Thank you for your consideration #5

You can call if you want.

 ...but there ain't no one home. I wish they didn't do the telephone (interview). Sing it, Gaga! "Stop telephonin' me!"

Phone interviews. My prediction: another soon-to-be relic, much like the hard copy resume printed carefully on thick off-white paper, signed in ink, and mailed in a hand addressed envelope. Sure, phone interviews might stick around in certain fields or professions. And granted, they are practical for screening candidates who live states or countries away. But, in my personal experience, telephone interviews are going by the way-side. Good riddance, I say.

My last two in-persons interviews skipped right over the phone interview step. I had someone called me, ask if I was still interested and scheduled a date and time to interview me. Why can't it always be like that?

I felt confident about the two in-person interviews I've been on these last 3 months. However, my last phone interview was horrible.  Even compared to the first in-person interview that I had....which was over two hours of being grilled and drilled with questions from one executive and then a group of 3 other staff members. It was rough, but other than a few stutters and two sweating hands, I think I handled it beautifully.

On the flip side the last phone interview was BAD. My words were all jumbled together. Once I got so flustered that I asked if I could start my answer over (and immediately felt juvenile). Some of the questions were ridiculous...”Do you believe you are in the top 5% of employees?”  Seriously, is this a trick question?!? Psychology tells us that most people have a cognitive bias about themselves, and as a result overestimate their abilities relative to other people. In other words, most people think they are in the top 50%, but that’s impossible for everyone to be above average. And this woman is asking me if I’m in the top FIVE? Even if I thought it was, I think it would be erroneous to say so. So, I didn't.  Other questions asked included..."Should a supervisor pay more attention to an under-achieving employee compared to a high achieving one?" and "Should productivity be rewarded monetarily?” Um, what? I was not applying to a supervisory job in corporate America.  I answered the questions honestly yet somewhat reservedly. Even as I spoke I knew my answers were not what they wanted to hear.

To no surprise I got the "we are pursuing other candidates that more closely meet our needs" email.

So, gotta burn off some steam and move onto the next application. Tomorrow. For now, I think I need to take a breather, or in other words, " I'm not takin' no calls, 'cause I'll be dancin'!