30somethingContributor
bad job interview rant - looking for work after a covid-19 redundancy
I had a job interview on Friday, my first real face to face one I have had since I lost my job at the beginning of April, (a job where I had been working steadily for nearly 6 years). The interview was a disaster for a number of different reasons. My anxiety was out of control and they asked some really unnessersary and just plain stupid qustions which only made my anxiety worse. The job was for a data entry clerk (a 6 month temp role) where I would be entering text into a spreadsheet, (not very complicated!) so i didn't anticipate there being a 3 person panel for this role and I didn't overly prepare for it either. I walked into this room of three people, and on realising that there were three of them, my eyes immediately dropped to the floor, my body language shifted (I put my back to them, oops!), and I got very shakey (I have social anxiety, but I don't normally act like that). The questions on the surface seemed to be pretty easy, 'tell us about yourself' and 'what type of skills do you have that would suit this role', but after that they started probing me more about the years between when I finished uni (back in 2001) to how I got to where I am today, "why have I changed jobs so often?', 'why are there gaps?'. Talking about my eariler years of uni and early worklife (I got bullied and hated my job) is hard for me and of course I didn't say any of this to the interviewers, but it triggered all sorts of thoughts in my head. Anyway, I dropped out of a Bachelor of IT, and swtiched to Bachelor of Arts, for really no other reason then because of "boyfriend issues" and because the career councellor told me I should (why would they even need to know this??). I did however complete my Arts degree depite not being very engaged or interested in the subjects (Anthropology and Politics), I then spent several years unemployed and aimless trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I then had a couple of meaningless reception and admin jobs. About 5 years later I stumbled into my accidental "career" in records management which suits my introverted personality a lot better then reception. So I would say the jobs I have done in my life actually have very little to do with my "hobbies or interests" and more to do with doing something that I could cope with, as someone with an introverted and shy personality. They did also ask "where did I see myself in 5 years" and "why did I study anthropology". Again, this interview was for a data entry job, where I would be doing mind numbing work updating an 'equipment inventory' spreadsheet in excel, so I have no idea why they would even want to know these things! They seemed like nice enough people, who through no fault of their own, were just reading a script which was cleary designed for a school leaver not designed for a 41 year old with 15 years of experience. I did actually want this incredibly boring job, but I don't think I am going to get it now so i am really kicking myself about it right now (writing this at 4.30am b.t.w). I can't understand sometimes why a person has to be "interested" and "enthusiastic" to be able to just turn up at work and perform a job to their best ability, sometimes a job is just a job and it pays the bills!