So, company A had invited me for an interview on Tuesday, and I must say the level of informality threw me a bit. I had all my answers for the 'top 10 interview questions' from target jobs down, but needless to say I should have known a little bit more about myself because that waa all we talked about. That sounds kind of weird, as it's an interview and of course you're talking about the candidate. But I find that most interviews are very focused on a specific area ('skills' and and your ability to theorise hypothetical situations), whereas I had to talk a whole lot of me. I was a bit of a mess, but I was invited to a second interview on Thursday. By the skin of my teeth by my own appraisal.
I had an assessment centre on Thursday with a different company for a role in Conference Producing. It sounded cool, the office was pretty swanky with a maze of glass doors, and the majority of people there were not recent graduates. I would say the majority were experienced workers, there were a lot of foreigners with a good language range, but our group managed to outdo ourselves in the presentation. You'd be surprised how lack-luster and unfocused people can be in these things - people with jobs! - so we made a conscientious effort to be more enthusiastic, which landed me a second interview that afternoon.
But before that, I had my second interview with company A, remember? I thought it would be a bit more formal this time round, after all, it was with the MD of the company. I was wrong. Another informal chat ensued in which it became abundantly clear that having a good academic record meant I was probably going to jump ship as soon as I got bored - 4-6 months by their estimation. Just to confirm, I don't have a Master's course lined up for September. But it went well: I know I made a good impression; I was less of a mess; I made them laugh and, most importantly; I convinced them that I was the right person for the job (and probably that I can speak more Mandarin than I actually can...but more on that in later developments).
Back to company B and the second interview in the afternoon. I got rejected pretty much on the spot. I knew I wasn't the correct fit about 20 minutes in when they started talking about my lack of salesmanship, and I had to agree. I couldn't sell hummus to the middle classes. The job looked pretty cool though - you got the opportunity to travel to the location of whatever conference you produced worldwide, but the intensity of the atmosphere (and to some extent the belittling of my qualifications) made me realise, almost before they did, that it wasn't for me. I did get a free A4 lined notepad - the good sort with the big lines - from the assessment centre, so the day wasn't completely wasted.
3 Interviews in 8 hours
It was a good day overall however. I got to do a lot of walking, and, if nothing else, got a lot of experience with interviews (which is apparently a thing).
**SPOILER**
I got the job with company A! I become an adult on Monday. I may or may not have bought myself a Google Nexus 7 as a reward...
