Job interviews, yuck

So the good news is I have a job interview tomorrow and the bad news is…I have a job interview tomorrow. I don’t know if I want the job. I don’t know if they want to offer me a job. I’m not sure if there’s been a mix up and they called the wrong person back. Confused? Me too.

I got the call (from a chain of childcare centres) Monday morning. The lady asked me to explain my current situation. I said I finished my contract at my old centre just before Christmas and was looking for part time work.

The lady said they only had full time positions. She said the only way they would be able to do part time is if another applicant also wanted to do part time so we could job share. She said they would then have to advertise the new position.

She said to call her again if I decided I wanted a full time position and they would call me if a part time position opened up.

After I hung up I wondered if I could make full time work. The centre is closer than my previous one and their shifts are half an hour shorter. And this is the first interview I’d been offered since I found out my contract wasn’t being renewed. Damn.

So yesterday another lady from the same group of companies calls me up and says they’d like to have me for an interview. A million questions go through my head but mostly, full time or part time? I don’t ask I just book it in.

So now I’ve got an interview tomorrow. And a new dress I can’t afford and I’m not sure is suitable. I took my two nieces (10 & 14) and my Miss 7 to the shops today. They liked the dress. Of course they would have said they liked anything after I dragged them to seven shops to find the perfect top, only to end up with a dress.

I actually have a perfect record for getting jobs I interview for. Wait not entirely but every one I didn’t get I also decided I didn’t really want after I saw/heard the way things were run there. But nevertheless I am the worst at interviews.

I shake, I fumble my words. I stare into space and say ‘um’ a lot while I try to think of answers. I honestly don’t know how interviewers look past this but I feel like honestly just admitting I’m terrible right at the start seems to work.

I get really nervous before interviews because I’m racking my brain looking for the right answer to the dreaded ‘strengths and weaknesses ‘ question. I mean really people?

I know my weaknesses. I know them very well. It’s maybe one of my biggest strengths but a weakness that can also be a strength is what I think they are after. It’s a trick question.

Do I go with the attempted humour of ‘chocolate ‘? I definitely don’t want to tell them it’s disorganisation or procrastination aka ‘the truth ‘. But I do want to give them something real.

‘I’m too self critical ‘ this could make me sound like a perfectionist (inaccurate) or like someone who beats themselves up so badly they have trouble functioning (sometimes accurate but not very flattering).

I have a different gauge to most people due to my years in welfare. The things that are a big deal to other educators are often not to me. Working with traumatised children and adults for that manner gives you a different perspective on what is ‘acceptable’ and why people do what they do. I also really want to prevent trauma as a result so I may not see the value in ‘forcing’ children to do certain things. Is this a weakness?

I find it difficult working with people with strong opinions who make assumptions. Well maybe they will say it’s not the right industry for me. But I like to think I balance things out and I know I’m not the only one that is advocating for programs that are more flexible and adaptive to children’s needs. It’s just ridiculously hard to fit that around the practical things that need to get done. I know many centres have been able to achieve this but I’ve yet to see it in real life.

Maybe I need to interview the centres I work for. I’ve just thought of several questions whilst writing this. Any job has to be the right fit between the workplace and the employees but childcare is just that little bit extra. It involves working very closely a team and each individual has their own unique utopian view of what childcare could be and their own unique experiences that sometimes conflict with those views.

But on a practical level we all got bills to pay. How picky can I be? Maybe that’s my weakness. I need money to live.

Have you ever had the question of what’s your biggest weakness in an interview? I’d love to hear your stories or advice in the comments section.