8:43 p.m. - 2003-10-17
Interview With A Vampire
Two job interviews today. One I should have done well, but didn't. The second was in a discipline completely new to me and I was worried I'd be shown the door. In fact in the waiting area, I looked around at all their achievements posted on the wall and had one of those "What was I thinking?" moments. Oddly enough, the interviewer, in the half hour we were together, thanked me several times for applying and said she had a lot of work in mind for me. It is casual and temporary in nature, but if she can keep me busy enough to pay my bills until the election is called that's fine with me. Not only that, she focussed on my skill sets and encouraged me to give her a lot more detail. She also offered me some extra help so I could get more assignments, in the form of additional communication equipment and by having their company take over some of the paperwork aspects. Hopefully it will work out to be as good as it sounds. It is one of the positions I applied for so I could learn some new skills - this one in writing a certain genre.
The second job interview today was just too weird. It was for a very straight-forward task I�ve done for several companies for about a decade with good success. There were three people in the room - the supervisor, the manager, and the HR person. He did the interviewing. He never did ask me about any of my technical skills.
His questions were � what percentage of my time as an at home mom was spent working. I pointed out 24 hours given my 6 children and a very heavy volunteer schedule, but of course he meant PAID work. I ran a day home, worked with critically ill patients in rehab at the hospital, was an assistant manager at a fabric store, and worked elections at all three levels of government as well as did census/enumeration at all three levels and whatever pickup work I could. That�s how I put my ex through school, then paid our bills later when his drug habit ate up his wages. That was all on my resume and I didn�t see what relevance the percentage of time had to do with anything anyway. That�s what I asked and he said it would determine my wage now � excuse me?
He pushed hard to find out about my personal life by phrasing his questions so I had to supply that background to make any sense of my answers, so I also pointed out those questions were illegal. Didn't make him very happy, but he already had violated a number of labour laws when I finally spoke up in exasperation near the end of the interview.
He also asked about how I organized myself. I said mostly through my daybook, but that obviously wasn�t what he wanted to hear so he kept badgering me. Now we�d just finished talking about all the stuff I do during elections and he already knew I had raised six boys on my own(one of the illegal ?s) and worked full time at the same time � sometimes even two jobs. How would I be able to do any of that if I wasn�t organized. I spoke about setting priorities and goals and checking in with my supervisor frequently as a way to ensure I was on track but that wasn�t acceptable to him either.
I�m guessing he may have talked to T2 from two contracts ago, because she tried to break the data management contract mid-May partly citing that reason. Part of her contention about cancelling the contract was based on my �exorbitant� time away due to the mold and mildew in all the Middle Eastern data that had me on antibiotics continually from February to June. In all I had missed two days in April and four days in May none of which did I get paid for, when she complained. The first antibiotic started eroding my joints � something my doctor said was common for that drug. I had reached the point where I was having to wear a brace to work and still had difficulty walking. My doctor switched me but the second drug was so strong I couldn�t eat at all. Finally I had had enough when I was beginning to have to increase the dosage for the heart drugs because of the problems. I started asking for time off to recuperate enough so as to not have to be on drugs at the middle of May.
The second complaint she said was a determining factor, when she conveyed her decision to breach the contract to my supervisor A, was how messy my workspace was. Issues. Issues2. Now, up until the end of April the only workspace I had was the tiny desk I was working on � a table was brought in when I had the nerve to leave six whole files and three boxes on the floor one night. The stacks of boxes � two deep and six high that were already there were at T2�s order. I was the one who forced the decision to sort and place that data on the shelf to reduce the amount of time a single property was handled because both C and I were finding data being tampered with or going missing altogether and I'm also the one who insisted that no work would go forward unless everything was inventoried from the boxes. T2 ordered us not to do that but we both ignored her because of the liability issues for both the company and us.
The final complaint was I wasn�t working fast enough positing disorganization, I guess now. Yet, T2 and B continuously changed my work orders and also insisted I spend a lot of time training C. They also contended that I was to keep an eye on the students and since I had advocated for one of them because of the comments they were making for him among the rest of the staff, I was told I was also to �keep him busy�. Truth is he had more knowledge about a lot of the data than some of the permanent staff � that�s why they didn�t understand what he was saying to them. I was constantly pulled off the work on my contract to help move boxes and fill rush orders, and find �lost data�. I was also being required to research all the uncatalogued properties I found while I was working. I didn�t mind doing any of that work but I don�t see how that can be counted against me either. I submitted timesheets to my boss with all the tasks enumerated for each day and each month I was there. At least 30% of my time was spent on non-contracted tasks at their direction. If the HR person had T2s version of the breach of contract story it would explain such a strange line of questioning - nothing else would.
The final question the HR person asked me was what degrees or training I had that would certify I could do the work; stating that the combination I had wasn't what he wanted. Maybe not, but I've already done the work on several contracts - results should count as an indicator. I had enumerated my accomplishments at different contracts on my resume and showed him that. He wouldn�t accept that either.
To say the least I don�t think he intended to give me the opportunity to do well in the interview. Oh well. I went home and picked up the next box of material Elections Canada wants me to work on. That's how I was informed I was reappointed - more work. Good enough. Guess I'd better go read through the binder they included to figure out what they want us to do next.
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