The Dreaded Job Interview
So, I have an interview for a Web Specialist position at a company up in the City (New York City, for those of you who subscribe to a different “city”). Tomorrow morning. One hour… ish.
Sometimes I feel like I should be more nervous for this. It’s my first real interview for my first real job! Shouldn’t that count for something in excitement or nervousness or… something? I’m not entirely sure, though. To me, it’s simply a double-sided screening process. I’ve already expressed some interest in the job/company for which I will be interviewing. The company has already expressed some interest in having me work the job for the company. The interview, basically another level of “Am I interested in you/the job?” Plus, they’ve already asked for an in person interview. I must be more appealing than every other average Joe in the world, because a company that’s been around for 140 years or more should have some sort of an idea of whom they’d hire. I’d hope they wouldn’t just pick some random resume’s and go “Okey-dokey, here are the interviewees for the next few weeks. Have at ‘em!”
I think another part of it is that I’ve been so much on the other side of the interview, seeing so many other people be way more nervous for a job with so much less prestige. I’m probably more immune to how things will go because I know what the interviewer is thinking, or might be thinking. Granted, I’ve never interviewed anyone for an IT classified job. Everything has pretty much been for Customer Service or a project. Still, the concept is the same. Just like in programming… if you understand the concept and know how it should work, you should have no problems implementing it in whatever language you want.
And you know what? I don’t want to be hired by a company who doesn’t like me for me. If the company decides that something I do or like is inappropriate or against what they want… they can go find someone who fits the exact mold of their dream Web Specialist. The fun part about being in web and the Internet is that there are so many different things out there that you can do. You don’t have to be locked into a particular type of job. Of course, some (myself included) have their own personal preferences. I like building applications. Basic websites (such as this one) where the only outcome is a basic reflection of exactly what’s on the server are boring to me. Also, a blog just stores my writings in a database (pick your flavor, doesn’t matter) and then displays it at whim. It can even handle inline (X)HTML stuff.
But, I realize that I’ve deviated from my real topic of interviews. I suppose it’s really because I can’t see the interview as the dreaded beast I was told it would be when I was in middle school. Ok, there are a lot of things to think about, like, what you wear, what to bring, what to say, what not to say, what questions to ask, and what questions to avoid. What will the interviewer really be looking for in my answers? Will I impress him/her or will I make a fool of myself? Will I actually be right about whether or not I made a fool of myself?
And the one question I’m still trying to answer (and probably will be, even after I do this a thousand times (hopefully not that many, but… who knows))… What are my salary requirements? But that’s a story for another day.