Since it was for an office assistant position I put on a nice gray pair of slacks and a gray and white top. When I got there for the interview I had clearly overshot on the drive time. I got there a good 25 minutes early. I always prefer to get to an interview early but not quite that early. So I sat in my car for about 10 minutes before going in.
The reason why I said I think I over dressed is because the person behind the desk was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and the lady who interviewed me was wearing black pants and a t-shirt. Better safe than sorry though. I would much rather over dress for an interview than under dress.
I personally feel that the interview went great. She explained every aspect I could possibly have hoped for except for the pay rate. I didn't even have to ask any questions and I wasn't about to ask about the pay rate. Something is better than nothing and with how close it is to home I'm not worried about the gas price aspect to it.
I have to say it was the most relaxed interview I've ever had in my life up to and including the fact that she was joking around with me. We got along really well. At least I think so.
Normally an interview takes about 15 minutes. It didn't feel like it at the time but once I got back to my car I realized that it had been a 45 minute long interview. I'm taking that as a good sign. I'm also taking it as a good sign in so far as that it didn't feel like it had been that long.
Apparently it is a very small office enviroment. It is the person who interviewed me as well as the person who greeted me at the desk. The person who was behind the desk wants to work more closely with the person who interviewed me as she needs some things taken off of her plate. So basically I would be taking over the person behind the desk's job.
The job itself sounds perfect for me actually. It is a blend of office work and customer service which are my two biggest strong suites. She told me that she will pick the top three candidates and then schedule a second interview with them but that she would want the person behind the desk to be part of that second interview since it is such a small office enviroment she wants to make sure everyone gets a long.
I am really, really hoping I get the call back and I am also really, really hoping that I get this job. Not only because I need one but because, oddly enough, I think I would enjoy working there. The idea of having such a small team of people (a total of three) interests me a lot more than having a team of twenty or thirty.
I feel that I answered all of her questions in a satisfactory manner and she even commented on how some of my past work history would be very beneficial to their office. I'm taking that as a good sign. I have thought such things before and not received a call back or received a job offer but for some reason I feel really good about this one.
I think for the next interview I'll wear something a little less formal. I'm thinking a nice pair of khakis and a really nice top to go with it. I know I'm jumping ahead of myself on that but the idea popped into my head of how I should dress for the second interview should I receive a call back.
The way she put it, it sounds like whoever she wants to come in for a second interview will be contacted by mid to late next week. After that they would make a decision and a job offer. Once the offer was made a background check would be done. Once the background check was completed, which I am not even remotely worried about, the job would start sometime in the beginning to the middle of November.
*fingers crossed*
I'm a lurker, but good luck. I think I put in about 50 applications over the course of a year before I found my way out of Helljob, as I call it--sounds like you had a great interview! I doubt managers would put up with someone for 45 minutes if they weren't really interested. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I really appreciate it! Trust me, if I get the job I'll be doing a post about it.
DeleteI'm glad the interview went well. 45 minutes definitely sounds like a good sign. Good luck with the rest of the process! I'll cross my fingers for you :)
ReplyDeleteI think for interviews it's probably almost always better to overdress than underdress. I've always tried to dress as nicely or nicer than the person interviewing me. If I don't know how dressy they'll be, I err to the side of more dressy. I've had interviews where I was essentially in a business suit and the people interviewing me were in jeans and t-shirts or even shorts and tank tops (and, yes, that was for an office job). I don't think it's ever counted against me since what it really says is that I take their company seriously as important enough to dress up for.
Thank you! And I would agree in regards to the dress code for interviews.
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