Interview blues


Here's a question. How come usually I am a reasonably articulate woman who is more than capable of clearly expressing her views but sit me in front of an interview panel and I forget how to compose sentences in recognisable English. No matter how much preparation I put in, in advance, it all kind of falls apart once I start being asked questions.

If I was to state two reasons why I am not further along in my career, and I probably need somebody to limit me to two or I'd get a bit carried away, then I would have to say fear (of failure, of not being experienced or qualified enough for the position I have put myself forward for ) and how I come across in interviews. Sometimes I do well and more often I must come across a babbling lunatic but I have often have difficulty telling which ones will get me a call back and which ones will live on in my awkward hall of fame.

I may not have much experience in social care at this point in my life but I have a lot of social care interview experience under my belt. Sadly the fact that I have tried to get many jobs I am qualified for is not really the kind of thing you put on your CV.

So currently I am working in a residential setting as a health care assistant and it's great in a mad busy kind of way. I am really enjoying it and there's no question that this is definitely the kind of work I want to be doing. I did originally apply for one of the social care positions but was offered this instead because I hadn't enough experience which is fair enough. I have been working away for 9 months and now an opportunity has come up within this job for Social care positions. I couldn't let the opportunity go and I had also been thinking that applying for this position somewhere I already work should be a lot less daunting than applying to a service I had no experience of.

The interview was this afternoon and I was working. This was both good and bad. The good part being that we were so very busy all morning that I didn't even have a moment to worry myself into a frenzy of nerves pre interview. The bad being that I was slightly less polished than I would have been had I come directly from home but I did cleverly bring spare clothes in with me so I didn't end up being interviewed in trousers spattered with lunch.

There were no totally off the wall questions, Most were the kind I had been asked many times before.
I don't think any threw me totally off guard and I think I got some good points across but I was conscious of thinking I was babbling, talking way too much out of nerves. Mind you it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the disaster of an interview I had some time ago for a service nearer to home where I completely forgot how to compose a normal sentence. The whole thing was over before I even realised it. Leaving me to run back to work and no time at all to agonisingly pick apart my answers to try and work out if it went well.

Now its just a case of waiting and seeing, If I don't get it this time then it wont be the worst thing to happen to me as I'll still have a job in the same place and my turn will come up again. Keep your fingers crossed for me all the same.

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