was a challenge to create such a plan within a week or even two. In the first week of the new year I contacted the VP to present the plan. The VP response was that of surprise to hear from me. My response back was that an annual plan is not created overnight and it takes time and again there was no timeframe set. I was invited to pitch the plan a week later but I decided to decline moving forward. Just not a good feeling all around with the request, expectations and communications. Furthermore, the time I devoted to creating the plan would have been a couple thousand dollars and the plan itself, if presented, would be worth $175K.
