interview nervesssss

[Julie Johannessen]

augh so I just had a mini phone interview for the first time in a couple months. They're getting back to people early next week re: whether or not they've progressed to the in-person -- and I don't really know if I did well or not. Do you guys also have a problem self-assessing in this regard, or do you feel like you have a p. accurate idea whether you cinched it or not?

Like, I experience this after both university exams & job interviews: I'd like to say that it went well, but I DON'T TRUST MY PERCEPTIONS!!! and I don't want to say "AW YEAH IT WAS AWESOME" in case it... actually wasn't. I'm always like "oh shit I could've phrased x better, I could've pimped myself out more re: y, I should've mentioned z." And I know it's useless kicking myself after the fact, no use crying over spilt milk, etc etc.

And I would survive if this particular opportunity didn't pan out, considering it's the first publishing interview I've ever gotten! But. Still. I really want it and I know that I'm 100% qualified, it's just that there are probs competitors with more specific experience than me :(  GODDAMN EXP POINTS

[Heather Hacker]

I just had my interview today call and reschedule siiiigh.  I think that I generally have a good sense IMO but I've had a few where I'm like idk man idk.

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[Raina Kennedy]

Eeeep!! Well good luck to BOTH of you. I personally know that I am terrible at phone interviews - I've only ever gotten ONE positive response from a phone interview, and that interestingly enough was for my phonathon job at school (calling alumni asking for donations). Anyway I always feel so awkward on the phone -- I'm pretty good at assessing conversations when I can read people's facial expressions and body language and I feel so disconnected/get distracted easily when I'm on the phone with someone. And my relatives wonder why I don't call them! I also hate talking about myself because I always feel like an imposter "oh yes I'm soooo good at x y z."

Also my least favorite question - WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST WEAKNESS? I have never properly figured out how to answer this one. Please tell me. Because I'm always nervous and afraid that I'm going to be like "well if you want me to be HONEST, I am disorganized, always late to everything, kind of flaky, I never pick up my phone, I stopped going to class halfway through my last semester of school..." LIKE IS THAT QUESTION A TRAP, OR WHAT? What am I supposed to SAY? 

basically i say all of this to say that i never feel good about interviews after they are over. unless it's one of those "here have a courtesy interview but we've basically hired you already"  things. 

[Julie Johannessen]

phone vs. in-person: ME TOO, agreed entirely. I know some people prefer phone interviews bc it means they can have notes in front of them to help them out, but I've always had TERRIBLE phone anxiety so I much, much much prefer being able to read facial expressions & body language so I can tell how it's going. Plus I feel like you can connect better in-person. Plus if an answer starts going awry, I can rescue it better if it's in-person? e.g. people say it's okay to go 'hang on, lemme think about that for a sec' in a face-to-face interview, rather than subjecting them to lots of awkward hemming and hawing -- but that contemplative silence would be WAY more mortifying to me on a phone.

biggest weakness: OKAY SO I was just talking to someone about this. My way of tackling this -- bc it's a really common question -- is 'choosing' one standout weakness that a) is legit (i.e. no "well I work too hard! I'm too loyal!" bullshit) but not crippling, b) might not even affect this particular position that much, and c) you can evince that you're aware of it, are consciously working on improving it, and IDEALLY can provide a concrete example of when you tackled your weakness~~ at a past position.

for example: I used to tell people that time management was my problem (bc I'm a hardcore procrastinator), but then I improved on that to an extent that I suffered from an OVERABUNDANCE of organisation? And my desired jobs started requiring really good time management and organisation, so I've tried to turn that into a strength instead, stopped mentioning it as a weakness.

SO INSTEAD I talk about conflict management nowadays -- because these jobs aren't customer service-oriented, so it's not a necessary strength? But it might come up in internal office conflict! So it's a problem area, but one that I'm working on improving, annnnd most importantly shouldn't directly fuck up my chances of getting that job.

[Julie Johannessen]

also i pace nervously like a motherfucker on the phone, so i always worry that i'm going to sound out-of-breath as i wear a path into the carpet

[Heather Hacker]

I pace do bad too like constantly :/

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[Raina Kennedy]

BIG NEWS GUYS - I HAVE ENOUGH QUARTERS TO DO MY LAUNDRY

!!!!!!!!

[Allison Brown]

I know this is like from ~2 days ago, but I just managed to get a phone interview for a job I applied for ages ago (OR IT FELT LIKE AGES AGO, but it's at a non-profit, so they tend to go slow, if Kati's life is any indication), so I'm going to tack on some general thoughts about this because. SORRY IF IT'S NOT TIMELY/YOU GUYS COULDN'T CARE LESS AS OF 2 DAYS AGO, but I guess I'm looking at this response as a case of "but we can have this support/resource for each other as we all slowly get employed" and whatnot. SO OKAY, OLD SCHOOL E-MAILING YOU 2 DAYS LATERRRRR

• EXPERIENCE WITH PHONE INTERVIEWS: Now that I think about it, I think I inadvertently had a phone interview with my IMA job opportunity and perhaps Old Navy, and I ended up getting an in-person interview both times. So I guess I do okay with them, despite being terrified of the telephone. I think that listening skills are key -- I'm usually someone who is interrupted in general conversations, so I translate this into a "let's wait for someone to finish the sentence" on the phone since I can't read their expressions or whatever. I do prefer the face-to-face (although apparently I just haven't been lucky; my biggest interview said that pretty much I was in the last rung of candidates but they just had to cull me off, so MAYBE I DO OKAY IF I'M SUPER-PREPARED???), but I guess I just try to remember Good Listening Skills going into the interview and attempt to process properly. Also, whoever said the thing about notes was genius, mad snaps.
• THE HORRORS OF THE "BIGGEST WEAKNESS" QUESTION: I read somewhere that the big way to deal with the "biggest weakness" question is to mention it and then mention how you're proactively looking to fixing that weakness. I mean, they want you to be honest, but they also want you to show that you know it's a weakness and that you're interested in turning it into a learning opportunity. CHEESY? PERHAPS. But as I actually have a big interview coming up, I'm going to have to think about/anticipate that query. Oh. God.
• RAINA HAS ENOUGH QUARTERS FOR LAUNDRY: fuck yeah you do.
  

!!!!!!!!

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[Julie Johannessen]

yesss definitely yes on the "but I've been trying x, y, z as ways to COMBAT MY WEAKNESS".

I'm usually someone who is interrupted in general conversations, so I translate this into a "let's wait for someone to finish the sentence" on the phone since I can't read their expressions or whatever --> aaaha ha ha my phonecall was a bit of a mess in that sometimes she talked over me and sometimes I talked over her, but thankfully I didn't view it as A HORRIFIC DISASTER!!! at the time, because tbh it just sounded more like we were both REALLY EXCITED so kept accidentally trodding on each others' conversation-toes. But that had never happened to me before, so... DEFINITELY LISTEN CAREFULLY AND DO NOT INTERRUPT THE INTERVIEWER.

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[Raina Kennedy]

I INTERRUPT EVERYONE ALL THE TIME!!! No, just kidding. I have an interview at a cafe/bakery tomorrow so maybe i'll finally get to realize my dream of learning how to make latte art??? 

[Allison Brown]

omg i hope you just make :) faces all the time raina. "THIS IS MY MASTERPIECE -- THE PICASSO OF LATTES!!!!" 

and julie, I THINK YOU GUYS WERE JUST EXCITED. SERIOUSLY. like, SURELY IT CAN'T BE BAD IF IT'S TWO-SIDED!!!! </the worst encouragement ugh!!!>

[Heather Hacker]

Lol I cannot do latte art after nine months it's sad

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[Julie Johannessen]

omg latte art do want

[Allison Brown]

none of my coffee shops do latte art, even mo joe's. WHAT IS IT LIKE????

i feel like heather is the only person who knows of where i speak. (WE WENT TO THE SAME UNI, HEATHER, PLEASE TELL ME YOU WENT TO MO JOE'S.) 

[Heather Hacker]

I was not a big coffee drinker before I started working here I cannot tell a lie

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[Heather Hacker]

unrelated i thought someone took my lavender beer but I FOUND IT
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