Interview

So last week I had an interview scheduled for 2:30pm. I was extremely excited about the idea of actually having made it past the e-mail /phone crap that seems to happen now before interviews. Basically it seems that the web, while good in theory, has degraded the ability of a job seeker to get into a one-on-one interview without jumping through a barrage of hoops. Needless to say, I finally made it and was the 4th and last interviewer for the day. I was dressed to a T in a black suit and tie and looked highly professional. I showed up about 10 minutes early for the interview and sat in the waiting area talking to the secretary. It was nice because it allowed me to loosen up and get rid of the overwhelming nerves that were trying to take me over. When the interview started I was in the HR directors office with her and a techie guy. The techie guy spent the first 25 minutes or so letting me know what the company does and things were going well. I had a full understanding and we moved right into my resume.

My resume is pretty decent with about 8 years of solid professional experience, however I do not have a degree which always comes up and seems to knock off about 4 years of my experience. I haven't understood why a degree matters, mainly because I have been in the working world for so long and haven't applied any of the general shit that they teach you in school. But I guess that topic is whole other can of worms, basically my new thought on it is that a company likes to see a degree so that they know you have got your party days out of your system.

The HR lady wasn't very involved in the interview and was doing e-mail, phone calls and such which I thought was rude but at the same time accepted because she had said she was leaving for vacation and didn't understand the techie stuff anyways. The tech guy was pretty cool and we talked about many different topics and skills all of which I was able to speak educated about. After about 1 hour the HR lady excused herself and asked the tech guy to call her after the interview to discuss his thoughts. She stated that she was going to leave and get started on her vacation. Seemed somewhat unprofessional, I mean if you are going to schedule an interview for 2:30pm on the day before you go on vacation, don't leave before it's over.

After she left the tech guy and I kept talking and everything seemed to be going great. He was throwing around comments like, you'd fit right in with the other guys, and when you start you'll get a computer. He would always try to correct himself with the "if we accept you" or "if you are picked". Again I thought these were all good signs and after 1.5 hours, the interview was over and I left feeling pretty confident.

I received an e-mail on Friday stating that someone else from another agency was picked for the position. I was crushed since I had let the excitement and possibility of escaping my current hell-hole get the best of me. I proceeded to continue my search for a new opportunity to hopefully get me out of this place. In retrospect it was probably for the better as the position was a contract position and was farther away.