Adventures in Interviewing

So after all my hard work - attending sessions at 40Plus, networking with INALJ and other places, posting and applying for job after job - I landed a couple of interviews.

One was for a job at a university library. It was a phone interview. I was on the phone with three people for about an hour. I think/hope I did a good job answering their questions. The interview as at 9:00 am. I got up, showered, dressed - more for business casual than for a day at home, ate my breakfast and brushed my teeth. I also closed extraneous sessions on my computer so I could concentrate on the interview.

The search committee had a total of 12 questions starting with the ever-popular, Tell us about yourself?. At the end I had a few questions for them and we thanked each other and said good bye. I did send an email to thank the interviewers and follow-up on the questions. Now I get to wait to see if I am invited for an on-site interview.

The second interview of the week was for a job I hadn't applied for. Ah serendipity!

An acquaintance in another city invited me to join her network on Linked-In. I accepted and thereupon followed a flurry of emails. A friend of hers from grad school works for a library services contractor and we had both posted on a topic on Linked-In. I should contact someone in the contractor's DC area office. More invitations on Linked-In and then a phone call. They have a two-month temp job to finish out a contract at a government library in a Maryland suburb of DC.

The interview was arranged and on Tuesday morning past I made my way to the site. I had been by there for years - a friend of mine lives close by, in fact other friends live near there too. But it was my first time on the campus. I arrived a tad early and the interview got underway.

One of the interviewers mentioned that he has looked at my blog and asked if I would blog about the interview. I considered a wry answer, but well, here I am blogging about it. You note that so far I haven't named the agency.

The interview went really well. Both of the interviewers seemed really nice. And despite everything I know about preparing for an interview - there was a major FAIL on my part. I hadn't taken the time to track down their offices' websites.

I realized it earlier that morning - when it was really too late to do that. So I was honest and admitted that I hadn't. Several excuses popped into my head - but I realized that even given all that - it was my responsibility to do the research.

That being said, I must have done a reasonable job of letting them know what I am capable of because later on Tuesday - after I got home, tracked down the websites, looked at them and emailed my thanks to the pair - I got a call from the rep at the contractor offering me the job.

Yay!! So starting next Monday through the end of September I'll be working on websites, adding links to some bibliographies, and helping out with some reference. All things I like. And it is in a new subject area - so I'll get to learn about some of that. And meet new people, and get out of the house every day.

As the Pointer Sisters would say -- I'm so excited!