Interview

I decided to apply for the position of Director of my old department and had an interview for this on Wednesday. I thought that I might have a good chance at this position considering I actually trained the guy who previously filled it. I thought that I could walk in to the interviews with confidence and “talk the talk”. On Tuesday I met with a friend of mine in HR who proceeded to tell me “they are considering a stronger candidate, but it might be good for you to meet with the CIO anyway, so she can hear what you have to say.” What an intro.

I met with two people the next day – the CIO for an hour in person and then her counterpart for another half hour over the phone. Mind you, I used to work with these people and know their um...habits…they are very demanding. Still though, I went to the interview with as much confidence that I could muster. That’s when they pulled out the business jargon dictionary… “What value proposition can you bring to the table?” “What advice/ideas would you provide to help us build a stronger labor model?” “Tell me an example when you have worked with a matrix management situation…” and so on… (Fortunately, I had looked up “matrix management” on google right before the interview and got that one.) For the other questions, I would put into it into context with the rest of the conversation and just hope I was going down the right track with my answer. She then asked me, “How is your success measured in your current role”, to which I instantly replied, “That’s a really good question, I have no idea.” I could tell this shocked her – ‘you should know that’, she replied. I wanted to say, I KNOW – THIS IS WHY I’M APPLYING FOR A DIFFERENT JOB. But I didn’t, and then she proceeded to ask how I thought my success should be measured in the position I was applying for. To which I made up a long winded answer, which could be summarized by the first sentence that went something like, “I would guess my success would be measured on whether or not I do a good job, and accomplish everything you need.” At the end of the day why can’t we just ask our bosses, “Are you happy with the work I’m doing?” Yes or No. But I digress…


At the end of the interview she also echoed the HR lady with the news of “we have one strong candidate we are considering” thereby implying it was not me. Seriously though, if that interview is an inkling of what I would encounter on the job – then maybe it’s for the best. And to end on a lighter note – my proudest moment of recovery was when I almost fell forward out of the chair, caught myself, continued talking and didn’t bat an eye. She on the other hand said, “oh my!” If anything, they should really hire me for my comic relief.