We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop? #8

Okay, so life is crazy and the job search just got more…I’m not sure “interesting" is the word I want, but we‘ll go with that.

So, I mentioned I had a phone interview. Well, I actually had two phone interviews this week! The second one was for a residence life position at a larger university. So, not exactly my ideal, but it’s close to here.

Can I just say how strikingly different the interviews were? The contrast is amazing. But, at the same time, I think that how I feel (about how they went) could not really matter in the end because I am not sure anyone is ever really certain how a phone interview went. It’s so hard to tell because you can’t see facial expressions, body language, etc. And then there are those dreaded silences. Are the interviewers making faces at each other like “That was a horrible answer she just gave” or are nodding and smiling? Who knows? It’s irritating and nerve-wracking.

So I feel my first interview with College A was good. It was with one person and he seemed very personable and interested in what I had to say. The interview was extremely conversational – not question-answer-question-answer – with awkward pauses in between. In fact, I don’t ever think I’ve had an interview that was quite as conversational. It was enjoyable and even though I am not 100% sure I will get asked for a second interview, I feel I made a good show. It was only after I got off the phone that I realized how nervous I was – my hand that had been holding the phone began trembling!

The second interview with College B was quite the contrast. It was with two people, so I was on speaker phone, and it was question-answer-question-answer. And I have a strong feeling I did not answer as well as I could have. I forgot to have my resume in front of me and so I missed key points of my experience. I also don’t think I gave enough specific, concrete answers. It was much more difficult for me to do this because of my limited residence life experience. I do think I did a good job talking about the importance of student development outside the classroom, but I floundered when saying specifically how I have/would foster student development. To sum up, I am disappointed in my performance, but am not sure this position would have been the best place for me anyway.

On a side note, when scheduling the interview with me and today when she called me, the interviewer said that I am “one of their top candidates”. But then when I asked about the timeline, she said they were conducting somewhere between 15-18 interviews! That, in my mind, does not make me a “top candidate”. If I was one of 3-5 asked to a campus interview that would make me a top candidate.

Now for one quick rant – I am so tired of hearing from my peers who are going to the national conferences. In class one day, my professor said, “So how is the job search process going?”, which opened the door for those conference-going people to brag for 30 minutes about how many interviews they have. It’s so annoying. Who cares? And why couldn’t we hear from people who aren’t going to conferences and how their job search is going? Not that I would share much. Maybe that’s my issue – I am a private person and would only talk about my job search with my close acquaintances/friends. Well, with the exception of anonymously blogging about it for all the world to read….Am I am oxymoron? Um……yeah.