Once more into the breach (another job interview)

[LanternWaste]

Here we go again. Another job interview at another company. Six months ago, I would have been overjoyed at the prospect of a job interview because six months ago, I had confidence I would snag any job I interviewed for (I give great interview...). But with seven interview under my belt, all of which I did well on and all of which were finally given to a candidate who already worked for the company, my hope at landing this one is non-existent.

Not that I'm discouraged, mind you. I simply feel numb about it. No expectations or wishful thinking. So I've got on my "interview clothes", a smallish dab of nice cologne and my interview face.

Four years ago, when I was interviewing, I had four prospective employees call me and *beg* me to work for them, and I could choose the position I thought I was best suited for. Now, after almost one year of unemployment, I'm really beginning to wonder if I'll be flipping burgers at the end of the month.

Dammit! Thank you, Mr. pResident. You've really illustrated to me how wonderful your domestic programs are working. Tax cuts my *ss. I swear to God I'm doing my best to get Chimpy McShpimpants out of office this Nov. and put him in the unemployment lines. I don't hate anyone, but my severe dislike for him is gradually moving to levels even I could never have forseen. x(

Anyway, I'll post again when I get back and let everyone know how it goes. Thanks for listening.

[GOPisEvil]

1. Good luck.

:thumbsup:

[beawr]

2. I hope you get what you want.

Your story is the same as mine. I finally got some work through a friend of my wife's.

[supernova]

3. Good luck on your interview

Let us know how it goes.

Wish I had one.

*Sigh* I feel the same as you. Kinda numb about it all.

[madrchsod]

4. i know how you feel

i`ve given up trying to be optimistic about interviews. good luck!

[meegbear]

5. Stay the course!!

Yoiu'll make it. And here's a big glob of karma for yah! Good Luck!

[stopbush]

6. I know what you're going through.

I had the same situation 4 years ago, ie: firms approaching me and begging me to work for them. I picked the wrong one, lost the position...and have been out of work for 2.5 years.

And, I'm in the same boat as you with interviews. I've probably had 100 interviews in 2 years, they all go well, but the only people who actually offer something turn out to be pretty shady or "small investment required" scams.

Next Friday I'm being flown up to the SF Bay area for an interview at a big software firm. There are actually two positions open, and this company says they have done all the internal promotion/moving around they can and MUST hire new people to fill open positions. They've approached me off and on over the past year but never offered anything. Now, they're finally flying me in for a face-to-face.

It all looks so promising. 4 years ago, I would have felt it was in the bag. But these days, I'm more prepared for the brush-off than the thumbs up.

[Interrobang]

7. Good luck -- know how you feel...

I've been sporadically employed since I graduated from grad school -- a six-month contract here, a four-month contract there, and a couple of almost year-long periods of unemployment between. In October, I got laid off from the job I'd held the longest (just under 2 years), and AFAIK the company's out of business now. I've gotten some freelancing work in the interim, but it's not enough to pay the bills.

I've only had *one* serious job interview since October, and they gave me the brush-off. (On the other hand, I just had someone call me out of the blue, possibly looking to interview me, and I just had a friend-of-a-friend hand my resume to someone internal at a Really Really Big Software Company, a division of which is allegedly looking for technical writers, so we'll see.)

And being in Canada, I don't even have El Shrubbo to blame for a lack of jobs..

[ewagner]

8. Things I hate about interviews

I've had 7 or 8 of them in the past year. Here are some horror stories:

1. I showed up 10 mins early for the interview. Two of the three who were on the interview committee were already there. Greeted me and said they had to wait for the chairman. Twenty minutes after the interview was supposed to start, the Chairman(chairwoman) finally shows up with her McDonald's breakfast biscuit in a bag and a cup of coffee. She goes into the interview room with the other tw, yucks it up (I can hear them from the reception area) with the other two while she eats her sandwich. They call me in 10 minutes later and inform me that they are going to have to cut the interview SHORT TO MAKE UP FOR THE LATE START! She then proceeds to read questions off of a typed sheet of paper. By this time I'm really pissed and when she asks me what my greatest weakness is, I tell her that I don't "suffer fools well". Game over!

2. I went to an interview for what I thought was a highly professional position. Upon arriving at the itnerview/job site, I discover that nobody in the room is over 25 years old! Including the "Manager". I'm (uuummmm) Mature....so it was like being interviewed by my own kid. The interviewer keeps referring to me as "Sir"...a sure sign he thinks I'm older than dirt!

3. I interviewed for a low level job in a large corporation. I was taken on a tour of the department before the interview by the departmetn manager. The manager is a female and all twelve other employees in the department are female. It becomes very obvious, very quickly that I am the token male interviewee. The interview is textbook and I play it absolutely straight....and never hear from them again.

Screw it!

I'll struggle trying to sell health insurance rather than go through another one of these demeaning, fruitless exercises.

Good luck with your interview.

[stopbush]

9. Those are pretty bad horror stories.

We all have them, but your McChairwoman is one of the worst I've heard.

I, too, have had the interview with the pre-pubescent manager type. The worst is that they don't even know how to conduct an interview. You wonder how they do at their jobs (not really - you know their incompetence doesn't stop with interviewing).

But I think an even more-reprehensible character is the seasoned guy who is holding interviews with no intention or need to hire anyone, but rather, is trying to pick the interviewee's brain for an idea that he can steal and present to his higher-ups as his own. I've been on at least 5 interviews where some jackass will say "what's the first thing you'd do to improve things here?" I've even had the "I'd like you to submit a 2-page proposal to me outlining what you'd do if we hire you...and give me at least one specific thing you'd change." BTW - I once worked for an asshole who did just this type of thing. I was the first-level interviewer, and I'd pass the good candidates along to him. I didn't know he was doing this until an acquaintance of mine went through the process and reported back to me about my boss's "requests." I confronted Mr boss who timidly admitted his scam - and I told him that my involvement with his interview process was over. He couldn't fire me because I was running his business.

The other really bad situation is where you're interviewing for a "guru" position, ie: you're going to be called on to repair damages caused by bad process/personnel. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes into the interview, you realize that the guy interviewing you is responsible for all the fuck-ups. He wants you to ride herd on his staff, as if being an "anything it takes" jerk will suddenly make his lame-brained schemes work. It's really unbelievable.

My worst situation in the past three months was an interview I did with the Las Vegas Review Journal here in town. The guy doing the hiring called me about a senior marketing position. During the phone interview, he asked me specifically if I had ever worked at a newspaper. I said that I had a paper route when I was young (ha! lame, but it drew a laugh) and that in my travels I had worked the client side, booking ad space etc in national mags and papers like the NY Times and Chicago Trib. "Oh, that's great. That fills in any blanks I had in your resume. Can you come in Monday?" Of course, I come in Monday. He's about 10 minutes late to an 11:30 AM interview...it's obvious he's completely forgotten about it. After 15 minutes of BS, I'm forced to make him get down to actually interviewing me about the position. Well, this VP position has suddenly dropped to a manger spot and - get ready - "the paper REALLY wants someone with a newspaper background." "So, why the hell am I sitting here?" "Oh, I'm really sorry, I guess there was something about your resume that piqued my interest...where was that?"

Of course, it's no skin off his ass that you wasted your time.

Fuckin' maroon.

[ewagner]

11. Wow!

Thanks for the horror stories. I was beginning to think I had a tattoo on my forehead that said "sucker".

Maybe we should start a thread on interview horror stories?

[CrownPrinceBandar]

10. Unemployed DU'ers unite!

This is the second time in three years that I've been unemployed. No real prospects on the horizon. I feel numb also. My family doesn't understand why I have don't have a job; I have a college degree after all. I try to explain to them the state of the economy, that we are experiencing one of the worst job market in history, and that the numbers they see on the news of a job recovery are obfuscations. Over 30,000 people STOPPED looking for work last month due to lack of opportunity (sorry, no link -heard it on NPR).

Good Luck on the interview, hope you get the job!

[LanternWaste]

12. Just got back....

Just got back from the interview. It seemingly went well. Although it's a part-time night shift position doing low-end IT for a healthcare company, the guys who work there really appear to like it. If nothing else, the guy I interviewed with said he'd call me back on Mon or Tues and let me know one way or the other, so that's a bit of a plus. Additionally, we really seemed to hit it off (but that should start the warning bells in my head as I *always* seem to hit it off with the interviewer...heck, I almost thought one was going to ask me out on a date!) and seemed to like the fact that my answers to his questions weren't the same, rote responses he'd been getting.

Also, the position opened up because they promoted the guy who had been doing it and there's no one below that level to hire inside from. So I guess there are a few benefits to being on the low end of the totem pole...

I want to be positive and hopeful that I'll hear from him, but as I said in my initial post, I'm all outta hope and living off my 401 that I finally surrendered last month. Dammit!