1642: Still On the Hunt

Still trying to secure a job. It’s a stressful process — particularly as I’m not working right now and thus very much need one rather than just wanting one — but at least things are moving, albeit slowly.

I’ve had two interviews this week, one of which I felt I was unlikely to be successful in but figured it was worth a shot anyway, and the other of which was today. I won’t say too much about that as I’m yet to discover what the results were — even if I proved successful at this stage, there’ll be a second interview to contend with — but it was quite a pleasant experience.

I’ve actually had relatively few formal interviews in my overall “career”, if you can call it that. Professional working life, if you can’t. I had formal interviews for when I worked in schools — during which I discovered that, more often than not, any parent governors on the interview panel tended to look positively on candidates who asked them questions about the school and how it was serving their children, rather than the usual, boring, predictable responses to the dreaded “any questions?” Aside from that, however, my work in retail involved a group “interview” that was actually more of an activity day, and my work in the games press tended to involve either being headhunted directly — always a nice boost to the self-confidence — or behind-the-scenes negotiations without a formalised “recruitment” process.

An interview is an important part of the hiring process for many companies, but I’m not sure it’s always the best approach. It’s all too easy for a candidate to overprepare and start spewing cliche after cliche rather than giving a true picture of their personality; I try and avoid this approach as much as possible, answering questions honestly and hopefully letting the real me shine through. Then hoping that the panel actually likes the real me, of course.

What I find much more interesting and useful is an “interview” situation where there are things to do that are directly relevant to the job in question. Perhaps the ability to demonstrate my lightning-fast, super-accurate typing, for example, or maybe the opportunity to show my skills at proofreading and editing. Even the much-maligned practice of role-play can be valuable, encouraging you to put yourself in another’s shoes and determine the best way to resolve a situation.

Anyway. I’m rambling and being vague, and deliberately so, since I don’t want to say too much about the jobs that are still in the running. I have a second interview for a job I went for a little while back on Monday, and I should hear if the company I went to see today wants to see me again next week, too.

Here’s hoping something comes of one of these. They’re both good jobs that could lead on to better things, and I’d be glad to take either one — but I’m mostly just anxious to get a job, full stop, right now.

Wish me luck. I need it.