Running the Gauntlet

Charlie Young: Before your next job interview with the President, I'm gonna remind you that you probably don't wanna be stoned.
Deborah Fiderer: There's gonna be a second interview?
Charlie Young: There's gonna be as many as it takes. We're gonna get this right.
Deborah Fiderer: Well let me back you up a second. Have we done the first one yet?

--The West Wing, "Posse Comitatus" (5/22/02)

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A couple of weeks ago, I applied for a new position in the Baltimore City school system. 

The short version of this is that Central Office is going through a radical shift in its organization, and after discussing it with about half of the population of Maryland, I finally decided that being part of that would be a pretty good thing (i.e., they talked me into it). So I put a package together and sent it in. 

Last week, while I was out being blind, I got an email from Human Resources: I'd made the first cut and they wanted to interview me on the 24th, from 8:15 until 2:00. Really? An interview lasting nearly six hours? 

Turns out that was no typo. It was that long, and it was rather efficient. There were seven of us today, all in a group. They took us down to a computer lab and introduced themselves, then explained how the day was going to go. I lucked out because my day was probably the most straightforward:

First up was the panel interview. I was taken to another office and two people peppered me with different questions. Most of them had little to do with my education, but more like the highlights of my school career, then moved on to working with others type of stuff, dealing with difficult people, handling unreasonable requests and so on. Then there was a mini role-playing situation where I'm supposed to be explaining to an Assistant Principal the significance of some data they'd handed me a few minutes earlier. 

From there, I went back down to the computer lab. I was given a slip of paper which outlined a situation. From this I was to create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and a related PowerPoint presentation. They gave me (I think) two hours to complete this, and I literally needed every second of it. I'm still not positive that I gave them quite what they were looking for, but I think did a decent job of it anyway. If nothing else, I've shown some ability to use both programs. 

Next was a lunch break for everyone. They provided lunches for us, and that was quite nice of them. There was a little bit of general chatter going on, and some of us had questions about the position, the start date, the pay scale, and so forth. The bottom line is that I stand to take a nice little bump if I'm hired, but I'll definitely be working for it: the training period (essentially the month of July) that was described for us sounds pretty intensive. And they haven't created our work area yet, so we'll be homeless for that first month. (On the other hand, I've been a homeless Lead ITA for a year, so nothing new there. I'm sure my current principal will be happy to see all that crap that's currently cluttering up the conference room go somewhere else.

Finally, after lunch, there was a discussion related to a case study that was sent to us a few days ago. Everyone had had a chance to read this piece, and we were asked some leading questions about it. This is what they call a "fishbowl" discussion, because while we're sitting there spouting our opinions, a couple of other people are writing down who says what, who contributed to the conversation, and so forth. I don't know that I was the best at this part of the day (a couple of them were pretty good), but I was certainly in the top three, anyway.

And that was it. By then it was nearly 2:30, and they said that they were going to sit down and go over all of the notes they'd compiled throughout the day, and someone would evaluate our computer work, and so by Monday I should know whether I'll have a new job title starting seven days from now. 

If I sound a little ambivalent about how I did with the interview, I am. But for me that's not necessarily a bad thing. When I'm feeling cocky and "oh yeah, I blew them away", I rarely get hired. It's when I come away feeling a little bit like I blew it, that good stuff tends to happen.

Thanks again for all the good vibes you've been sending, and wish me luck!

Comments

[yellojkt]

That is one rigorous interview process.

[Bill]

Hey! Congrats. Just seeing this now. I hope everything went well, and be sure to update me on the results. I think you'd be a great addition with your experience and knowledge. Good luck!

Thanks. I haven't heard anything as of Monday evening, so my hope is dwindling rapidly...