Not So Funemployed

Employers are powerful, especially when you’re unemployed.

I had a ‘character building’ experience last week with a potential employer which was definitely out of the ordinary. I say ‘character building’ because it’s better then saying ‘weird’ or ‘terrible’, it also makes people think you’re a kind soul. Anyways, so this interview was for the menial job of being a personal assistant (I shouldn’t say menial but who really grows up wanting to be a personal assistant, which ironically, is one of the questions the employer asked me.. awkward). You’d think the standard interview questions would apply, which was what happened during the pre-screening interview. When I finally got to meet the man of the hour, aka the big boss, it was the weirdest interview I think I’ve ever done. Not only were the questions seemingly irrelevant (I’ve subsequently learned that NOTHING in an interview is irrelevant), but he was asking questions that had nothing to do with my past experience and how I was qualified for the job he needed me for. A day after this ‘character building’ experience I got an e-mail from him asking me for my transcript (which costs me money to get, by the way) but also this:

“Where would you like to live and why?”

….

For the job of being a personal assistant? Really?? I could understand if it was a job that required travel, or maybe a fun playful question that you could answer to his face, bantering with his facial expressions, but writing a paragraph about where you want to live and why as the THIRD requirement for getting hired as a PA? I was/still am to an extent baffled. I’m leaving the fact that he asked me for my transcript as a side note, because that’s a whole other bag of questions I have not given myself the time to address yet. 

Needless to say, my desperate self wrote the paragraph and ordered my $30 transcript and sent them both off to be combed through. Who knows if my BAH University education and previous work experiences will be enough to book travel arrangements and schedule meetings. I’ll keep you posted.

This post doesn’t really have a point, more-so that interviews and employers have a lot of power; the power to make you revert back to your Grade 1 self (and writing ability ex. “I would really like to live in ______ because of the beautiful weather….”); the power to make you look like a complete idiot in an interview, answering why you want the job of a PA when you’re dream job is something entirely different (yes, those were the order of questions); and of course the power to either hire you or send you back into the sea of unqualified candidates and shark-like job-seekers. It’s an embarrassing life, but someone’s gotta do it.