Message #858

[spitfire78]

I haven't been on an interview for a very long time - but two stand out in my mind.  Keep in mind I was just out of high school, and so was very young at the time.



I was interviewing at a boy's prep school (needless to say, it was in a wealthy area!).  The appt was set for a certain time, and like a good interviewee I showed up about 15 minutes early.  The interviewer brought me back to his office and gave me the application form to fill out.  Then he said he needed to drop something in the mail and would be right back.  I sat for about an hour and a half before he returned!  I have no idea if this was some sort of test to check out my patience (more likely my desperation for the job!) or whether this guy really was delayed on his errand.  Anyway, we then proceeded on the strangest interview I ever had.  The bulk of his questions was related to my family!  What type of job did my father do, what siblings did I have, what jobs did they do, etc.  My only guess is that they were looking for "blue blood".  They didn't find it in me - my family was strictly "blue collar"!  No offer from them.



Another interview was in a medical office.  The office manager described all the duties.  Then proceeded to ask me about 50 times "so, do you think you can handle it?"  49 times I said, "yes, I can handle it."  Finally, on the 50th time I was losing patience (and maybe confidence as well).  My response that time was, "I BELIEVE that I can handle it."  She instantly pounced on that and said that wasn't good enough, I had to KNOW that I could do it.  They ended up calling me back for a second interview but I turned them down.  I was desperate for a job but not that desperate!