Portrait of the blogger as a young girl (or something like that...)
Interesting week so far…
As I go through different job interviews, I gain awareness about what good interviews are, in my opinion. I had two today…let me tell you how they went.
Interview #1 was with a company in Bethesda that found me on Monster.com. It was a bit weird. I was originally scheduled to interview last week, but they had to reschedule because of an unexpected family crisis on the part of the VP. I e-mailed the fine folks to reschedule and since I can’t access the personal e-mails from work, I called. The gentleman I spoke with was rather…shall we say, snippy? He said, “Well, I answered your e-mail!” in a snotty tone of voice, like I was the village idiot.
I don’t do snippy.
I had to advise him (gently) that since I can’t access home e-mail from work, I didn’t get his response so I was simply trying to confirm in a timely manner. He figured it out and calmed down a smidge (or milli-smidge, if there is such a word).
So anyway, I got to the interview and that’s when the fun began. (For new visitors to Rancho Sudiegirl, this is what we call “sarcasm”.) The two gentlemen were dressed in blue jeans and casual shirts (which I can’t control), but the VP didn’t even know I was coming until that morning. Great. This bodes well for your favorite bipolar redhead, does it not?
It was probably a 20 minute interview or so (maybe more…one loses track when they feel like they’re in hell). They seemed kind of negative about things (yes, I know I’ve worked temp…what you don’t understand, Mr. Prospective Employer, sir, is at least I was working and not sitting around on my significant freckled ass waiting for Prince Charming to bring me my ideal job), and the VP actually asked me this, quote…”73 words per minute typing speed…what does that mean?”
Well, ya know, not only does Sudiegirl not do snippy, she doesn’t tolerate cryptic very well either.
As I go through different job interviews, I gain awareness about what good interviews are, in my opinion. I had two today…let me tell you how they went.
Interview #1 was with a company in Bethesda that found me on Monster.com. It was a bit weird. I was originally scheduled to interview last week, but they had to reschedule because of an unexpected family crisis on the part of the VP. I e-mailed the fine folks to reschedule and since I can’t access the personal e-mails from work, I called. The gentleman I spoke with was rather…shall we say, snippy? He said, “Well, I answered your e-mail!” in a snotty tone of voice, like I was the village idiot.
I don’t do snippy.
I had to advise him (gently) that since I can’t access home e-mail from work, I didn’t get his response so I was simply trying to confirm in a timely manner. He figured it out and calmed down a smidge (or milli-smidge, if there is such a word).
So anyway, I got to the interview and that’s when the fun began. (For new visitors to Rancho Sudiegirl, this is what we call “sarcasm”.) The two gentlemen were dressed in blue jeans and casual shirts (which I can’t control), but the VP didn’t even know I was coming until that morning. Great. This bodes well for your favorite bipolar redhead, does it not?
It was probably a 20 minute interview or so (maybe more…one loses track when they feel like they’re in hell). They seemed kind of negative about things (yes, I know I’ve worked temp…what you don’t understand, Mr. Prospective Employer, sir, is at least I was working and not sitting around on my significant freckled ass waiting for Prince Charming to bring me my ideal job), and the VP actually asked me this, quote…”73 words per minute typing speed…what does that mean?”
Well, ya know, not only does Sudiegirl not do snippy, she doesn’t tolerate cryptic very well either.
I said, “Well, when you take a typing test, you have a certain amount of time to do an exercise and when you’re finished they do a word count.” He then (thankfully) explained, “No, that’s not what I meant…what does it mean in terms of your skills?” I then explained that depending on the task, a certain amount of words per minute is required to maintain a good work flow, and the more complicated the work is, the more speed is necessary. Why it was my moral obligation to explain this to the brain trust of two is unknown.
However, then they start quizzing me on how Manpower calculates my salary…I was like, “Well, it’s a formula based on my skill sets plus how much the employer can afford to pay, and I don’t calculate it, Manpower does. You would need to ask them.” How flippin’ RUDE is that? That’s like asking someone to do a dissertation on the theory of relativity on a first date. They weren’t presenting themselves very well. As far as the salary, they made the mistake of asking me how much I wanted. I told them what I thought (with transportation and gas prices) was a reasonable salary amount, and I said I was negotiable if the benefits were of good quality (health insurance, pension, vacation, sick days, etc).
Their response? “Well, we’re still working on that.”
Imagine nails pounding into the lid of a coffin. That was the image in my head after that answer, so I think we can safely say I didn’t get that job, and moreover, I would not be heartbroken if that occurred.
Interview #2 was rather unexpected. A government contractor found my resume on Monster.com (no, this is NOT product placement, just where my resume is posted) and had e-mailed me over the weekend. I called the number listed on the e-mail yesterday, and the woman I spoke with asked me to send my resume as an attachment. I check my e-mail this AM and she sent a frantic reply asking if I could come in THIS AFTERNOON for an interview. So I did some re-arranging, and I came over.
This position was for an executive secretary to a Chief Information Officer at a government office in Silver Spring. He’s gone through seven – count ‘em – assistants. AAAGGGHHH. I’m not sure I want to go through Earl Part Deux, but hey, a girl’s gotta make a living. The wage is a little lower than what I want but the bennies more than make up for it. Gotta look at the big picture! So the people I spoke to this time around were much nicer and understanding of what my career path has been, especially trying to establish myself in a new (as in new to me) town. They asked interesting questions, they seemed to listen to what I had to say, and the job sounds quite challenging (it’s with a government agency regarding US commercial fishing requirements) so I’ll interview. Why not? I’ll just have to pray really hard that the ol’ BP monster doesn’t strike, and work on how to keep my focus on tasks.
So, if you all are reading this and are so inclined, please pray for me, do dances, sacrifice chickens, whatever it takes so you can hear more about my wacky adventures in the world of work.
Sudiegirl the mad interviewee
Their response? “Well, we’re still working on that.”
Imagine nails pounding into the lid of a coffin. That was the image in my head after that answer, so I think we can safely say I didn’t get that job, and moreover, I would not be heartbroken if that occurred.
Interview #2 was rather unexpected. A government contractor found my resume on Monster.com (no, this is NOT product placement, just where my resume is posted) and had e-mailed me over the weekend. I called the number listed on the e-mail yesterday, and the woman I spoke with asked me to send my resume as an attachment. I check my e-mail this AM and she sent a frantic reply asking if I could come in THIS AFTERNOON for an interview. So I did some re-arranging, and I came over.
This position was for an executive secretary to a Chief Information Officer at a government office in Silver Spring. He’s gone through seven – count ‘em – assistants. AAAGGGHHH. I’m not sure I want to go through Earl Part Deux, but hey, a girl’s gotta make a living. The wage is a little lower than what I want but the bennies more than make up for it. Gotta look at the big picture! So the people I spoke to this time around were much nicer and understanding of what my career path has been, especially trying to establish myself in a new (as in new to me) town. They asked interesting questions, they seemed to listen to what I had to say, and the job sounds quite challenging (it’s with a government agency regarding US commercial fishing requirements) so I’ll interview. Why not? I’ll just have to pray really hard that the ol’ BP monster doesn’t strike, and work on how to keep my focus on tasks.
So, if you all are reading this and are so inclined, please pray for me, do dances, sacrifice chickens, whatever it takes so you can hear more about my wacky adventures in the world of work.
Sudiegirl the mad interviewee
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