i had yet another job phone interview today. it’s like a habit i can’t seem to break. i guess word hasn’t gotten around with every employer just how awful an interviewee i can be. i guess maybe that’s one of the good things about living on a large continent. there’s always somebody new in some new place who will give you another chance.

even when interviewing feels like a tightrope act. maybe not exactly a tightrope act, but maybe more like a rodeo ride. or maybe a bullfight. the point i am trying to make is that when i am asked a question, my first response is a silent panic. and then i start speaking, really just to break the silence. when i start speaking, my words and thoughts are not at all aligned and neither has any idea of where it is going or where it will end.

one of the questions, they asked me was something along the lines of “what qualities would you be looking for in hiring a new member of your staff?” and i’m like, what am i supposed to say? so i strive to reach for the answer i think they might be looking for. so i started to say, “someone who is a people person.” but i lost my train of thought in the middle of that sentence and for some reason i could not think of the word, “person”… so, i told them that  “i would be looking for someone who is a people… um… .um… like, you know, one of those people people.”

and yet…  for reasons beyond my comprehension, they invited me for a second interview. the only possible explanation i can think of is that perhaps they found entertainment in my little tightrope act. perhaps i felt the same.