Murphy was an Optimist

The interview went well, despite the fact some malicious force within the universe was conspiring evilly to ensure my downfall.

The presentation I was to give simply would not save to the USB flash card I had. After a colleague found a card that worked, I tried to email the presentation to him so that he could save it to the card. Unfortunately the work email servers had decided to take an early Christmas drinks session and were stumbling around the server room and crashing into each other, before laughing hysterically at the poor, urgent email I was trying to send on.

I decided to then burn the presentation onto a CD. No problems there. Worked fine. After stopping at every single traffic light on the way to the interview, and scraping in just as the panel chair was coming out to fetch me, I meet the rest of the six person panel.

I set up my presentation, hand out the… handouts, and commence talking. I got maybe 2 minutes into my presentation when I realised that I had burned onto the CD the wrong version of the presentation (ie an earlier version). I could feel the colour drain from my face. After a slight moment, I threw my notes onto the table and commenced what is commonly known as “winging it”.

I surprised myself. I would click, wait for something to appear on the screen and then waffle on endlessly about whatever appeared, somehow managing to mine away at the corners of my brain to recover information I thought was buried forever.

Although the presentation finished somewhat early, I still had the panel nodding and smiling.

Now… a little background. When applying for a state government job, you must address criteria outlined in a Job and Person specification (J&P). The panel also uses this J&P to form their interview questions to applications. I read over the J&P earlier to try and anticipate some possible questions. I had prepared handouts based on my technical expertise, my ability with IT and my writing skills, as I figured that these things might be useful for a web administrator. I didn’t regard the criteria of “being able to work in a team” and “able to liaise with clients of diverse backgrounds” as very important, as they sounded relatively generic.

Guess what two questions they asked? Yep, ones addressing these criteria.

Again, “winging it” was required, and I think I performed well under the pressure.

At the end of the interview, I was asked if I had anything more to add, to which I presented their shoddy letter with all my red pen corrections splashed across the paper like blood over a sacrificial carcass. The inquisitive looks I got were more of confusion than scorn. I outlined that it was an example of my “attention to detail and strict attitude toward professionalism”, and they nodded approvingly.

This confused me. But, after much thought, I concluded that sarcasm was dead.

Anyway, since the interview and my writing this entry, my referees have been contacted, asking about my ability. This is a sign that I have a good chance at getting the job, and that there are probably one or two people I’m up against.

I’d love to say that I’m hopeful about getting this job, but the truth extinguishes this somewhat. This job would only be a stop-gap measure until I land the ultimate job that I want. Something to keep paying the bills. Something to do between 9 and 5 each day.

It is a job in where, if you’re not careful, you blink and you’ll somehow turn 35 years old, with knowledge that you still haven’t achieved anything.

My manager just walked by to say they’ve called again with more questions. It must be a close call.