Friday, July 2, 2010

Robo-Interviewers



I had an interview this morning with a Crown corporation that deals with people who have addictions.

The interview was intensely structured. They gave me paper and a pen to write the questions down if I needed to remember parts of them. They provided me with water and a job description. They also told me that they had read my resume, but to talk about myself like they knew nothing about me- that was the strangest part. They scrawled my answers hastily on their question sheets. I had no positive response, no follow up questions, just robotic faces staring back at me. I don't even know if they liked the answers, thought I was funny, or knew I was an idiot when I walked in.

What threw me off the most was there was no "tell us about yourself" question to put me at ease. They dove right into "Tell us about a time when you dealt with a suicidal client". Holy Crow! The interview has already started? Wait a second, I have barely sat down! It's 9:30am and you're making me talk about all the dealings I've had with suicide in the past 5 years. Oh geez. Where is the door? The next 45 minutes had me talking about safety, crisis, past situations, addictions, more suicide, physical and verbal threats/abuse among other fun things!

The Robo-Interviewers seemed nice when I asked questions and talked casually at the end though. I told them that it was my anniversary today and they laughed that I was spending it with them. So, not total robots.

All in all, I did the best I could answering the questions. I don't think I did great. I don't necessarily think that I will get this job, but it is always nice to get an interview to boost your drowning spirit that has gone months without a phone call from a job.

They want to contact all my previous and current employers as well as friends that I specify. I will also have a criminal check and child abuse check done. All this "at the time of job offer".



P.S. What do you think of crop pants for an interview? Oh yes, I did. I thought I looked nice & business casual.

2 comments:

  1. Okay I'm gonna start with congrats on getting the interview. Also it's government so yeah the interviews are super structured and all business. Which I guess brings me to my more critical point.

    I've heard different things from different recruitment companies and job search coordinators about dressing down to the job you're applying to but the one I took away was always dress up for an interview. Act like you're coming in to run the place and not just take an entry level postion that you'll be leaving in 2 years. Very rarely will an interviewer think "wow she's over dressed" but you do run the high risk of being underdressed when you think you're just right.

    Hope that helps for future job searches. Or ignore it. Either way. Sorry for the lengthy comment just trying to share what I've learned.

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  2. I feel for you in the robo-interview. I've had a few and they're always unsettling. As for the attire, I'll bet you looked really cute. I love reading your blog and have an award for you at http://tipopez.blogspot.com/. Keep on Blogging!

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