* In my Technical Writing III class, our Project Manager was demoted to Technical Expert because of her incompetence this week while the migraine suffering Technical Expert became the Project Manager. Thankfully me (the Lead Writer) and the Document Designer are fairly competent and healthy. We just may need to carry this team.
* This class is from 6:30 to 9:25 at night. I go to it directly from work and come about 7:30, I'm winding down for the night. I don't think my teammates really know the sound of my voice which is a) probably a good thing and b) a good seque for the next point...
* In my 7.5 week Career Practices Seminar class, part of the grade involves doing a faux job interview with our instructor. If I dread doing things, usually I want to do them right away to get it over with and this was no different. I signed up for the first available day which was yesterday. It wasn't part of the grade but she wanted us to dress up as we would for an interview but I wasn't in the mood to shop so I made do with sort of a dressier version of business casual. While we were interviewing, we were also being videotaped which we watched later. It was painful. Not because I flubbed the interview. I actually think I did very well and the teacher gave me props for working my portfolio into the conversation. The painful part was just listening to myself and watching me. I'm kind of frumpy looking, I have a really irritating voice, I had my head sort of tipped the entire time and I was using my hands as I talked as much as if I was Italian. I came away with a new appreciation of Big A and everyone who lets me be their friend. Currently, I'm trying to work on developing a completely new voice.
* There were three other people also scheduled to give their interviews and they did really well. The first guy (the only one in a suit) seems to be painfully shy and it was interesting to see him come out of his awkward shell when it came time for him to try and get the interviewer to look at his portfolio. As she was looking at it, he became more and more talkative and animated. The pride he has in computer programming, while confusing to me, was evident to see. So much so that not only did I write it down on his review sheet but during the playback, I mentioned it out loud to which he seemed to really appreciate. I like giving really positive feedback that means something to that person.
5 comments:
I wore a suit to my first interview and have never worn one since. It never seems to be a factor in getting a job offer even if I was the only one not wearing one which always seems to be the case. Perhaps because my lack of suit makes me standout.
When interviewing, I just pretend like I just met the person somewhere out in public and was answering their question of "What do I do for a living?" I also tell myself that the worst that can happen is that they say no which makes me exactly where I was before the interview.
I do have one secret weapon for interviewing and that is to bring in something physical that the inteviewer can hold and look at. I have brought smaller stuff that I have designed and set it on their desk at the start of the interview. It always starts the interview with something that I can talk about easily versus abstract questions like, "What makes you the best person for this job?"
What were you wearing when you got married?
I like that last idea. In my case, I'm not sure how well something like a Rubik's cube would work. :-)
I had to wear a tux for the wedding. That was the first day decisions on how to dress ceased to be mine.
I hate having to watch myself on tv after the fact--but have done that a few times :)
I don't mind suits, but perfer flipflops and baggies... (not a good choice to interview in unless you're going out to be a lifeguard)
I dislike watching myself after the fact, too. I liked ed abbey's choice of bringing an object in for the interviewer to see and handle.
Last week I was under the weather so that's way I didn't show up on your blog then. Somehow in general though I need find a way to accomplish more things like going for hikes, visiting other people's blogs, and working on mine.
Post a Comment