Interviews

Interviews. Love them or hate them, they are the no-way-to-avoid it step between you and a job. So here I am facing another round of interviews. I don't practice for interviews. I don't know about you, but I have not been asked the "typical" interview questions. What is your greatest weakness? Where do you see yourself in five years? No, I don't get those questions.

I remember when I was in college and interviewing for a part time job at The Picture People. It was a mix of experience questions and personality type questions, but my favorite was when they gave me some thematic words and told me to make up a story off the top of my head. Yup, a story. They needed to see that I could think quick on my feet so as to keep the kids' attention on me and make them smile. So, I made up a story. In like two seconds, I created a story about knights and dragons - my very own fairy tale. I must have done well since the manager interviewing me said she'd never seen anyone able to do that so quickly.

But this past week I think takes the take. I interviewed for a membership coordinator position at a scientific association. It started at 12:30 p.m. and ended at 3:00 p.m. It included an Excel test, an hour and a half conversation about my role in the organization and actual duties (no typical interview questions) and ended with an essay on what I thought the position was and how I could perform it. It was one of the most intense interviews I've ever had and I left feeling drained and kind of brain dead. (Thankfully, Hello Cupcake was on my way back to the metro!)

So what kind of interview stories do you have? Any tips for the unemployed girl? I could use all of the help I can get!