More Interviewing

I had four interviews today. Three were for the job with the aged blond I mentioned previously. I was heartened because I thought that she didn't conduct a comprehensive interview she must be relying on someone else to do it.

I was wrong.

The three women who interviewed me today were not properly prepared to conduct an interview. They were sent in to see if they liked me, to see if the vice presidents would like me. If I hired only people I liked, most of the jobs I've filled would still be empty. Of the three, the woman who had been with the company asked the most relevant questions -- two to be exact: "Tell me about how you dealt with a difficult co-worker." and "Are you available for overtime?" The other two women spent their entire time alloted to them telling me about themselves. Of course they both loved me because I smiled and nodded and laughed in all the appropriate places. That's what years of working with boring, bad actors teaches you: how to appear to be enthralled while composing a grocery list in your head.

Those, however, were inquisitions compared to the fourth interview of the day, which took place over the phone. The conversation wasn't so much an interview as it was an introduction to an interview. The guy told me, and this seemed to be the only reason for the phone interview, that they only hire smart people who read books. I've cleared that hurdle. I'm reading Michele Foucault. The only way I could improve upon that is to say that I was reading it in a German tranlation that I'd done myself from the original French. He went on to say that the last HR person had had the nerve to present a candidate who admitted that his favorite TV show was Survivor. He told me that comment instantly ended the interview. I responded with, "Well, you know, my favorite show is Dancing with the Stars. That, apparently, provides superior intellectual stimulation because I've been invited into the office for a face-to-face interview.

So, I'd better cut this short so that I can revise my latest theoroms of quantum physics and identify a genome.