I just can't do this
26 September 2007, 4:21 pm. View comments. Filed under Work.
Job interviews kill me. Really, they do.
In my first interview in 2005, the first question they asked me was: "Can you please tell us more about yourself?" Well I think that's a pretty standard, opening sort of interview question but up until now, I can still remember my response: "Uhh... What do you want to know?" Needless to say, I was stuttering throughout the rest of the interview as well. When it came up to "Anything you'd like to ask us?" The only thing I could come up with was "How old are you?" But surprisingly, that was when I scored my first job. They must've been desperate. Because on my first day, I pointed at their branch number "14" that appeared next to my name on the screen and told the manager that I actually just turned 15. I know they loved me there though. 
Two days ago, I handed in six job applications at once. I got a short interview yesterday and it went generally smooth. However just then, I got a phone call from Hallensteins. What was most unexpected was that it was a telephone interview. 
!@#$%!!! Half-way through, the fire alarm at their head office went off. I'm not sure whether to laugh about that or whether I should see that as some sort of foreshadowing. Either way, LOL.
The questions were terribly hard—for me, at least. "Have you ever gone the extra mile for a customer?" "What do you think is good customer service?" "Can you think of an example where you've encountered a difficult customer?" "Did you have a goal and how did you go about achieving it?" "How do you think your best friend would describe you?" She asked heaps and heaps of questions that lasted for a decade. That was pure murder for someone totally unprepared for it and inexperienced at interviews. I was hoping for a call to arrange a face-to-face interview! It didn't help that the interviewer was talking in a monotonous voice throughout and complete nervousness and blankness overtook my soul in those twenty minutes. I was muttering and stuttering and failed to find the right words.
To be honest though, that was fun. Interviews are fun but phone interviews are now officially off my list. Let's hope I get at least one positive response from six applications.
19 Comments »
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Sounds like my own interview a the company I currently work a. The only difference was that I was given a fill in form and then asked some questions based on it.
Thankfully it wen much better than my first one where the only thing I could say was "er... well... I programmed a dictionary" (insert sheepish look).
They sounds like a lot of standard questions to me, anyway. I was hired, passed the test period and now I can work a little less stressed -
Eeep, phone interviews! Wow, their fire alarm went off while you were doing the interview? Interesting... o_o
When I got my job, I had to answer a test, I think there were even some math involved, hmm. The toughest question I got was "How do you define hospitality?" Maan, I still remember the knot-in-my-stomach feel I had that day
Good luck <3 -
The two interviews I did were both for my work experience. The silly thing is is that I was so nervous I kept twitching all the way through. Which was silly because I knew I was guaranteed the job anyway!
I've been filling out applications for a Christmas job. People are unwilling to hire people though that have only just turned 16. Too much hassle.
Good luck! And I'm sure it didn't go as badly as you thought it did. -
I've never had a job interview, only college interviews. I'm hopeless at social interaction with strangers!
...Which is, quite honestly, exactly why I don't have a job. -
I've done a few interviews. The first one was horrible, but I learned from it. I went online and read a couple of answers to the most common asked questions, and then I just improvise lol.
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I haven't had a job interview, since my first and only job is an on campus job. All they need is your information and for you to watch a safety video.
Normally, I'd be scared of interviews... because they'll ask questions to which I know I will not have the answer they are looking for.
Hopefully, they'll just ask about my work ethics and my interests. Yeah, right. -
I've never had an actual job interview, but I have been prepared for one by a career's class. I did fine on the mock interview, mainly because I knew the teacher well and she'd given a list of questions to practice. I hate answering those types of questions, though, so I usually just say something really clichéd.
Good luck! The chances of getting at least 1/6 aren't too bad, assuming you're not a horrible person ;) -
I've never had an actual job interview but I did have a casual conversation with someone who was hiring a web master. I got the job but haven't heard about when I'll start working on the web site.
Good luck with being accepted. Out of the six applications, you're bound to get one place's approval. -
The most important thing to remember about interviews is that the person interviewing you is a person too. Nobody to be afraid of.
I've interviewed many people during my work years. The reason they all start off with "Tell me about yourself" is because they want to see what kind of personality you have. Anything they need to know about you for hiring purposes is on your application or resume. If you weren't qualified for the job, you wouldn't have gotten the interview. Pieces of paper can only tell an interviewer so much about an applicant.
Just relax and be yourself. If you need some tips about interviewing, find me on HM or MSN if you ever decided to talk to me.XP -
Good luck! I hope you did better than you thought. Interviews always make me nervous and I never know what to expect. I worry about my appearance (is my hair sticking up? is there something on my shirt? do I have something in my teeth?) but - phone interviews are decidedly worse than those that occur in person.
If it makes you feel any better - I was once tested/interviewed over the phone. It was an international call and it caught me totally off guard. Every other phrase out of my mouth had to have been, "I'm sorry/Excuse me/Can you repeat that?" which isn't what you want to be saying when you're tested on your foreign language skills. -
I've never actually had a phone interview, that sounds quite stressful. Did they just call and announce "This is your job interview?" Actually it makes sense from their perspective I guess. People can't prepare (which once again sounds stressful to me)
Hopefully everything goes well, and good luck with getting whichever job you want. -
Nope she just said, "I'd like to ask you a few extra questions concerning you're application." Did that sound like an introduction to a phone interview? Not to me. *dies*
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The worst part of doing an interview for me is having to talk about myself. No matter how much I prepare myself for this question to be asked it always catches me off guard.
I also hate those interviews in which they asked a bunch of questions that really aren't relevant to the interview, like, "What's your favorite color?" Believe it or not, I've actually had someone ask me that during an interview.
Good luck with the job apps, I'll have to be looking for a job soon myself. -
Good luck!!! I am not a big fan of interviews. I almost always try to turn an interview into a conversation rather than a question answer section. I have a skill that lets me do that, so I have no idea how to teach it to someone else. :S But yeah, if I couldn't do that, I don't think I could do interviews.
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I was so terrified at my first interview... then my second one (where I currently have my job) was a spur-of-the-moment brief interview, which I just made stuff up as I went along, and said stuff that sounded good =D
A telephone interview aaah.. talk about unprepared! I hope you did okay. I would have made more stuff up haha.
"Oh yeah.. I go out of my way for customers, once I had a customer that blah blah and I spent my own time researching blah blah for them..." lmao nah I wouldn't say that. But I'd probably exaggerate a small incident and make it sound good =D
GOOD LUCK, I hope you get more responses and several offers of jobs! WOot hehe. -
My first interview was when I was 16 and I was all smiles. That's what got me the job though, haha.
For me, I enjoy phone interviews more so then face-to-face. I guess not being able to see their expressions is much easier on my mind for me.
Haha, that's horrible. About the fire alarm going off, did he say excuse me, or just left you hanging?? lol
Good luck with your interviews, you should try practicing with someone, so next time you'll know how to respond to such questions. ;) -
Take it from me, Rilla. Interviews will get easier as you do them. I have done thousands of them. Either as practice or the real thing. Telephone interviews are the worst though because you can not see the person's face to judge their attitude. I hated having to do phone interviews.
My best advice is just be professional & polite. Try and be yourself.
Good Luck Rilla. You can do it. I have faith in you.
On a side note, when you get a chance could you give me feedback on the gallery again? I changed it. Please & thanks. -
Good luck
I'm sure it all went through fine.
And I'm sure there are high chances of more than one who will accept your application.
The telephone interview sounded scary. You don't even know how the person looks like, and with a monotonous voice, it's possible that the person looks like a vulture *imagination gone wild*
All the best
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Good luck x.x
I haven't even HAD a job interview before, phone or no phone, so I'm pretty much a greenhorn.