How I Rocked My Almost-Interview for an Almost-Job

Well firstly, I managed to get myself the almost-interview. I picked up the phone, called a guy and said I wanted to work.

He said: "Do you meet the conditions written in the thing?"

I said: "'Course I do."

He said: "Can you come to the store tomorrow?"

I said: "Sure, no prob."

And that was that :)

 (I am of course very loosely paraphasing the conversation ;) 

It may seem simple to you, banal even, but I assure you that for me, a person with ... yes, let's call it a phone call phobia, this was a huge achievement. Disclaimer: not all phone calls freak me out. Incoming calls from family members and close friends are absolutely fine, for example. Incoming calls from unknown numbers on the other hand, very scary! And the idea that I should call somebody whom I don't even know, but his number was given to me in a shop when I finally plucked up the courage to go in there and ask about a job they advertised on the door... To call a total stranger... impossible.

Well, ladies and gentleman, turns out that the impossible's got nothing on me 8-)

All it took was figuring out how to avoid being overheard by other people, especially family people... (Btw, do you have that? That you really don't like other people hearing when you're on the phone? especially if it's important...) So when I was out, I went to the park, found a little quiet spot and made the phone call. I think my voice didn't even shake that much and I managed to sound optimistic. Go me! :) Can I have some fireworks and gold medals, please? :)

And on the next day, I went to the store. Good thing that it all went so quickly, that I didn't really have time to freak out and panic. I just sort of went along as it happened :)

Oh, I should probably tell you what the job is. It's a ... let's call it a Sales Assistant at a second hand clothes shop. One of the nicer ones though. They were looking for somebody with good eye for colours and stuff, and given that, shamefully, my only real practical work experience is working in a second hand clothes shop (one of the less nice ones), I figured I was the perfect candidate.

I won't bore you with the details of how much time I spent choosing my outfit etc. I rightly suspected that it was not going to be very formal and ideed it wasn't. I think you can barely call it a job interview. It was just an over-the-counter chat with a prospective boss person. And I think I did great :) He just kept repeating that they need somebody who knows what they're doing. It seemed like he cared very much about the visual displays. And somehow I manged to tell him all about my experience and just generally ooze awesomeness, becuase, obviously, visual displays and such are ... matter of course... second nature to me. Of course I can do that.

The result is, that I will be going for a little try-out session for one afternoon and we'll see where it goes from there. I know that I am not the only applicant. There was one lady making that same conversation with the boss, just before me. But what do I know, maybe he could be hiring more than one person. Anyway... I am very pleased with myself and proud :)

It's not like it's the best job in the world. If I had a choice, this would not be my chosen career. But I don't have a choice now. This is not a dream job, but it's a something. And something is better than nothing. And I know for sure that I actually stand a real chance with this. It's a step, that's what it is. A step towards... a tiiiiny bit of money and towards... not sitting at home so much. Yeah... it's a step. I mean, it will be when I get the job :)

P.S. This happened last week. The trial session is tomorrow. I'm not particularly nervous, I just feel slightly confused and unsure about what's going on :D But I'll go with the flow. Wish me luck! I will let you know how I get on.

Oh, any of you out there "enjoying" the jobhunting adventures? I'd love to hear any tips or stories that you have.