Is it just me or do you get that feeling or urge to complete an application form and go for an interview. In the past month I have completed and submitted 3 (serious) application forms and 1 application process. And I am constantly looking through jobs. Shall I say that this is one of my favorite pastime. No particular job.
I was very happy at the end of my residential week in July, when we were given the task of applying for at least one job before the next residential session in September. If only they knew my favorite hubby.
I am a strong believer that you must always have an up to date CV. Incase of emergency (don’t ask). Applying for a job ensures than my CV is up to date. Applying for multiple jobs might be an OCD trait, but it’s harmless I guess.
Interview requirements are constantly changing and evolving. It’s impossible to simply regurgitate what you have crammed in your head. There is all this behaviour questions now… what would you do in A Situation. Apparently there is a particular way in answering these questions using a method called STAR. In addition, if you are very lucky, you may get to give a presentation.
The urge of applying for a job does not just go away. It settles down slightly when I go through the application process from beginning to end. The end being that I am offered a job. Then the guilt sets in….
For the interview today, I was given a presentation question to prepare. The only catch is that there would be no PowerPoint to use. Suits me just fine. All that high jump of getting the slides up and glancing between the bright screen and your audience (not good for my cognitive deficiency). That pleasure was taken away from me.
However, they did mention that they were happy to receive handouts. So I printed extra copies but I decided not to give them out. I put them through the stress of listening to my voice and my voice only. No excape im afraid. Just listen to me speak. I did not give out copies of my printed presentation simply because I had prepared my presentation as a word document. I didn’t exactly follow my bullet points either. But they remain non the wiser.
Getting my presentation ready was the only preparation I actually did for the interview. I may have spent 4hours in total. Getting the presentation ready was enough in terms of preparation. Any thing more would have been over prepared and stressful. I discussed my thoughts with a colleague. That’s about it.
The interview was pretty straightforward. It was a joy responding to the questions. I had so many examples to give. Placing all my past, present and future experience in my answers. Thinking of it, I had a great time. They did keep asking why I wanted the job? and how I would deal with a challenging clinician. Basically a difficult stakeholder. I’ve had ample experience of this stressfull situation so I gave them plenty examples.
Once you’ve gone past the application and interview process then I guess it’s a question of do you feel you can work with the people who interviewed you? Or does your face fit?