Job
interviews don't get any easier the older you get, do they? I have
one coming up later this week and I can't say I'm really looking
forward to it. Not only is there the interview itself but there is
also a task I have to do beforehand. And it brings back some bad
memories. In particular one unpleasant experience I had at a Scottish
university ten or eleven years ago. The job was for an IT technician
and the task I had to do involved putting together some audio-visual
equipment. I had very little experience of this and from the array of
cables on the table in front of me I only recognised a couple so
chose them and we moved on to the interview.
I don't
remember much about the questions I was asked that day but I do
remember leaving the university feeling utterly dejected. They
managed to make me feel like I knew very little about computers
despite me having close on 15 years experience. It was really quite
humiliating and I decided there and then that I was not going to
apply for any more IT jobs. I'd had enough. In the months leading up
to me leaving my previous job, also in Higher Education, I had come
to the conclusion that IT was a young person's game, especially
working as a technician. Could I really see myself in 10 or 15 years time still crawling about under desks plugging in network cables? No
I couldn't.
But here
I am ten years later applying for an IT job and I've been offered an
interview. I suppose there isn't so much crawling about under desks
these days what with wi-fi technology and people of all ages use
computers so what does it matter how old I am?
With less
than three days to go I am getting more and more nervous but I
suppose the other candidates are probably feeling the same. At least
they are interviewing us seperately - it isn't one of those awful
scenarios where all the candidates are in a room together and you
have to take part in some team-building exercise. I think I'd rather
have my teeth drilled without anaesthetic than have to go through
that sort of thing.
If
someone had come up with an alternative to the traditional interview
I suppose it would have been adopted by now. But the thing is that in
the same way that some people are good at doing exams, some people
come over very well at interviews though this is not always an
accurate reflection of what they are actually like. I remember hearing
of an accountant who was very cheerful and chatty at his interview
and was offered the job but when he started work he was like a
completely different person. He hardly ever smiled and all the office
staff found him difficult to work with. He also had quite bad BO
which he had managed to hide at the interview.
So
interviews are far from perfect and employing anyone just on the
basis of a 30 minute question and answer session must be a gamble for
any employer. At least with this job I took them up on the offer of a
tour of the premises so they have already met me and I have an idea
of what the workplace is like.
I suppose
all anyone can do under these circumstances is...
