Thursday, May 21, 2009

First "interview" in 5 years tomorrow

I have a meeting tomorrow with a competitor.....I was recommended to them by an acquaintance at a record label.

I wonder how many people leave jobs to go work for the competition? I must look that up later. In any case, I'm pretty excited (and nervous) about getting back in the game. Here is what has been occupying my mind since confirming the time for the meeting:

Appropriate costume - what's normal these days? I hear people no longer wear pantyhose, thank god, but can I go bare legged to a job interview? I have suits that were bought and never worn, but they'd be a bit dated now.....should I wear matchy matchy suit or sling a blazer over a pair of pants? I'm pretty sure that the office is as casual as our own, which means that most people are probably in sweatpants and torn concert tshirts. I know all the rules like "dress for the job you want", "better to be over than under dressed", etc....but still I'd like a more defined idea. Maybe I'll lurk outside their office for a while and watch people come and go. Most of them I should recognize from my online stalking I've done.

Online stalking - so it was the Pres's assistant that called me up and made arrangements with me. Since my search for Pres's name didn't yield very much, I thought I'd try her name. Never know what might come up. I felt a bit gross though, as I've now looked through her entire Flickr slideshow, read every post on her blog, and pretty well know her taste in food, music, pets, etc. The one fun thing that I found was a work-blog she created to chronicle a month of no shaving at the company. That's the blog that gave me a sense of the established dress code at the company (and the youth of the employees). The blog also showed me that the company likes to have a bit of fun and they look like they do things together, and probably are pretty supportive of this kind of online activity. That was pretty cool.

What questions to ask - thanks to Penelope Trunk, I have memorized the one question NOT to ask, as well as decent answers to all related questions.

How to appear enthusiastic without coming off as goofy - I find it hard to strike that balance. When I am enthusiastic, my voice speeds up, I tend to upspeak, and sometimes lose my train of thought. I'm going to have to do some deep breathing before I go in. There's a few schools of thought here on how to set your mind before going into an interview. Some say to think that you absolutely want the job, and do everything you can to ensure you get the job. Whether you accept the offer is a different story, but approach it as if you absolutely want to be hired. The other school of thought is to be slightly removed, and to be at the top of your game, but to appear slightly aloof, as if you have lots of other offers, and you better impress me before I'd consider working here. I most likely can't pull off aloof, so I'll stick with enthusiasm.

Anywhooo, it's almost 8am, and I'd better get a move on. I have to stop and pick up a copy of Best Answers To Interview Questions to stick under my pillow tonight.

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