Plays Well With Others

Feelin’ Icky …

Wifey™ had a flu over the weekend, so guess who has it now. I don’t think I have the full on flu, because it’s mostly a sore throat and a runny nose — which is typical of the week before a vacation. I always get sick the week before or during my vacation. It’s the curse of being me.

So, Monday I was talking to my HR consultant about making a job move within the company. I explained basically what I was looking for — which was to get the hell out of this disfunctional department — just kidding. Mostly, just explained that I was tired of doing the creative stuff I’ve been doing all my life and would like to do something more administrative. She immediately pulled up a pile of openings and had me look at them. And then had me apply for whatever I thought I’d like — qualified or not. Next thing you know, she’d set up an interview for me for the next day. Good lord.

So, prior to the interview she wanted to meet with me and gather some information. Nice lady. Very helpful and friendly. At one point she asked me about my background experience and then when I explained that I’d been laid off and needed to find something else, she blurted out, “so why the hell did you want to work here?” Erm. Then caught herself, saying, “that probably came out wrong.” We laughed it off and she quickly began giving me tips for the interview. Telling me to take notes and even what questions to ask. Seemed easy enough.

Yesterday was the interview and it went fairly well. It’s an Associate position in the product marketing group — associate, meaning an entry-level type of position. Great, because that’s about where I’d be. The lady I spoke with explained that there’d be a learning curve and she was prepared to pretty much train the person to do the job. A plus for me is that I’ve worked in a product marketing environment before, which should help … but it’s not a slam dunk, because there is a possibility that they’d want someone with a little more experience. However, the more experienced people they’ve interviewed have also asked for salaries in the mid-70’s to 80’s which blows the budget out of the water. So with me, they’d get someone for cheaper. At this point it’s just a case of wait and see and since I’ll be on vacation for the next two weeks, I realistically won’t really know anything until I return.

The thing about interviews is that I absolutely hate them. The questions they ask are usually so odd and strange that answering them leads you into a state of confusion. Questions like, “let me know about your past experience” dont bother me much, but questions like, “describe a time when you had to persuade someone to do something they were against” or “describe your style of interacting with people and then give three examples of different ways you’ve dealt with different personalities”. Ugh. Talk about going blank. I managed to wiggle my way through most of the questions, but thinking back probably didn’t directly answer the questions being asked but more likely talked around them. Plus I throat was on fire the entire time due to the flu symptoms, so my voice would go in and out while I was talking. After about an hour, we got through it all and I was pretty glad to get the hell out of there. It looked like a nice group and the job looked like it would be something I’m interested in, but I never count my chickens before they are hatched … so it’s just a game of wait and see for now.

Ugh. I can’t wait for Friday — the signal of the beginning of my two week vacation. Woohoo.

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