Interview with Source

I had an interview yesterday with a recruitment company called Source....do I really want to write about what happened? Do I want to share all they gory details?

Alright.... I will again mention that I am sharing the good bad and the ugly as a way to perhaps help others and so I can look back when I am rich and successful and be able to say I remember when I was struggling to find a job and no one would hire me. I can't wait for that day.

In other news, before I write up this latest interview, I also found out that another person got the work experience that I didn't thanks to my posts and supportive emails to them. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy that I am able to help....anyway.

It was raining pretty hard yesterday and I set off for my 4 p.m. interview with Oliver in good spirits. On my way to the tube a small truck sped past and splashed water all over my trousers ( I was originally going to write that it was splashed all over my pants, but in England pants are underwear. It appears that my lexicon is changing. )

I was standing in the road with muddy water all over my trousers and I didn't know what to do. I didn't have time to go home and change so I carried on. I felt a bit like Will Smith in Pursuit of Happiness, except that I hadn't been in jail. I got off the tube and tried to find my way to the office and I manage to get there on time. I made myself comfortable in the reception area while the receptionist mades copies of my passport. I try to ignore the fact that my trousers are muddy and that it so hot in there that I have begun to perspire.

Oliver comes out and we shake hands and go for the interview. So, how did it go you ask? Well to be honest I don't think it went very well at all. Then again I am not sure, I feel as though I don't know how to read people as well as I used to. He had me talk my way through the CV, questioning me along the way. He wanted to know exactly what it was that I wanted to do. He asked me a few questions that I wasn't prepared to answer, so I've got do some research. He wanted to know the size of the budgets for the websites that I worked on at Popular Front. He wanted to know what design methodologies I had studied at university. He mentioned a few that I had never heard of before.

I had the sense that I wasn't selling it to him. Oliver also wanted to know what I had been up to after graduation from high school until I went to college. I wasn't sure what he wanted me to tell him so I asked him if he wanted to know how old I was. I graduated from high school in 1996 and didn't start going to school again until 2001. He advised me that I should put on my CV a brief summary of what I did during that time. I don't know about that..... we shall see.

I was talking to Matthew about it and he said that in England there are benchmarks in place so that employers can easily make assessments. For example, you have your GCSE scores, then your A level scores and then your University scores. Most people go right from "high school" to university here, because it used to be free or now it's very low cost. Matthew suggested that since I don't have the score that it's difficult to make a determination on what my experience has been and what kind of person I am. I see his point.

I've said before that I am having a hard time feeling like I am not presenting myself well during interviews and even with more preparation I don't know if I am improving. I think I am going to have to seek out a coach or something to help me improve.

There were also some other points that came up, but I will write about those in a separate post.
I did learn something from the experience so that's a positive. I also got locked in the toilet after the interview and almost had to break down the door to get out. Thankfully all it took was one good kick....
good times....