...and the word was Preparation
In the meantime, I am trying to get my employment situation sorted out before I go and lock down freelance jobs that have extended beyond their initially planned end. I’ve not ruled out staying in Canberra yet, but the roles on offer in Melbourne at the moment are mighty tempting. Yesterday I had the first of two rather full days of job interviews in the rainy city. I’ve got eight such interviews spread across the two days, and by the time I take into account the travel time between each location, they are more or less back to back. So far all but one has gone well, and the one that didn’t was one where I really wish I’d been paying more attention.
The first interview went pretty well. It was with a smaller agency who offer a good chance for me to grow with the company, and the sheer nature of a business that size would enable me to exercise a variety of skills. That has a certain appeal, which combined with being reasonably comfortable with the ideology of the founders certainly put them into contention. The other two were some rather big players in the interactive scene.
The first went well — I’d not really known what to expect of REA. I’ve used their website from time to time in the past when I was looking for places to live in Melbourne, but otherwise not paid much attention to them in recent times. They’ve grown a little since last I looked. I had a decent rapport with the interviewers, and the job sounds pretty broad-based, which always appeals to me (I get bored when doing the same thing over and over again).
The second was with Sensis. That didn’t go so well. I’m not sure if it was me not understanding their questions, or me not answering adequately, but I found myself going in circles with the discussion, and there were points in the conversation where I felt I had no idea what they, nor I, were talking about. I picked bad examples from my work history to try and illustrate my experience, and only thought of far better, more relevant experiences after the interview was done. It was one of those out of body experiences where you can hear your inner voice telling you to shut the fuck up because you’re making a fool of yourself, but you just can’t stop your lips from flapping and a torrent of verbal diarrhoea from spouting forth.
For years now, I’ve kind of held up Sensis as an ideal place to work. The projects they work on, combined with the resources they have to back them, make them something of a dream job. Perhaps I was so obsessive about that one role, that it forced me to let my guard down on the others (and subsequently interview pretty well with them). I was so focussed on trying to tell Sensis what I thought was needed for the job, that I ended up stumbling right as I reached the precipice, and went head first onto the rocks below.
I realised on the train down here that I left the interview with no clear idea of what the job I am applying for will entail, beyond the basic information provided in the job spec. It was a far different story with August and REA. I left both those interviews knowing exactly what would be expected of me and feeling pretty good about both. Had I prepared myself better for the Sensis interview, such as having some questions to fish out what the role was about, then I may have gone better. But I was on the back foot from the outset, and I never recovered. You can live and learn, but preparation at the outset certainly helps.
So today I have spent a sizeable chunk of time reading on some specific areas to visit during my visit to Peru. I find myself wishing I’d pursued an earlier plan to base myself in Peru for a year or two, so I’d have sufficient time to go and see all I wanted to see. Trying to cram so much into a month means leaving a lot of it out. I’ve had to drop the Inca Trail for starters, but on seeing the images from points along the trek, I feel certain I will have no choice but to return there sometime in the future.
Tomorrow, I am back to Melbourne for the last round of interviews. I’m as unprepared as I was on Friday, I just hope I don’t get as lost this time around.
Next time, I’ll plan more thoroughly.