The rest of the interview was the good Dr. staring at his PC's clock and me trying slyly to show his pretensiousness.
Next school!
it was sooooo long ago, but that reminds me of my high school interview for columbia. perhaps it was the obvious "canned" approach to his questions, or the fact that i had almost no interview experience to that point and felt some of his questions were utterly irrelevant to my work or potential.
i had an interview last week where, following the portfolio review, we basically just talked about my previous work, and what they were hiring for and such. it went extremely well, but i got the impression that they were definitely looking for the cheapest person they could get away with. it's a pity some people think you REQUIRE a particular salary when you're actually willing to work for anything, so long as it's work worth doing.
"Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching." - Satchel Paige
Question: What do you think of Kiawah (refering of course to the resort community at Kiawah Island, and coming from a stodgy old nyc physician, the type that own a second house in the "country")?
Answer: It's not natural to have a golf course on the sand dunes, and the area was much more open to locals before the resorts came.
Except that before it became a resort in about 1978, it the entire island was for many years an undeveloped, private hunting ground. In older times owned -- if I recall -- by the Vanderhorst family. But good answer, because 95% of the people who step foot on the island will never bother to look into its heritage. Just another golf course with a pretty beach to them.
I had an interview not too long ago for a new position where work. So one guy gets his hour with me and we go down the street for coffee. We're walking along and this woman getting out of her car recognizes him. Turns out she used to work in our department and she invites us in for mint herbal tea. So we walk into her house, her two huge dogs go nuts, and we're in the kitchen drinking her tea.
No strange questions but ... it was the oddest interview I ever had.
Except that before it became a resort in about 1978, it the entire island was for many years an undeveloped, private hunting ground. In older times owned -- if I recall -- by the Vanderhorst family. But good answer, because 95% of the people who step foot on the island will never bother to look into its heritage. Just another golf course with a pretty beach to them.
It is really sad in Charleston now. Almost all of the barrier islands have been resortified. And Mt. Pleasant, where I am from, has become the epitome of suburban sprawl slowly encroaching on the National forest. I used to like staring into the woods and having my view crowded out by trees and not houses.
When I first got out of college, I had a BA in English and a minor in Russian. I wasn't a teacher at the time.
I interviewed for SO many different kinds of jobs, because I was 'qualified' to do either 'everything' or 'nothing', depending on how you looked at it.
One interview was for the phone company - customer service representative. I took a battery of tests, and then was called in for the personal interview.
The interviewer asked one question: "If you were a phone installer just leaving a house where you had done an installation, and a neighbor asked if you could just look at a problem with their phone, without charging for a service call (since you're already there), how would you respond to that neighbor?"
I said that for good public relations, I would take a look at their problem without charging for a service call. Wrong answer. And because of my answer, I didn't get the job!
The interviewer explained that they spent a fortune training each person, and that 'turn-over' was something they wanted to avoid. She said 'that' question had been devised to weed out people who might eventually become disgruntled with phone company policy.... 'before' they were even hired.
So, after about a million interviews for every job in the universe, I ended up going back to school to get certified to teach. One semester, 18 hours, student teaching in the summer (Senior Composition - to incoming seniors), and I had five teaching offers for the fall.
Teaching is a tough but wonderful job. It turns out that there are a lot of people in other careers who think they might like to try teaching. Many universities have programs now to get those people into teaching as quickly as possible - to expedite their 'education' classes, and give them credit for career experience.
Teaching takes a LOT of skills of every different sort. I love my students. That is the bonus. They are 13 yr. olds, and they are great to be around. Filled with energy and fun. I kid around with them all the time, and they really respond to that. They know that I like them - it's something that's hard to fake; and so they are pretty reasonable when I have to apply disciplinary measures.
What's good about this age group is that they are quite impressionable, and they believe the things I tell them. Of course, I always tell them the truth, about life, etc. I can see them changing before my eyes, and it's just the best feeling in the world to know that you have helped change someone for the better. One girl had an 'F' four weeks ago, because she wouldn't read the X no. of books that I require. But now she has 15 books read and tests passed on them, qualifying her for an 'A'. It's like a magical thing. I think it's exciting, and it makes me very happy.
The pay sucks though. And the paperwork is a ****ing nightmare. Oh well. Can't have everything.
"Here at [shall remain nameless] we've got some really thankless jobs. Have you done many thankless jobs in the past?"
Ack! How am I supposed to answer that without sounding dissatisfied about my past jobs?! It was my first interview, ever. This was also over the phone, so I couldn't be disarmingly charming.
Sigh... I still haven't found out if I got the job, although I think I did well on the rest of the interview.
"are you married or single?" >> "so what are your plans for children?"
would they mind if i the next time say something like "i've got no plans for overpopulating any more this planet, but could you please talk a bit louder, so that your voice will be easier to hear on the tape" ... that will be used in the court ..
i am R E A L L Y tired of the questions in the interviews asking if im married or single, and when im going to stay home for the next 5-10 years making this world more overpopulated. if i answer(ed) i am not married but single it sounds like im antisocial or a weirdo or something (in smaller cities .. they wait for all women over 18 to be married or live with their parents etc etc) .. well, my social status should not be THEIR problem. and it should NOT affect at all the job i'll do. and i know in many parts of the world asking the child - questions of female employees isn't very legal either. well, i've got to use the damn recorder for SOMETHING somethimes, damnit...
other irrelevant questions: childhood memories (wtf do they have to do with a job unless its in a kindergarten???), religious and political background (myu politics or religion or the lack of them should be the problem of my FREE time and not influence my work, unless i work in a party or religious something). and so on.
"Here at [shall remain nameless] we've got some really thankless jobs. Have you done many thankless jobs in the past?"
Ack! How am I supposed to answer that without sounding dissatisfied about my past jobs?! It was my first interview, ever. This was also over the phone, so I couldn't be disarmingly charming.
Sigh... I still haven't found out if I got the job, although I think I did well on the rest of the interview.
"are you married or single?" >> "so what are your plans for children?"
would they mind if i the next time say something like "i've got no plans for overpopulating any more this planet, but could you please talk a bit louder, so that your voice will be easier to hear on the tape" ... that will be used in the court ..
i am R E A L L Y tired of the questions in the interviews asking if im married or single, and when im going to stay home for the next 5-10 years making this world more overpopulated. if i answer(ed) i am not married but single it sounds like im antisocial or a weirdo or something (in smaller cities .. they wait for all women over 18 to be married or live with their parents etc etc) .. well, my social status should not be THEIR problem. and it should NOT affect at all the job i'll do. and i know in many parts of the world asking the child - questions of female employees isn't very legal either. well, i've got to use the damn recorder for SOMETHING somethimes, damnit...
other irrelevant questions: childhood memories (wtf do they have to do with a job unless its in a kindergarten???), religious and political background (myu politics or religion or the lack of them should be the problem of my FREE time and not influence my work, unless i work in a party or religious something). and so on.
Well if they are trying to find out if your a smug prick then they got their answer.
Just an FYI...do not EVER, EVER, EVER go on the academic job market in English looking for a tenure-track job at the university level.
Cheers
Scott
PS
Ever.
Hahahahaha. Hey Scott, why not say what you really think!
Okay, I'll take your advice. But it reminds me of another job interview I had.
One summer, when I was working on my MA in English, I was taking a Faulkner seminar. I was pretty outspoken in that class, whereas most of the other grad. students didn't say much. Not sure why. Also, since it was summer (and HOT!), I wore low-cut jeans and backless halter-tops to class sometimes. My hair was long - half-way down my back.
So anyway, not long after the class ended, I went on a job interview at a nearby junior college (to teach freshman English), and was interviewed by the chairman of the English department. I was dressed quite primly - in an actual dress(!) (pink!), my hair was up, also quite primly. When I started answering her questions, she looked up at me with widened eyes and said, "I know that voice! You're the girl from that Faulkner seminar!"
Hahahah. I really had to laugh, because even with my prim, job-interview outfit, my cover was blown! Anyway, she told me to finish my MA and she'd be glad to hire me. I have finished my MA, and I do plan to interview there again in the next year or two, but just to teach one or two classes in summer session.
So, the university-level job market is grueling, is it? I have a university branch two miles from my house (the junior college is only one mile away). And I suppose with an MA I could teach freshman English there, couldn't I? But rest assured, not in a million years would I care to get a PhD. Hmmm. Then again.......
'Backless halter top'? Okay, I give up. I'm sitting here trying to envision such a thing, and all that keeps popping up is Scotty's voice saying " I kenna change the laws of physics!"
"Okay, you've got a frontpiece, and two shoulder straps, and... er..."
'Backless halter top'? Okay, I give up. I'm sitting here trying to envision such a thing, and all that keeps popping up is Scotty's voice saying " I kenna change the laws of physics!"
"Okay, you've got a frontpiece, and two shoulder straps, and... er..."
Ah, yes. The laws of physics. hahahaha. Oh my.
Okay, it tied around the neck (no shoulder straps), and it tied around the waist. So from neck to waist, my back was bare....and no laws of physics were violated.
(The professor did ask me if I wanted to go for coffee one day after class. But I told him I had to pick someone up at the airport. A plausible-sounding excuse, I thought. )
'Backless halter top'? Okay, I give up. I'm sitting here trying to envision such a thing, and all that keeps popping up is Scotty's voice saying " I kenna change the laws of physics!"
"Okay, you've got a frontpiece, and two shoulder straps, and... er..."
It is really sad in Charleston now. Almost all of the barrier islands have been resortified. ...I used to like staring into the woods and having my view crowded out by trees and not houses.
Amen, brother. Amen....
Getting back to the interview things: someone earlier posed the possibility of the interviewer asking about your married life / plans for children. That is without question, not an appropriate thing to ask on an interview. You would be 100% within your rights (and wits) to simply state your marital status and end with "however I feel it is best to keep our discussion focused on business."
If someone had the balls to ask me whether "I was planning to have" kids or other similiarly personal questions, I'd be a little irritated with that. Sometimes it's the interviewER and not the interviewEE who oversteps their bounds / forgets where they are.
Heh. yeah, still at the office. (See kids, get the hell outta school. GRADUATE! GET A JOB! FLEE WHILE YOU STILL CAN YOU FOOLS! *ahem*)
All times in am, and yes I have a tv in my office.
2:30: realize I should go to bed
3:00: crawl into cot, realize that The Usual Suspects is *just starting* dammit
3:17: turn off tv in snit, realizing I must get up early early early so crew changing out light assemblies in building don't whack my cot with door in am
6:00: ROTC chanting next door wakes me up
6:15: re-dressed, take pillow and sheet up to 3rd floor student lounge to sleep there instead
6:16: find lounge couch taken by snoring student. Fscker.
6:45: decide I can't stay up any longer, crawl under desk with pillow and sheet
7:50: wake up when I hear light crew
9:00: still waiting for light crew to get to this office so I can crawl back under desk which means not having any coffee yet but it smells soooooooo good from down the hall
At this point, I'm ready to say screw it and go get some breakfast.
Pass those interviews! Get those jobs! DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!
Comments
Originally posted by billybobsky
The rest of the interview was the good Dr. staring at his PC's clock and me trying slyly to show his pretensiousness.
Next school!
it was sooooo long ago, but that reminds me of my high school interview for columbia. perhaps it was the obvious "canned" approach to his questions, or the fact that i had almost no interview experience to that point and felt some of his questions were utterly irrelevant to my work or potential.
i had an interview last week where, following the portfolio review, we basically just talked about my previous work, and what they were hiring for and such. it went extremely well, but i got the impression that they were definitely looking for the cheapest person they could get away with. it's a pity some people think you REQUIRE a particular salary when you're actually willing to work for anything, so long as it's work worth doing.
"Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching." - Satchel Paige
Originally posted by billybobsky
Question: What do you think of Kiawah (refering of course to the resort community at Kiawah Island, and coming from a stodgy old nyc physician, the type that own a second house in the "country")?
Answer: It's not natural to have a golf course on the sand dunes, and the area was much more open to locals before the resorts came.
Except that before it became a resort in about 1978, it the entire island was for many years an undeveloped, private hunting ground. In older times owned -- if I recall -- by the Vanderhorst family. But good answer, because 95% of the people who step foot on the island will never bother to look into its heritage. Just another golf course with a pretty beach to them.
No strange questions but ... it was the oddest interview I ever had.
Originally posted by Moogs
Except that before it became a resort in about 1978, it the entire island was for many years an undeveloped, private hunting ground. In older times owned -- if I recall -- by the Vanderhorst family. But good answer, because 95% of the people who step foot on the island will never bother to look into its heritage. Just another golf course with a pretty beach to them.
It is really sad in Charleston now. Almost all of the barrier islands have been resortified. And Mt. Pleasant, where I am from, has become the epitome of suburban sprawl slowly encroaching on the National forest. I used to like staring into the woods and having my view crowded out by trees and not houses.
I interviewed for SO many different kinds of jobs, because I was 'qualified' to do either 'everything' or 'nothing', depending on how you looked at it.
One interview was for the phone company - customer service representative. I took a battery of tests, and then was called in for the personal interview.
The interviewer asked one question: "If you were a phone installer just leaving a house where you had done an installation, and a neighbor asked if you could just look at a problem with their phone, without charging for a service call (since you're already there), how would you respond to that neighbor?"
I said that for good public relations, I would take a look at their problem without charging for a service call. Wrong answer. And because of my answer, I didn't get the job!
The interviewer explained that they spent a fortune training each person, and that 'turn-over' was something they wanted to avoid. She said 'that' question had been devised to weed out people who might eventually become disgruntled with phone company policy.... 'before' they were even hired.
So, after about a million interviews for every job in the universe, I ended up going back to school to get certified to teach. One semester, 18 hours, student teaching in the summer (Senior Composition - to incoming seniors), and I had five teaching offers for the fall.
Teaching is a tough but wonderful job. It turns out that there are a lot of people in other careers who think they might like to try teaching. Many universities have programs now to get those people into teaching as quickly as possible - to expedite their 'education' classes, and give them credit for career experience.
Teaching takes a LOT of skills of every different sort. I love my students. That is the bonus. They are 13 yr. olds, and they are great to be around. Filled with energy and fun. I kid around with them all the time, and they really respond to that. They know that I like them - it's something that's hard to fake; and so they are pretty reasonable when I have to apply disciplinary measures.
What's good about this age group is that they are quite impressionable, and they believe the things I tell them. Of course, I always tell them the truth, about life, etc. I can see them changing before my eyes, and it's just the best feeling in the world to know that you have helped change someone for the better. One girl had an 'F' four weeks ago, because she wouldn't read the X no. of books that I require. But now she has 15 books read and tests passed on them, qualifying her for an 'A'. It's like a magical thing. I think it's exciting, and it makes me very happy.
The pay sucks though. And the paperwork is a ****ing nightmare.
Ack! How am I supposed to answer that without sounding dissatisfied about my past jobs?! It was my first interview, ever. This was also over the phone, so I couldn't be disarmingly charming.
Sigh... I still haven't found out if I got the job, although I think I did well on the rest of the interview.
Just an FYI...do not EVER, EVER, EVER go on the academic job market in English looking for a tenure-track job at the university level.
Cheers
Scott
PS
Ever.
would they mind if i the next time say something like "i've got no plans for overpopulating any more this planet, but could you please talk a bit louder, so that your voice will be easier to hear on the tape" ... that will be used in the court ..
i am R E A L L Y tired of the questions in the interviews asking if im married or single, and when im going to stay home for the next 5-10 years making this world more overpopulated. if i answer(ed) i am not married but single it sounds like im antisocial or a weirdo or something (in smaller cities .. they wait for all women over 18 to be married or live with their parents etc etc) .. well, my social status should not be THEIR problem. and it should NOT affect at all the job i'll do. and i know in many parts of the world asking the child - questions of female employees isn't very legal either. well, i've got to use the damn recorder for SOMETHING somethimes, damnit...
other irrelevant questions: childhood memories (wtf do they have to do with a job unless its in a kindergarten???), religious and political background (myu politics or religion or the lack of them should be the problem of my FREE time and not influence my work, unless i work in a party or religious something). and so on.
Originally posted by Nebulous
"Here at [shall remain nameless] we've got some really thankless jobs. Have you done many thankless jobs in the past?"
Ack! How am I supposed to answer that without sounding dissatisfied about my past jobs?! It was my first interview, ever. This was also over the phone, so I couldn't be disarmingly charming.
Sigh... I still haven't found out if I got the job, although I think I did well on the rest of the interview.
I'm going to use that one for sure.
Originally posted by Giaguara
"are you married or single?" >> "so what are your plans for children?"
would they mind if i the next time say something like "i've got no plans for overpopulating any more this planet, but could you please talk a bit louder, so that your voice will be easier to hear on the tape" ... that will be used in the court ..
i am R E A L L Y tired of the questions in the interviews asking if im married or single, and when im going to stay home for the next 5-10 years making this world more overpopulated. if i answer(ed) i am not married but single it sounds like im antisocial or a weirdo or something (in smaller cities .. they wait for all women over 18 to be married or live with their parents etc etc) .. well, my social status should not be THEIR problem. and it should NOT affect at all the job i'll do. and i know in many parts of the world asking the child - questions of female employees isn't very legal either. well, i've got to use the damn recorder for SOMETHING somethimes, damnit...
other irrelevant questions: childhood memories (wtf do they have to do with a job unless its in a kindergarten???), religious and political background (myu politics or religion or the lack of them should be the problem of my FREE time and not influence my work, unless i work in a party or religious something). and so on.
Well if they are trying to find out if your a smug prick then they got their answer.
Originally posted by midwinter
Carol:
Just an FYI...do not EVER, EVER, EVER go on the academic job market in English looking for a tenure-track job at the university level.
Cheers
Scott
PS
Ever.
Hahahahaha. Hey Scott, why not say what you really think!
Okay, I'll take your advice. But it reminds me of another job interview I had.
One summer, when I was working on my MA in English, I was taking a Faulkner seminar. I was pretty outspoken in that class, whereas most of the other grad. students didn't say much. Not sure why. Also, since it was summer (and HOT!), I wore low-cut jeans and backless halter-tops to class sometimes. My hair was long - half-way down my back.
So anyway, not long after the class ended, I went on a job interview at a nearby junior college (to teach freshman English), and was interviewed by the chairman of the English department. I was dressed quite primly - in an actual dress(!) (pink!), my hair was up, also quite primly. When I started answering her questions, she looked up at me with widened eyes and said, "I know that voice! You're the girl from that Faulkner seminar!"
Hahahah. I really had to laugh, because even with my prim, job-interview outfit, my cover was blown!
So, the university-level job market is grueling, is it? I have a university branch two miles from my house (the junior college is only one mile away). And I suppose with an MA I could teach freshman English there, couldn't I? But rest assured, not in a million years would I care to get a PhD. Hmmm. Then again.......
"Okay, you've got a frontpiece, and two shoulder straps, and... er..."
Originally posted by Kickaha
'Backless halter top'? Okay, I give up. I'm sitting here trying to envision such a thing, and all that keeps popping up is Scotty's voice saying " I kenna change the laws of physics!"
"Okay, you've got a frontpiece, and two shoulder straps, and... er..."
Okay, it tied around the neck (no shoulder straps), and it tied around the waist. So from neck to waist, my back was bare....and no laws of physics were violated.
(The professor did ask me if I wanted to go for coffee one day after class.
Originally posted by Kickaha
'Backless halter top'? Okay, I give up. I'm sitting here trying to envision such a thing, and all that keeps popping up is Scotty's voice saying " I kenna change the laws of physics!"
"Okay, you've got a frontpiece, and two shoulder straps, and... er..."
Chocolate syrup as an adhesive.
Originally posted by BR
Chocolate syrup as an adhesive.
What about duct tape?
Isn't that the all-American solution to.....just about everything? .....(fall-out from dirty bombs? physics-defying halter-tops?.....etc.....)
Mmmmm... chocolate tape.
*snork* *huh* jus five mor minnits...*snnnnn*
Originally posted by billybobsky
It is really sad in Charleston now. Almost all of the barrier islands have been resortified. ...I used to like staring into the woods and having my view crowded out by trees and not houses.
Amen, brother. Amen....
Getting back to the interview things: someone earlier posed the possibility of the interviewer asking about your married life / plans for children. That is without question, not an appropriate thing to ask on an interview. You would be 100% within your rights (and wits) to simply state your marital status and end with "however I feel it is best to keep our discussion focused on business."
If someone had the balls to ask me whether "I was planning to have" kids or other similiarly personal questions, I'd be a little irritated with that. Sometimes it's the interviewER and not the interviewEE who oversteps their bounds / forgets where they are.
Originally posted by Kickaha
Obviously, I've had entirely too little sleep to have missed two such obvious solutions!
Mmmmm... chocolate tape.
*snork* *huh* jus five mor minnits...*snnnnn*
(You sound like you're as sleep-deprived as I am.....zzzzzzz)
All times in am, and yes I have a tv in my office.
2:30: realize I should go to bed
3:00: crawl into cot, realize that The Usual Suspects is *just starting* dammit
3:17: turn off tv in snit, realizing I must get up early early early so crew changing out light assemblies in building don't whack my cot with door in am
6:00: ROTC chanting next door wakes me up
6:15: re-dressed, take pillow and sheet up to 3rd floor student lounge to sleep there instead
6:16: find lounge couch taken by snoring student. Fscker.
6:45: decide I can't stay up any longer, crawl under desk with pillow and sheet
7:50: wake up when I hear light crew
9:00: still waiting for light crew to get to this office so I can crawl back under desk which means not having any coffee yet but it smells soooooooo good from down the hall
At this point, I'm ready to say screw it and go get some breakfast.
Pass those interviews! Get those jobs! DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!
Greatest College Dorm Description ?_EV3R!!