Monday, March 10, 2008

Really very quite contrary, How did your job interview go?

Well, it went fine.
There were a couple of last-minute pre-interview stressors though:

- first, my mum rang up 90 minutes before the appointment, to say that my brother had forgotten to get her day's medication sorted out before he left for work - could I please go over there and do it before she collapses from hunger? I did that and, fortunately, even managed to leave her house quickly - before TLM got too insistent with her need to jump on the trampoline in her back yard. And I was back in time to change, put on my interview face (i.e. with makeup) and catch a bus into town.

- then, I realised after I got into town, that my skin was flaking and my makeup was caking, and I had nothing with me to fix it. The last thing I wanted was to go into a job interview with flaky, cakey skin on my top lip. I was extremely grateful for the pharmacy attendant who gave me free samples of makeup remover, foundation, tissues and the use of a mirror, so I could fix my beauty emergency.

But the interview itself was fine, just...incomplete. I had to do a little exercise to show the manager how well I write instructions. After fifteen minutes, I had over a page of scrawly writing, telling an anonymous (and ignorant, yet literate) person how to brew a pot of tea.

The thing is, I still don't know whether they want to hire me. I have to go back a third time, to meet with one of her colleagues, who will ascertain whether I'm right for one of their documentation teams.

10 comments:

Angela said...

I do hate the interviews that you have to keep coming back. It is like they enjoy putting people through the frustration.
Glad it went well though

Anonymous said...

If they really don't want you, they shouldn't ask you back. So hopefully it's a good sign if they do

Best of luck!

Daddy L said...

Once I also interviewed as a technical writer and spend over an hour writing instructions on how to make rice.

I crafted a lovely piece on the origins of rice and the overall zen of watching it cook.

What they really wanted was:

1) Put rice in pot.
2) Cook.
3) Stuff rice into your pie-hole.

I didn't get the job. Best of luck with your interview!

Violet said...

angela: Now I'm having sleepness nights over whether I'll get the job, AND over whether I can get childcare sorted out in the 3-week period I'd have before the start date...

cathi: thanks :-)

daddy l: you were obviously too creative for them. Rice isn't THAT easy to cook. Unless you use a rice cooker, there's a real art to it. Probably not a novel's worth though ;-)

Watson Woodworth said...

Ah, the running of the hoops.
The worst part of working is the courtship dance.

Violet said...

nigel: yeah, they're treating me mean to keep me keen.

No Milk Please said...

good luck on the interview. i hate them because i really think that the people who conduct them, don't really care about my experience but is sizing me up based on other things such as my clothes or hair. so your make-up situation was indeed probably crucial to fix.

anyway, i hope if you like the job, you'll get it!

Violet said...

no milk: tsk...employers, they're so shallow...

Barrie said...

I'm glad to hear your interview went well. I loved the line about you putting on your interview face, ie. with makeup.

Violet said...

barrie: thanks. Hopefully tomorrow's interview will be the last one before they offer me a job!