What is your weakness? Interviews?

Shumba

I have a confession… I hadn’t really planned on telling people about this because if nothing came of it I wanted to avoid the sympathetic head tilts. I do really hate the head tilts – unless it is Shumba that is giving them to me, because he is just so pretty he can get away with almost anything. Of course anyone who has spent time with me (particularly when wine is involved) will know that I am very bad at keeping my own (I really can keep your secrets don’t worry) secrets anyway.

Meet Marmalade - he pretends he wants
you to stroke him, but really he wants to
dig his claws into you - not the sort you
want to interview you. 

OK, now I am worried this is too much of a build-up, REALLY, it wasn’t a big deal, I just had an interview on Monday, which is kind of a big deal because as you know I am currently looking for a job. I have only actually had 5 interviews before this (EVER) and none of them had gone well, so I have mostly gotten myself into the frame of mind that I am bad at interviews. That and my general self-confidence took a real knock with the whole PhD thing.

The first was for an internal position I knew that I could do better than anyone else, and that didn’t go well because I expected them to know that too. I also found out how much I was going to get paid and decided it wasn’t really worth my time and asked them not to consider me for the position (I am not a snob, I have at various times worked hard for very little money – but I knew what kind of time commitment this job required and I couldn’t justify it). I did get the runner up prize, a different position with fewer hours and an hourly rate that actually suited me better.

Benji 

The second interview was for a youth-leadership program (within a political party), but I don’t have that “RA RA” personality that I think they were looking for – I really am more of a “do-er” than a “let’s discuss in an opinionated way what needs to be done” sort. Anyway, having recently watched the SONA I am glad to distance myself from the political sorts. The third was a telephone interview for a position that would have been really interesting. I worked really hard on that one – read papers, did research and was quite excited about it. It didn’t work out, but if I think about it, it wasn’t really for me and I know I am not that good on the phone.

The fourth was awful and I was actually choking up on the phone to my mom before it because I didn’t want to work there, but I didn’t feel like I had the option to be choosy. It was a horrible interview. I try to forget about it. The fifth was my dream job. I say that, running the risk of potential future employers seeing this. Eeekkk. And because it turns out that potential future employers have looked at my blog, I will refrain from saying it remains in my top 3 places of work. Alas, I didn’t hear anything. I was heartbroken.

Marmalade again

Which brings me to this interview: I was nervous, of course, I did the required research, of course, and I think it went OK. It was a Skype interview which was a first for me and a little awkward because I could see the funny facial expressions I pull and they had their camera kind of pointing at the empty wall so I was talking to invisible people for at least some of the time. It is an exciting opportunity that I won’t tell you about too much because I haven’t had any feedback yet (and now you know that you can give me wine and I will tell you, so I will hold out and let you buy the wine). If nothing else comes out of it, I am glad that I had this interview. It made the whole interview experience less terrifying for me because there were such nice people on the other side of the camera (when I could see them). I didn’t feel like they were trying to trick me or catch me out. They had read my CV (and – blush – some of my blog) and were really nice.

Jill 

So, this rather long preamble is to say that when people tell you that just the experience of having an interview is a good thing, it is really true. It turns out that when I was terrible at an interview – it wasn’t that I am terrible, it was that it wasn’t a good fit. (Although being almost in tears before an interview because you don’t want to work there should have been enough of a sign that it wasn’t a good fit). Whether or not I get this job, I know that I genuinely have good qualifications, varied experiences and worth and if you are reading about how to survive a PhD, then you probably do too (or you are friends with me, and then you definitely do). And the right fit might just come along (OH how I hate it when people say that to me!)

PS They said I would hear on Wednesday, but obviously I haven’t heard, is there a consensus on whether or not it is rude to send a polite email asking? It has (within South Africa) geographical implications for me after all.