An interview worth a talk..

Interviews always bring in jitters and specially when you are as unprepared as me.. I never learned how to say ‘no’ and so when was asked whether I could make it to the interview the very next day I just said ‘yes’.. (the biggest mistake had just happened.. for that split second I had forgotten that I was out of town for a meeting and would return only by afternoon the next day.. giving me no time to go thru the profile or the company website either)

Too confident that I could nail this opportunity with all my charm, I sat at the visitor’s lounge of the company admiring all the posters and certificates on the wall.. I had nothing to worry as I had never heard the company name and knew I could make up some story last minute to convince my situation.. But as they say never be too early to be happy.. ( I realized that these saying were for sure someone’s experience in life)..

So here I was sitting in front of the department head of the strategy unit in the company.. I always believed that to reach the top in any organization a person needs either of the two; one baldness or then a ponge.. (this person possessed both.. and so did he have intelligence..)

Like every other interview that starts with a tell me something about yourself and give a brief of your experience, I too expected mine to follow the same pattern.. I kept rehearsing my well thought answers in my mind.. but then its never the way you plan things.. atleast not with me.. my interview started with “so Namrata tell me what can I do for you??”.. For some seconds I thought that was just a statement but then when he kept looking expectantly for an answer I could just manage a smile.. so here I was a) for an interview I was totally unprepared for, b) out of all the people in te company, my first interview itself was with the strategy team head (a job I always dreamt of), and c) the first question that was asked made me look as silly as I could..

Yup I did answer the question and for a change where I thought I would be thrown out in 5 min the interview lasted for nearly 4 hours.. I wouldn’t term it an interview because that was the only question asked to me, the rest was just discussion over where I could fit in..

I don’t say its my intelligence that got me through the interview I would say it was just my day.. :)