Wednesday 1 July 2009

On the other side of the table

A little more than a year ago I sat at a table facing a row of people on the other side. I was being interviewed for a job. Now the role is reversed. I am sitting on one side of the table with a colleague, and we are interviewing. I wonder if people who interviewed me felt as frustrated as I feel now. Candidates that look so promising on paper turn out worthless. The least appealing candidate is the best. As we listen, we both know that we will reject this particular candidate, who is certainly doing her best, but we need to go through the interview (unlike those talent quests on tv where the judges push a button and say "Out!"). We score them according to the many criteria we have set up ourselves. The equations don't quite work. We are not supposed to read recommendation letters before the interviews. I don't see why this would matter. I've written recommendation letters myself.

At least when I was interviewed I only had to wait overnight. Since we are interviewing more people next week, the pour souls will not know the results until then. What a ruthless world we live in.

In a week's time, a phone will ring, and the lucky one will hear: "You've got the job".

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