Job Interviews, Part One

"Come work inside us!"

Early-morning adventures in traffic aside, my two interviews went all right. The first one was for a senior admin position at a very well-known teaching hospital, and the other was for a proposal writer at a large company. I found the second one a lot smoother, mostly because the interviewers were very down-to-earth (despite their power suits) but extremely focused on what they wanted, which I hope to God is me. The first one was a little scattered -- they had a list of questions, but kept skipping around, and it wasn't clear right away what they were looking for. The difference in interviewing style and effectiveness was very clear to me after I came out of the second interview. I appreciate knowing exactly what the position calls for, and knowing a little bit about the history of the organization, instead of being asked cookie-cutter questions of boringness right off the bat. Interestingly, even though both sets of interviewers asked the same questions -- "Where do you see yourself in five years?" and "Name a customer service challenge" -- I found I was more enthusiastic answering the second one because their description of their work was very exciting to me, and yes, I am a huge nerd for wanting to write complicated proposals and do research about market competition, sue me.

Anyway, both were good learning experiences. Now I know: (a) what to look for in a job ad; (b) how to prepare really focused answers for the interview; and (c) to bring a small bottle of water. Bloody no one offered me a drink! I had to scout around for water fountains! Waaaaah! Life is so hard!

LOL j/k

Please pray for me!