Unemployment: The Second Interview

Perhaps I'm wrong, but should the second interview not cause less angst than the first?  It wasn't that way for me.  I said to my husband; "I'm not a very likeable person" and he looked at me like I had grown a second head.  So, that was a positive, right?!

The manager had told me that the interview was to address "fit" and I was concerned from the start.  What if the new coordinator didn't like me?  If it's just "fit" then that's an acceptable reason to say "thanks again, but we've decided to go in another direction."  I once interviewed at a place where they told me I was expected to be available at all hours of the night because the program dealt with international students and their parents may call when it's convenient for them.  I asked if I had to be available by phone or in the office and she rolled her eyes and snidely remarked "well of course you have to be available by phone, this is a 24 hour job".  I figured if that was the type of response I received for asking for clarification, I was probably going to get used to not asking and getting in trouble for doing things wrong.  That, and I figured somewhere within the previous 15 minutes, she decided she didn't think much of me.

All I'm saying is, you never know what you're going to get and although my first interview had been an absolute smash, I was concerned about the second.  As it turned out, it was okay.  I say okay because the coordinator (who I was supposed to fit with) stumped me with a question.  "What, specifically, would you bring to the facilitation process?" She asked. "What special skills do you have that you could use to make it enjoyable for the participants? For instance one of the facilitators makes smoothies when she's talking about nutrition." Special skills?? Holy crap!!

I talked about how I think of these types of workshops as an opportunity to entertain the group in some way, either through anecdotes or additional information.  I talked about how I've been able to entertain groups with very limited material, just to keep them interested.  I bombed.  "At least, that's what's at the top of my head" I said.  There was laughter. "If you're anything like me," said the coordinator, "it will come to you at 3:00 am".   It came to me as I was driving home.

I wrote an email to the manager, who I knew was heading into a meeting directly after my interview.  In the subject line I wrote "It only took 10 minutes".  You see, in addition to the many things I have rolling around in my head, I've also been working on some cooking stuff (so "smoothies" should have triggered my response).  I told her what I'd been thinking of doing with that.  Maybe she'll mention it to them.  Maybe it will still turn out okay.  FFS.