Yesterday morning I had my job interview. It was with 2 people I'd be working with, one of them being my manager. Both are around my age. They are part of a team of 5 writers.
They seemed pretty nice. I was there about 1.5 hours. He gave me a brief writing assignment summarizing an actual "Situation Report" of what this organization is doing to help with the drought in Vietnam. I did this when I got home and sent it on in to them last night.
My friend thinks I did a great job with the 1st writing assignment (the answers to 5 key questions) and he thinks I'll get the job. But I kick myself for answering one of the questions (what was your favorite job, and why?) by describing several job I liked a lot because they allowed me a fair degree of latitude in how I performed the job and that in some jobs I was able to define my role as I went along. He emphasized in the interview that this job was not really like that. I hope this doesn't make him think I'm not the right fit. I emphasized my strong interest in an email following the interview.
He also did say they will be talking to 3 other people besides me. I'm the 2nd one they interviewed. He's away next week so he expects to be making a decision shortly after the 4th of July. Which I don't mind, as it gives me 3 weeks to enjoy the summer. I am also still applying for other jobs if I see something. Technically I have just a 25% chance of getting the job.
He said it was a given that whoever they hire is a good writer/editor, but beyond that, they want to make sure that the person they hire can get along well with the rest of their team and is "unflappable" in dealing with their field offices in far-flung locations and can deal with stressful situations. He also mentioned that all the writers have to be on call on a rotating schedule on weekends in case some humanitarian crisis situation develops. When there's an emergency, they have to write something up really quick that can be sent to their current roster of donor corporations, asking them to help with recovery efforts. He also wanted to be sure I was ok with an "open office" setting. Which means they all sit very close to each other without much privacy.
The job does sound very interesting, unique, even, and certainly very different than anything I've done. I'm sure it would be a real eye-opener.
In other news, I had my well pump recharged this morning; it services my outdoor water only. I won't have to carry buckets of water from my kitchen to water all my outdoor plants anymore. I let it go too long but was procrastinating as I didn't want to spend the money. I feel like I've been spending, spending, spending. It came to about $130 and I got a 5% Angie's List discount. If I'd had exact change, I could have gotten the 10% discount for paying in cash; I had the money, but only in bigger bills. Darn.
I've schedule my cousin from PA's visit for a few days next week. I need to tidy up the downstairs, go grocery shopping to buy snacks/drinks and maybe even tidy up the front gardens outside. I've done next to no yardwork this year, and it shows.
I continue to get mailed solicitations from various groups addressed to my mother; she was fond of donating very small amounts to lots of different charities, and these charities share their mailing lists with other groups, so it all just proliferates. I had to call another one today to remove her name from their list.
The interview
June 16th, 2017 at 02:19 pm
June 16th, 2017 at 02:30 pm 1497619821
June 16th, 2017 at 03:24 pm 1497623089
Here's hoping!
June 16th, 2017 at 03:27 pm 1497623242
June 16th, 2017 at 04:05 pm 1497625528
Hope your interview goes better than you anticipate. I'm with Carol...didn't think about Viet Nam having a drought either. I continually learn from all of you.
June 16th, 2017 at 05:07 pm 1497629234
June 16th, 2017 at 06:39 pm 1497634752
June 17th, 2017 at 06:16 am 1497676610
June 17th, 2017 at 05:43 pm 1497717820
June 17th, 2017 at 08:04 pm 1497726278
June 17th, 2017 at 08:15 pm 1497726941
But what is a "black swan" event? A market crash?
June 17th, 2017 at 10:18 pm 1497734281
June 22nd, 2017 at 04:47 pm 1498146456
We had to do that for my grandmother, who I swear..you could sell her water in the desert and she was donating to some pretty shady charities. (Not to mention she would often just donate to anyone that sent her anything) It worked for us, the junk mail almost completely stopped. Since you sold her house, it shouldn't cause any problems at all. (We had some utilites problems; I guess they got the memo too. We haven't sold her house yet and needed them on)
I also hope you have good luck in your job hunting endeavors!