The 'other' interview

The interview went quite well, despite my nervousness and the expectation that I was going to interview really poorly this time.

The recruiter who had set up this interview had built up a number of my expectations about the interviewer. At our previous meeting he made a passing remark about how the interviewer was a prompt person. There goes Expectation #1. She was around 5 minutes late to the interview.

Expectation #2: She is a very quiet, soft-spoken person who won't show you her cards. "You're doing well if you can make her smile", the recruiter pretty much said. Well I did that. On at least 3 occasions. There goes Expectation #2.

Expectation #3: "She will hammer you with questions, one after the other. And none of the behavioural fluff. She wants to know if you can do the job." This was partly true, she was asking questions one after the other, but I didn't feel at all hammered. She was asking relevant questions:

"Tell me about your previous roles."
"What have you learnt from your previous roles that you believe you can bring in to this one?"
"How much experience have you had writing reports and other correspondence?"
"Why did you move from your previous role to your current one?"
"What interests you about this role that you are applying for?"

And she didn't make me feel like I was beneath her, or judging me on my career decisions so far.

Expectation #4: She is immaculately presented. So I was expecting one of those women who always has her hair done, her nails painted, and her make-up flawless. When she arrived to greet me in the reception area, she looked neat and professional (as one would also expect an interviewer to be) but she wasn't completely done up as I was picturing her to be. She actually had one lock of hair that was sticking out to one side a little too much, which I kept staring at throughout the interview because I kept thinking that this lock of hair was just so out of place for this person who I had just built up in my mind to be perfectly presented at the interview.

And man, can I rant at interviews! LOL I'm a naturally quiet person (as I have described in my profile), but at interviews, there's no stopping me! Maybe it's because I go in with the expectation that I will need to talk about me, and so I'm in a totally different mindset. Ordinarily I hate talking about my life with others. Even the slightest hint that the topic is steering towards me, I will start devising ways of steering it away again. :-)

So after asking me the above questions (and probably a few other ones that I can't remember now), she went on to tell me about the role, the organisation, and how I and the rest of the team fit in to the grand scheme of things. And I asked a few questions along the way, I adopted the obligatory "look as if you are absolutely fascinated" pose. Although I don't have to put it on, so to speak, I am genuinely interested about the role and the company. And I think my genuine interest appeals to the interviewer, the positive signals that I subconsciously send are probably being subconsciously read by the interviewer also.

She also mentioned that she would like for me to meet her manager and that she'll contact the recruiter to arrange this, hopefully for sometime next week. So I think that's a positive sign that the interview went well!

So we finally wrapped up the interview, and as she was showing me to the lifts, I commented on how nice their office is. That's when she decided to show me their office canteen/cafeteria area, pointing out the coffee machine from which I can get FREE coffee whenever I wanted. My jaw dropped (I am an avid coffee drinker) and half-jokingly said "well you've tempted me already!", which is when I scored another laugh from her. More positive signs, if you ask me! :-)

Maybe that's why I do well in interviews. I'm prepared, I go in with a confident and open attitude, expecting the interview to be a two-way street where both parties are there to learn more about the other. Even if I'm not the right person for this role and this opportunity doesn't proceed any further, at least I had the chance to practise my interview technique in preparation for the med one! Which fingers crossed will happen later this year...