Monday, July 23, 2007

The Interview

Picture source: Unknown

You’ve been to one; you've been to them all.
One might say that one interview is pretty much the same as any other, the same questions, and the same routine:
First they ask you about yourself, what brought you here and why you applied for the job and then they try determining your personality by asking basic questions like:
“What are your best qualities; what are your weaknesses and which virtue would you say you lack the most.”
There are those that stick to the psychological approach with those questions that any veteran in interviews knows how to answer to perfection:
“Is the cup half empty or half full?”
“Would you prefer working on your own or with a team, and why?”
After you've gone through enough of these your become vaccinated to telling them what they want to hear.

I was lucky enough once in my lifetime to go through one of those interviews that caught complete interest and motivated me to me to the point of practically going on my knees and saying “Please hire me! This is what I want to be doing! Go ahead, I plead you…”
I got that job… and I wasn’t disappointed.

I didn't think I'd get that lucky again, but recently I went to another one of those interviews where I had to desperately fight the urge to chain myself to the door and say “I ain’t leaving until you tell me that I’m chosen for this position”

An hour and a half… beating all previous interview records I’d held.
He asked me the most intelligent and interesting questions that I've ever had the pleasure of asking, the kind that you don't normally ask someone you want to work FOR you.
“Think of your most difficult boss, how was it like working for him and how did you handle that?”
“What do you think are the three main mistakes being made by our company?”
“What measures would you implement to try and fix them?”
“What kind of mistakes have you made in your current job?”
“What did you learn from them?”
“Are you ambitious?”

I wouldn’t call it ambition, I call it determination and the longer I spoke to him, the more motivated and confident he got me… defining that moment when that inner voice tells you “this is where I want to be”.

Did I get the job? I don't know yet… but I’m crossing thumbs that this one’s written in my destiny.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

“Think of your most difficult boss, how was it like working for him and how did you handle that?”

Off the record: I think I would write a blog!

Have fun!

DRC said...

It's good that interviews can be that nice,or else the panic at interviews would be overwhelming.

As for you, I just wish you the best and may you live (or continue to) your dreams.

Ana Maia said...

O importante mesmo é tentar. Acreditar que somos capazes e tentar.

mr said...

Da mesma forma que antes o desejaste e tiveste, desta vez, espero que aconteça também! caso não aconteça, de certeza que te irás encontrar numa outra entrevista de trabalho em que sintas o mesmo, ou não fosses determinada, citando-te! :)

I hope you've broken a leg :p

Anonymous said...

Hope you do better than me in this one. In 15 years working for others, I found a dream job. Nice pay, fantastic superiors, a promising team and a technological park that I could only find in my dreams. The down size was so big that no one can cope with it if you need money to pay your bills… terrible inconsistency relating the date your pay check comes in, and forget about Xmas and vacations making a stance in your bank account.

Never the less, I made spectacular contacts that some day may be of great value. A dead bird doesn’t mean the end of Spring. Keep believing in you, and in your abilities to make your dreams happen. Do it for yourself and those you love.