Stressed, or, Update on Job Hunt

Last Tuesday,  I had my second interview with the government agency.   I arrive and the HR receptionist spends time telling me that she remembers me from last week and that she loved the joy I carry with me and that she had told the HR rep that she voted for me, if she had any say in the matter.

So,  I went into the interview feeling pretty well.  This interview was with one of the three panelists from last week, the one who would be my boss, plus the HR rep.

This was the worst. interview. evar.  The would-be supervisor asked me a few questions and then said, “To be honest with you, it’s down to you and another candidate and I’m just not feeling it with you.”

Now, let me go on record here and state that I believe that you should hire on personality as well as ability – you have to be able to get along with people.  However, her reasoning was:

“I just think that you would ask too many questions, that you wouldn’t just take the work and do it without wanting to know why we were doing it that way.”

Ummm, yeah, that is what a trainer does.  Again, this is a brand-new position for this agency, so they need to refer to my advice on how to hire a trainer, which is on my professional site.

After that lovely tidbit she said, none of your references called back. Umm, let’s see – I was only able (per their rules) to write down former managers or employers – no co-workers.  That meant I had to put down BossLady, a person from HappyAcres, and another person from The Law Firm.

But besides that, there was a whole big giant holiday weekend in between Tuesday, June 30th and Tuesday, July 7. I know for a fact that BossLady was on vacation.  And the other two were probably as well.  So no, it shouldn’t be a surprise that you didn’t receive a call back yet.  Hello?!?!?

But the clincher was this:

“Well, if I were out drinking with your former bosses and lips became loose, what would they say about you?”

First of all,  you work in a government agency.  And you work in a division that was just under fire for crap like alcohol in the office.  So that’s not too brilliant on your part.  Second of all, you have no idea whether or not I belong to some church or something that thinks alcohol is the devil.

I said, I am sure that they would say good things about my work.  I really couldn’t muster up enthusiasm to say more than that.  She had already stated that she was not “feeling” me, so what could I say?

After that, she went on to state that since I feel that people are important to my happiness at work, I would not enjoy working there as state people are “just different and difficult.”  Ooookay.  You mean, like you?!?!?  Then she asked if I had anything else to say.  I said, no, it sounds like you’ve made your decision.

I’ve been toying with the idea of emailing her boss to let her know how her employee portrayed her office.  Thoughts?

I have not heard more from the legal publishing company, other than I’m still in there.  I made a commercial for myself in PowerPoint and emailed it to them.

And this is my last week of regular unemployment. Now, can I get an extension?  Yes.  Can The Vet support me?  Yes, but I hate that.  I haven’t allowed someone else to pay my way since I was 18.  So if something doesn’t come up soon, I’m going to turn to temping or something.   I talked to The Vet about it today and he is not worried about my lack of income.  But that doesn’t make me feel better.

<sigh> My stomach hurts.