Tell Me A Little About Yourself
First off, and maybe Anne is the only one who can appreciate this, but how about that ending on Lost tonight? Damn!
I had an interview yesterday for a job as a secretary with a government agency. Overall, I think the interview went pretty well. I was interviewed by 3 people, one of whom was participating via speakerphone. I may have committed a bit of a faux pas in deciding to not wear my suit coat. I wore my suit pants with a white button down shirt and tie, but the interviewers were wearing suits, so the suit may have made a better impression. And yesterday morning I had to iron the new "wrinkle-free" shirt I bought on Sunday. It's literally been years since I have ironed anything. Wrinkle-free my ass!
I didn't want to be unprepared for the interview, so I took the advice of several books and wrote a 2 minute commercial about myself to answer the question "Tell me a little about yourself". Best thing I ever did. What was the first question they asked? "Tell me a little about yourself". I actually didn't use the whole answer on that question, but I got to use the rest of it when they asked about some of the skills that I have. If your ever in an interview, I would highly recommend doing this. It's only about half a page of typed text. Of course they did ask why I would want this job when it pays so poorly, but I took the approach of telling them that I was going to school, and that I thought this job would allow me to take classes at the same time, unlike my last job where there were lots of weird hours and overtime. I told them it would take me about 2 years to finish school. They seemed satisfied with that answer. One good thing about this job is that it is 40 hours a week. Period. And no coming in on weekends. But I also learned that you can bank any extra hours you want to work and then use them later to take time off, which could really come in handy.
Another thing they asked me was "Don't you think you will get bored in this job?" I said no, but I'm not so sure I have convinced myself of that fact. One of the interviewers mentioned that there can sometimes be slack time during the day, but that just made me think "Hey, I can study during those times!" The subject of my firing came up, and I told them that I was fired for not finishing projects on time. I took the approach of telling them that it was my fault, I fucked up, it made me realize that I need to work on my time management skills. The funny thing is, they didn't believe me! They couldn't believe that someone who had an actual problem with time management skills would have been with a company for 10 years, survived multiple layoffs, and then boom - been fired all of a sudden for a reason like that. So, I mentioned that I had gotten a new boss about 9 months before I got fired. They seized on that and seemed to buy in to the idea that there was some kind of mismatch between my boss and I. Which was pretty much true. So basically, they saved my own ass for me on that one. These guys seemed like pretty nice people, which is good because I will be working for one of them if I get the job.
A bad thing about this job is that it doesn't pay very well. It looks like it would be about $250 a month short of my average expenses. (Damn that mortgage refinance I did 3 years ago! Even though my interest rate went down, I went from a 30 year loan to a 20 year, making my payment go up by $200!) And I can't get a raise for a year. I guess I could sell brownies on the side or something. Although I do have enough money in savings that this wouldn't bankrupt me over a 2 year period. I'm supposed to hear back within a week and a half or so, because they want someone to start in June. I have mixed feelings on it. On one hand, I feel somewhat overqualified and that maybe I would be frustrated with it, but on the other hand it would be 'temporary' and other employers aren't exactly beating my door down! Although, I do have another interview tomorrow...
I had an interview yesterday for a job as a secretary with a government agency. Overall, I think the interview went pretty well. I was interviewed by 3 people, one of whom was participating via speakerphone. I may have committed a bit of a faux pas in deciding to not wear my suit coat. I wore my suit pants with a white button down shirt and tie, but the interviewers were wearing suits, so the suit may have made a better impression. And yesterday morning I had to iron the new "wrinkle-free" shirt I bought on Sunday. It's literally been years since I have ironed anything. Wrinkle-free my ass!
I didn't want to be unprepared for the interview, so I took the advice of several books and wrote a 2 minute commercial about myself to answer the question "Tell me a little about yourself". Best thing I ever did. What was the first question they asked? "Tell me a little about yourself". I actually didn't use the whole answer on that question, but I got to use the rest of it when they asked about some of the skills that I have. If your ever in an interview, I would highly recommend doing this. It's only about half a page of typed text. Of course they did ask why I would want this job when it pays so poorly, but I took the approach of telling them that I was going to school, and that I thought this job would allow me to take classes at the same time, unlike my last job where there were lots of weird hours and overtime. I told them it would take me about 2 years to finish school. They seemed satisfied with that answer. One good thing about this job is that it is 40 hours a week. Period. And no coming in on weekends. But I also learned that you can bank any extra hours you want to work and then use them later to take time off, which could really come in handy.
Another thing they asked me was "Don't you think you will get bored in this job?" I said no, but I'm not so sure I have convinced myself of that fact. One of the interviewers mentioned that there can sometimes be slack time during the day, but that just made me think "Hey, I can study during those times!" The subject of my firing came up, and I told them that I was fired for not finishing projects on time. I took the approach of telling them that it was my fault, I fucked up, it made me realize that I need to work on my time management skills. The funny thing is, they didn't believe me! They couldn't believe that someone who had an actual problem with time management skills would have been with a company for 10 years, survived multiple layoffs, and then boom - been fired all of a sudden for a reason like that. So, I mentioned that I had gotten a new boss about 9 months before I got fired. They seized on that and seemed to buy in to the idea that there was some kind of mismatch between my boss and I. Which was pretty much true. So basically, they saved my own ass for me on that one. These guys seemed like pretty nice people, which is good because I will be working for one of them if I get the job.
A bad thing about this job is that it doesn't pay very well. It looks like it would be about $250 a month short of my average expenses. (Damn that mortgage refinance I did 3 years ago! Even though my interest rate went down, I went from a 30 year loan to a 20 year, making my payment go up by $200!) And I can't get a raise for a year. I guess I could sell brownies on the side or something. Although I do have enough money in savings that this wouldn't bankrupt me over a 2 year period. I'm supposed to hear back within a week and a half or so, because they want someone to start in June. I have mixed feelings on it. On one hand, I feel somewhat overqualified and that maybe I would be frustrated with it, but on the other hand it would be 'temporary' and other employers aren't exactly beating my door down! Although, I do have another interview tomorrow...
posted by JC at 11:14 PM
2 Comments:
It's always good to keep interviewing....perhaps you could take this job that will let you take time off for exams by banking hours and it sounds like you'd have time to study and then supplement with a bartending job a couple nights a week? Or maybe you could be a dog walker? There are many creative ways to make extra $$ while in school. I'm throwing out a few that my friends did while in acu school.....
I like that you were able to approach the firing head on with these people. I think that's best.. and seriously, who doesn't understand that there are times in your life that you work for total lunatics? I know I know that for a fact, Jack!!
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