Saturday, December 1, 2018

Interview memories

We got another skiff of snow last night, but the roofing crew is here and trying to get it done this weekend. It's only like 34 degrees outside.  I heated up some cans of beef stew and fed the 3 roofing guys some warm lunch.

Once the house is "dried in" then the electrician and hvac can get started. Hvac is supposed to get started next week and the electrician the week after. All the door and windows are now in...except for the front door. I think that's going on Monday.

I'm reading another good book called "The Boys in the Boat" about the UW rowing team who won the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. I keep finding books that sound good to read and I'm keeping a list and every time I try to borrow from the library e-books, there is a wait. I'm got probably 15 books on reserve. Hopefully they'll become available at different times so I'm not suddenly bombarded with books to read all at once.

I'm making some chocolate chip cookies in the teeny toaster oven I have. I have some cookie dough (DH likes to eat it raw) in the fridge, and warm cookies sound good. Too bad I can only make like 4 at a time, LOL.

I was noticing from a Facebook post that my neice's husband works for this guy I interviewed for a bookkeeping job with, years ago. That brought back a memory. Man, that guy was too intense and hyper for me, LOL. Way Type A personality. and it was like he'd had about 10 cups of coffee. He ran his construction business out of an office attached to his garage. It came down to him deciding between me and another person. He chose the other person. They were asking lesser salary, if I recall. I found another job a week or two later. About a month or two later, he called me back up, asking if I was still looking for a job. I said "oh, what happened - your other person didn't work out?" I didn't even consider going to work for him at that point, since I had a new good job. I probably couldn't have stood his personality anyway.

Which then brought back the memory of the weirdest job interview I ever had. I think it was during this same job search. Another company in the same nearby small town this other interview was in. It was a pretty good sized manufacturing company looking to hire a staff accountant. The controller set the interview for like 5pm, which I thought a little weird, to begin with. We interviewed for quite awhile in his office and the interview seemed to go well. Then he wanted to give me a tour of the facility - which is always a good sign. I think by then it was 6 o'clock or after by the time we got back to his office. He then said he wanted to hire me (I was excited to hear that) and starts explaining that he will be hiring me through a temp agency for like 90 days and then after his corporate office closes the interviewing for the position, then I would be changed to a permanent employee. I was like wait a minute...are you saying you are going to hire me, but still be interviewing for the position during this time period? Well, yes, technically, but....and he had some lame excuse. I said, well no thank you. I am looking for a permanent full time position that I can stay at for a long time. I'm not looking for something temporary that might work into a permanent job, if you don't find someone else you like better in the next couple of months. He seemed very surprised by my reaction. I politely again, said no thank you and I left. It was kind of a creepy feeling looking back and being there that late when the office staff were gone (I think there were some working in the warehouse part).  Again, about 2 months later he calls me up........wanting to know if I was still looking for a job. Actually I think he called again sometime later that year, too. I recall getting two calls from him. So weird.

and another memory of a company I worked at part time during college. They were hiring another office person (there were like 3 or 4 of us in the office) and I was front in our little entrance area where we had some file cabinets. A girl walked in. So serious and somber. She was here to interview with the office manager. I was still doing filing when she left and after the office manager walked her to the door and she left, she turned to me and said "that is the saddest person I have ever met!" She said she could barely get 3 words out of her for each interview question she would ask her. Needless to say, she did not get hired, but I always wondered if that girl ever did find a job

11 comments:

  1. I could just eat some cookies. Yum.

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    1. I think I might have to make a few more today ;)

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  2. The weirdest interview I had started with the CV. Someone called me to ask for my CV re-written in my handwriting before they scheduled an interview. I did that and sent the CV. I was given an appointment date and I had an interview with a nice person. At the end of it he told me that, they did not have any openings suitable for my background and experience but that he wanted to get to know me since my handwriting was very impressive and that I had an interesting background. I thanked him and left the place not knowing whether to be angry for spending my time or be pleased that someone found me interesting and worth to get to know. Still don't know what to think.

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    1. Now that is weird!! Someone had too much time on their hands, LOL.

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  3. I loved Boys in the Boat. I hope your library luck is better than mine...my reserved books all seem to come in at the same time. ha!

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    1. I know, that's what often happens to me too! All of a sudden I have 4 books to read and only 21 days to borrow them. But, I also hate it when I have no books in my "bookshelf", which seems to happen quite often, and then everything I try to borrow isn't available and I'm too cheap to just buy an e-book.

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  4. That late interview would totally creep me out. I've always been a firm believer in trusting your gut feelings. Good thing you got out when you did!

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    1. This was back in like 2001 or 2002. I don't even know if I had a cell phone back then to call DH and let him know I was on my way home. I remember he was worried about me.

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  5. I left a good job at the World Trade Organization in Geneva to follow my new husband to the States, then left a good job at the World Bank because he wanted to move back to Pittsburgh. I did NOT want to move but he won in the end (ugghh - with all due respect to Pittsburgh, I didn't leave Birmingham England to end up in Pittsburgh). I needed to bring money in so went for an interview at a law firm in the city centre. I have never been in such a "silent" office, all these young girls doddering round in high heels and power suits. Mr. "Big" was just wandering back and forth not really doing anything. His secretary interviewed me first, looked me up and said that my appearance was "acceptable" (well bully for you). Then I had to sign a form to say that I would take no time off whatsoever in connection with my child. There was no leave the first year, one week the second, and after 2 years a whopping two weeks leave a year! And all for some piddly little salary. Hell I was getting 6 weeks leave, 10 days holidays, closed office between Christmas and New Year and making 10 times what they were offering. Now I know you can't really compare Geneva/Washington to Pittsburgh but I almost fell off my chair when I saw what they were "offering". When it got to be nearly an hour past the time for my interview and Mr. Big was still corridor crawling I went over to his secretary and asked for my coat back as I had other, more important ways to spend my time! It was great (I already knew at that point I didn't want their lousy job). Next day they called back to see if I would like to come back for an interview (I said no thanks) and a few months later the office manager called me again. She had quit and was setting up her own temping agency and told me she had kept my number as she admired my "balls". As luck would have it I was in the process of packing as I had been offered a job back in Switzerland but I have to admit it was SOOOO satisfying walking out of that place, I can tell you.

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    1. Crikey, I was on a roll there. Sorry to be so verbose!

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    2. that's a great story! I know when I was first starting out the big company I worked for was awful about having to take any time off if you had a sick little one. The guilt I felt from missing work or even having to take a few hours off to take my kid to the doctor! I'm sure there are still places like that, but it seems like companies aren't that bad anymore.

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