I've been out of work for a while. I had been laid off a little over a year ago; I've been doing part time bits here and there, but a full-time position would be something that would make life a whole lot easier. So last week I got called out of the blue by a temp agency with whom I've done business before. (In the other direction: needed someone to cover me when I had to take a day off.) They had a possible full-time permanent position, and am I interested?
Betcher ass I'm interested. What are you, kidding?
So I sent them my current resume. (The one they had on file is several years out of date.) They said they'd call me back.
Fast forward to yesterday. A recruiter calls me back (not the one that called me last week: that one deals with candidates, this one deals with employers). She tells me about the prospective employer; the neighborhood his store is in, what kind of pharmacist he's looking for, etc. She asks me if I can do a phone interview tomorrow morning at 10:30 (i.e. today).
Sure, I can do that. Better in some ways than in-person, because if I get stumped I can look up stuff on the computer while I'm talking. (although I'd need a quieter keyboard, or he'd know I'm cribbing...) She sets up the appointment, and we sign off, me thanking her profusely.
This morning at 10:06, the guy calls. He says "We're scheduled for a conference call, but can we make it for 11:00 instead?" Fine with me.
I spend the interim boning up on what to say. I don't do too well with interviews: I tend to freeze up, and as shadowball pointed out, colleges really don't teach you how to do interviews. Also pulled up a copy of an application that I'd filled out for A & Poo Feed Stores (which I'd never heard anything back on) for examples of "Tell me about how you coped with a difficult situation" and similar.
And I wait.
11:30 the phone rings. It's him. Of course the first question is "Tell me a little bit about yourself." Of course it all goes right out of my head. After maybe three minutes of trying to answer this, I realise I'm talking into a dead phone.
I look up the number on the caller-ID and call him back (from my cell phone, just in case the problem was at my landline). It goes straight to voicemail.
Great, his phone battery must have run out. I leave him a detailed message, like it says. I try again in a few minutes, this time I get through to him. He says "Sorry, we must have gotten cut off. Can I call you back in 20 minutes?" OK, fine, whatever. That was 11:35.
Cue crickets chirping for three hours.
2:36 I finally get tired of waiting and call him back. He says, "Oh, [my real name]. Can I call you back in ten minutes?"
I tell him I have to go to work now, and maybe it would be better to reschedule this for tomorrow morning; he agrees to this.
So now I have all the anticipation to do all over again. I started to wonder about that dropped call, though... did he get tired of my fumphering and just hang up on me, pretending it was a disconnection?
I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning. Wish me luck, all.
Betcher ass I'm interested. What are you, kidding?
So I sent them my current resume. (The one they had on file is several years out of date.) They said they'd call me back.
Fast forward to yesterday. A recruiter calls me back (not the one that called me last week: that one deals with candidates, this one deals with employers). She tells me about the prospective employer; the neighborhood his store is in, what kind of pharmacist he's looking for, etc. She asks me if I can do a phone interview tomorrow morning at 10:30 (i.e. today).
Sure, I can do that. Better in some ways than in-person, because if I get stumped I can look up stuff on the computer while I'm talking. (although I'd need a quieter keyboard, or he'd know I'm cribbing...) She sets up the appointment, and we sign off, me thanking her profusely.
This morning at 10:06, the guy calls. He says "We're scheduled for a conference call, but can we make it for 11:00 instead?" Fine with me.
I spend the interim boning up on what to say. I don't do too well with interviews: I tend to freeze up, and as shadowball pointed out, colleges really don't teach you how to do interviews. Also pulled up a copy of an application that I'd filled out for A & Poo Feed Stores (which I'd never heard anything back on) for examples of "Tell me about how you coped with a difficult situation" and similar.
And I wait.
11:30 the phone rings. It's him. Of course the first question is "Tell me a little bit about yourself." Of course it all goes right out of my head. After maybe three minutes of trying to answer this, I realise I'm talking into a dead phone.
I look up the number on the caller-ID and call him back (from my cell phone, just in case the problem was at my landline). It goes straight to voicemail.
Great, his phone battery must have run out. I leave him a detailed message, like it says. I try again in a few minutes, this time I get through to him. He says "Sorry, we must have gotten cut off. Can I call you back in 20 minutes?" OK, fine, whatever. That was 11:35.
Cue crickets chirping for three hours.
2:36 I finally get tired of waiting and call him back. He says, "Oh, [my real name]. Can I call you back in ten minutes?"
I tell him I have to go to work now, and maybe it would be better to reschedule this for tomorrow morning; he agrees to this.
So now I have all the anticipation to do all over again. I started to wonder about that dropped call, though... did he get tired of my fumphering and just hang up on me, pretending it was a disconnection?
I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning. Wish me luck, all.
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