Part 1 - Worst Job Interveiw

Boy have I had a stressful few weeks! I applied to a job that I think would be the most perfect job for me. The hours were fantastic! No evenings or weekends. I could walk to work!  So no long commutes. Pay was good. It was a customer service job. Qualifications they require is customer service experience.  Which I do have but it's about 10yrs old experience.  But  I know I could do this job! I really want this job! So I applied and had a request for a phone interview a few days after.

The interview on the phone was not my best. I got flustered, I couldn't answer some of the questions!?  She was asking me about my previous customer service experience through behavioral questions. Behavioral questions are for you to recall specific instances where you were faced with a set of circumstances, and how you reacted to them. They want specific situations, stories that happened to me in the past and how I dealt with them!

Here are few sample questions I got from here.  Cause I can't remember the actual questions she asked me.

• Give an example of an occasion when you used logic to solve a problem. Huh?
• Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it.  Goal?
• Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you handled implementing it. Ahh!  I don't remember!
• Have you gone above and beyond the call of duty? If so, how?  Um yes, um, when I um...
• What do you do when your schedule is interrupted? Give an example of how you handle it.      
• Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they weren't thrilled about? How did you do it? no?
• Have you handled a difficult situation with a co-worker? How?   blank        
• Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure.  blank

For the last 10 or so years I have been a full time mom and have provided daycare services.  I couldn't recall specific instances of situations that happened in my past work experience!  A bad case of mommy brain!!!  Not good.  I just came up blank for some of the questions!  I did to many ummms, and answered with what I would do's instead of giving specific details and how I dealt with them.  Not very good at all for a job interview.  At the end of the interview when asked if I had any questions, I took the time to tell her why I was so interested in this particular job and made her know that  I would be awesome at it.  She told me I would hear from the manager on Monday if I had a second interview.

I was really disappointed in myself after the interview, I am an emotional person and I know I screwed up.  I felt very down the next few days.  My kids were both gone for the weekend and the next whole week, so I didn't even have them around to help me get out this very bad funk I was in.

Monday came around and I waited for a call...none came.  On Monday evening I started to climb out of my funk(yes I was still in a funk) and accepted that the job wasn't for me anyhow...you know how you tell yourself stuff to make you feel better.  So Tuesday was a better day, until around 4pm when the phone rang and I saw the name of the business I applied to!!!!!  I almost didn't answer, but I did.  I was asked to come in for interview on Thursday.  He also warned me that it would be a behavioral interview!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read what happens next in part 2 which will be posted tomorrow!