A Difficult Interview

I had a very difficult interview yesterday. I had not thought it would be as difficult as it was! I had applied for this Government position, I think, back in June or July and received a couple of e-mails in regards to that in my Spam folder! I was lucky, I guess I should say that I checked my Spam because I normally don't! 

It was written that the interview would take place through Microsoft Teams, a sort of software that I had not even heard of prior to that! I have heard of Zoom but apparently Teams is more professional. So I had to purchase(!) a headset and a Webcam because the damn Chromebook was not able to handle the program! Every time I would click on Join Now, it would crash! 

The good thing I was able to get help from friend, Newlywed, although he's no more, until I find another nickname for him, I'd stick to that. His daughter is now 6! I called him and he said that he had experienced working with Teams and sent me an invitation. I got connected with him through my cellphone and that was not bad but I knew for a better result I needed to attend the interview at my PC. That's why I spent nearly $90 on the items which is fine considering that would be a job with The Federal Government! 

I, of course, would not reveal any of the questions but they were sent to me half an hour before the interview. There were 7 questions and as soon as I saw them I started taking notes rapidly because they were not easy questions at the first glance. Newlywed had done a sort of mock interview but none of the questions he asked were amongst the ones that I received. 

I wrote so fast and tried to analyse every question in a manner that my hand hurt and when it was only 2 minutes left to the half an hour I had, I took a break and then the interview started. There were two guys and one lady, all from their home and when they introduced themselves it was really impressive that they had been on the job for such a long time and it was obvious that there were not the type of people who could be easily convinced. Each of them asked one of the 7 questions, one by one and they all listened and at times, made notes. I think I did well on most of the questions but not all but at the end everything would be up to them. I was told that I would hear about the result in January and asked if I had any questions. They also asked me if I could go back to any of the questions and provide completion. I knew I would not be able to contribute more in such a limited time, so I thanked and said no. I response to their question that if I had any question, I asked them where the selected candidates would work. The lady responded that there would be a pool of candidates and then they would be dispersed all around the country. I thanked them for the opportunity and mentioned my time in Oil Sands projects and added that I was very flexible and would work anywhere in Canada.

(Photo: Oil Sands projects have been part of Canadian economy but they have suffer tremendously due to environmental challenges and crude price drop)