How I Landed The Almost Perfect Job from Interviewing For a Job Position I Hated and Failed at! Part 2

From the post about how I landed the almost perfect job from interviewing for a job position I hated and even failed at, you may wonder how that happened?

Read: How I Landed The Almost Perfect Job Position from a Hated and Failed Job Interview Pt 1

At the interview venue, after what seemed like days and seasons later, all the while I was wishing time wouldn’t be so generous but steal all the hours quickly, the interviewers decided to show up majestically. They were over an hour past the time slated to conduct the interview, even with no sporadic appearances through the hour, say, in attempts to give pardons or request we hold on a little. Of course that wasn’t something to apologize for.

They were three men who waltzed in through the center to the foremost of the crowd. They stood out in their sleekly ironed corporate attire and carriage, so it was easy identifying them as non-candidates. In a quarter of a moment, they sized up the job hunters crowd and started the screening process abruptly. No hints or warnings were given. At the head of the room, one would stretch and point a finger at a nervous, ruggedly dressed interviewee, and trumpet “LEAVE”.

The Second Stage of the Job Interview Process

We got to learn at the second stage of the process that they filtered away those who weren’t clothed on suits. *insert blink* OKAY. I thought that was a bit harsh. You could be on a smart shirt plus skirt/pants and still look profoundly professional. Then again, it’s possible the job role entailed suit-wearing professionalism who knows.

Since I was about validating my expenses to/potentially fro the venue, I decided not to mentally question the spontaneity of the entire occasion. I was on a dress. A grey dress at that, with a black blazer. I wasn’t so sure whether or not I passed the sneaky suit criteria, so I made sure not to unnecessarily stand from my position. I knew I shouldn’t be uneasy since it was obvious I wasn’t found wanting. They didn’t scream LEAVE at me. But these things, you never can say. Maybe when he blinked he forgot he skipped me…

We were shipped from the waiting room to a conference hall that contained an oddly good deal of seats. I didn’t care to do a head-count but we should have been about seventeen presumably. The smartly dressed bunch. For no particular reason, I’d roll my eyes at every chance I could when I browsed around. It was a clear case of ‘Many are called but few are chosen’. Ergo, we were the chosen ones! *insert sneeze*

More waiting times and their HIGH-interviewliNESS finally showed up with some bunch of papers and started to distribute. Please what school am I at again? We all looked so dazed it was priceless. Every other person sat looking behind at the others yet to get their “scripts”. What sort of a process was that? We were told to turn around and move gently behind to a set of computers I could swear hadn’t been there before.

We took our scripts and each person sat in front of a blank computer. Instructions were given and we proceeded to complete a Computer Test (CT). About twenty questions ranging from qualitative reasoning to language test. Thirty minutes after a unanimous completion of the CT, we were scheduled for a written test which was the funny part. It was supposedly an essay to be written. The topic was “Why I want to work as a Customer Service Officer” (The position we were seeking to fill).

The Third Stage of the Job Interview Process

I blinked and looked around. No one shared my bemusement so I stared back at my blank sheet. An essay? Really? Ok – If they wanted an essay, then an essay it is! A few seconds later and I got my serious cap on, ready to prove my brilliance on paper. That was when I started to get conflicted on what I should write. The first time since the start of the job tests series that I was confused. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what to write, I was battling with the option of honesty which was weirdly hilarious. To paraphrase what Hamlet said, “To lie or not to lie, that is the question!… “

That was indeed the question.

Since I knew it was a familiar subject- English Essay; and it was on generally familiar territory for everyone – Customer Service Officer, I thought it was going to be easy. It was affixed for twenty mins. They did not indicate the number of words needed, but with the A4 blank sheet given, I knew, at most, 500 words would be sufficient. So I aimed at concise reasons on three-quarters of the page in legible prints.

From school days to this blogging experience, I’ve had enough practice at writing. So I wasn’t as eager as the rest of the candidates that immediately chewed up their papers as soon as we were given the go-ahead to begin. I didn’t. In fact, for the next 5 -8mins I was still thinking. It was stupid I know, but I knew I had time because whether for truth or falsehood, I was already mentally drawing up a few notes to give for either. And you know, when you start writing, the rest will be a fluid act.

My inner mind kept urging towards truth. Here’s what came up to write…

Why I want to work as a Customer Service Officer
Although Customer Service Officer is a decent and honest profession, I must say I’m overqualified for it. This is besides the fact that the profession tends towards minimum common knowledge capacity building, no technical or complex skill I’d rather be built on. Hence I wouldn’t want to build a career in one. But seeing as that is the only vacant position your company has to offer and I’ll rather be busy than idle, I just thought I would apply myself…

I paused because I knew I needed more thoughts to build on it. Then I measured the pros and cons of honesty and that’s when I realized what I had to do, which qualified me for the next and final stage of the interview. (PS I failed the final stage, but it wasn’t until I got a bigger job through the interview process that I realized it). Read the next post for details since this is already becoming robust.

Read here: How I Landed The Almost Perfect Job Position from a Hated and Failed Job Interview (Final Part)