The Interview

On Thursday night I went to a second interview for a job that interests me; the first interview was the previous night.  While I still get nervous for interviews, I think I’m getting to be a bit of a pro at them.  In fact, I think I could give the interviewers some advice.  Nearly all job interviews that I’ve had in the past year have been conducted by a team of at least three people.  This is what they call the stress interview.  While I understand why employers want to bring a number of interested parties in to meet the applicants, I am not convinced that this is the best way to assess a person.  It requires the applicant to constantly look around the room, not maintaining eye contact with any one person.  It is more stressful and some people handle it better than others.  Depending on the job, the employer may not be catching what they want to know about the person.  

And the questions.  Many of the places I’ve applied to do not have HR departments; I’m convinced that they Google “good questions to ask job applicants.”  It does seem important that the questions match the job and tell the employer something about the applicant’s ability to do the job.  Twice now, in an interview for an administrative assistant, I’ve been asked to tell them about a project where I was successful, and one where the project failed and how I handled it.  Since I couldn’t use work experience, I had to pull up a volunteer project which really has little relation to the duties of the job for which I was applying.  I have been asked about my career goals.  Now I know that I look a bit younger than my actual age, but they must be able to figure out that I am over 50.  I talked about a job.  What do they want me to say?  My goal is to be retired in less than 10 years?  Sometimes you have to adjust the questions to the applicant.  Last night I did get some good specific skill-related questions, but you’d be amazed at the number times I’ve been asked the “name a time when. . .” sort of questions.  

Right now I am waiting to hear from my references, wondering if they have been contacted.  If I were doing the interviewing, I would check references for the top three candidates.  References could change the equation.  I have great references, but I am not a salesperson.  I have learned to get through an interview fairly well, but I know that there are others who can talk up a storm and sell themselves better than I can.  However, that does not mean that they can do the job better than me.  I would be a great employee; just give me a chance.