Fun stuff

Report on the interview (Thanks for asking about it, Ben!) of DSFGE Day 23: I must admit that it was the worst interview I've ever had. It wasn't that I did badly. No, I actually did quite well answering questions and everything. That wasn't really the problem. It was just a difficult situation, because I walked into a panel interview in front eight people, without having any idea of what exactly it would be like, and I really knew that I wasn't fully qualified for the position (I was honestly surprised that I was even called for an interview; I do have the abilities, but not the necessary experience). In retrospect, it was actually a positive and valuable experience, with plenty of potential for humorous stories. It was good for me to have an interview in which I didn't wow my interviewers with my charm and competence (which is honestly the way most interviews go, even if I don't get the job).

Anyway, so I got to the interview (which was at an adult school, and had NO PARKING), and was summarily ushered into a conference room with a long table. I was seated at the head of the table, with a sheet of paper with 11 typed questions in front of me; there were eight other people there, four on each side of the table. The interview panel were all serious school district bureaucrats: two principals, a facilities manager, a union rep, and some other functions I don't remember. The mean age was somewhere around 50. I looked around, and it totally felt surreal. So, anyway, it was pretty funny. Even though I had the questions in front of me, they all took turns reading a question, and then I answered it. Some of them were general and self-explanatory ("Explain how your education and experience make you a good candidate for this position.") and some of them were specific ("What is deferred maintenence, and how does it relate to locally funded bond measures?" or some such thing). Since I don't have any experience working in public school administration, I didn't know specifics, but I was able to answer with a lot of common sense ("Deferred maintenence is obviously maintenence that has been deferred, and context indicates that it has been so because of lack of funding; obviously, the funding must be raised by local bonds and stuff."). Nobody who had not either (1) been prepped with the questions beforehand, or (2) had this exact same job already, could have perfectly answered all those questions. My favorite question, however, was the one that went something like this: "This school district has been troubled by unclean air, mold, and fleas, which have been problematic and resulted in unpleasant media coverage. What issues do you see with these things, and how would you address them?" I almost laughed; I wanted to say something like, "You guys have mold and fleas in your school buildings? You suck!!! Also, I'm getting out of this building right now!" However, I made some obvious comments about these things being an enormous health risk, and even worked in a comment about how the presence of fleas can put people at risk of the plague. Yes, I was able to discuss the plague in an official interview. My life is now complete. I pretty much zipped through the questions, because I figured there was no point in drawing out the torture. I just felt really weird.
I went to the office when I was done, to turn in some paperwork, and saw the person who was very obviously the next interviewee. He was in a dark suit, and looked to be well into his mid-30s. He just looked so much more authoritative and bureaucratic than I do. It is illegal to discriminate with regard to age, in hiring practices, but I'm sure they all thought I was waaaaay too young, even if it was just subconscious in their minds; in a way, I think it is justified, though, because one has to be a certain age in order to have a specified amount of experience, etc. I am not really old enough to have a lot of experience at anything, and I look even younger than I am.

When I finished the interview, I was very shaken, and I went to my car to recover. I was waiting for Jeff, as we were going to grab lunch together, so I just sat in my warm car, and started to read the book I had bought: The Text of the New Testament, by Bruce Metzger. After a few pages, I felt so much better. I thought, "I'm so much happier just reading about ancient manuscripts than I ever would be as an operations manager in a school district. What was I thinking? I don't even want the job!" Ah, well. As I said, good experience and good funny story material ("Deadly disease-carrying fleas? Unpleasant media coverage? Heehee!").

Note: The drive to and from Fresno was actually quite pretty. The early spring rains have made all the fields green, and the fruit orchards are in bloom. I even drove past a field of grazing sheep. Now, I am not one of those who idealize the pastoral life, blah blah blah. I think sheep are stupid, smelly animals. However, when one is driving at freeway speed down the 99, one can neither smell them nor observe behavior, so the general impression is simply: "Sheep! Sheepy sheepy sheep! Fluffy and cute!"

I had tea with Debbie in the afternoon, and we chatted about a bunch of stuff. I went home, Jeff came home, and we had dinner and relaxed.

DSFGE Day 24 involved looking at various jobs, and working on online applications. We watched our nightly Stargate when Jeff came home, and there was this one character in the episode that I totally called out as a traitor, even though it hadn't been revealed in the plotline yet. I rule! Now if only I could have some talents that were actually marketable...

Mike called me today, and we had a nice chat about grad schools and stuff. I miss him.

Jeff is working on his homework, and I am (yes, you guessed it) blogging.

Catch ya later!