A year ago, “Janet Blackstock” was in the market for a new
job. She found one at a national philanthropic organization located in a
downtown high-rise, and sent them her resume.
The posting was for a low-level administrative position that she could
do from 9 to 5 while attending university on nights and weekends. The salary was sufficient, but not great, and
she’d recently heard that this organization was not an awesome employer.
Needless to say, getting this job was not a matter of life or death for her.
Janet arrived at the interview on floor 9, 15 minutes early
and introduced herself to the receptionist.
After 30 minutes the interviewer had not arrived, but she waited
patiently. At 40 miutes after her arrival, the interviewer’s assistant came out
to speak to her. “The job that you’re to interview for is filled. Sorry.” She
then offered Janet a chance to test for a different—more responsible—position in
the same area. Janet was dubious but positive about the situation. She reacquainted
the lackey her skills as listed on her resume, making sure to point out that her
typing speed was lower than the position required—even allowing for 100% accuracy. The lackey smiled, waved off her protests,
and got the testing room set up for Janet.
30 minutes later, our heroine emerged from the test to await her results. The computer-generated verdict was that she did not have a high enough typing speed to apply for the job. Janet thanked the stupid go-between and slinked off back to Mt. Vernon for lunch and a quick sulk. She had spent nearly 2 hours in travel, waiting, and pointless testing.
Today, Janet holds a Master’s degree and is an art director at in a communications firm in PA. When retelling this story she always laments that she could have been more firm about her desire to skip the test, and left the office when she learned that her job was filled.
30 minutes later, our heroine emerged from the test to await her results. The computer-generated verdict was that she did not have a high enough typing speed to apply for the job. Janet thanked the stupid go-between and slinked off back to Mt. Vernon for lunch and a quick sulk. She had spent nearly 2 hours in travel, waiting, and pointless testing.
Today, Janet holds a Master’s degree and is an art director at in a communications firm in PA. When retelling this story she always laments that she could have been more firm about her desire to skip the test, and left the office when she learned that her job was filled.
The moral of the story is that she’s right. There’s no
reason to be a push over in an interview. You should let the hiring manager
direct the flow of the conversation, while always remembering your agenda items:
finding out about the company, seeing if it’s a good fit for you, selling yourself
as the ideal candidate.
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