What I learned about myself from a poor interview

A couple of weeks ago I submitted my CV to a local hotel to work as an office assistant, they contacted me the day after I submitted my CV which I took to be a good sign. I agreed to attend the interview on the Wednesday of the following week. So, I covered the unicorn hair up with a box of red hair dye, I’m aware my alternative look isn’t always approved of, and I covered my two tattoos. I got myself suited up, subtle make up applied, hair tied back, wearing navy pinstripe trousers, a white cotton shirt with navy stripes and a red blazer with my red polka dot irregular choice wedges (I’ll get to that later!)

So I headed into town, I wandered round for a bit as I was way too early, I got to the hotel at 15:50, my interview was at 16:00, I headed to the reception desk as people were going about their business. There was a young woman at the reception desk who was on the phone to a hotel guest about room service, this young lady was well turned out, her hair was put up beautifully and I noticed she had a nose piercing which made me feel better about my facial piercings. There was another young lady behind her walking behind the desk from behind the stand where the keys were kept past the office which I could see into directly and past an area that I couldn’t see properly. I waited a few minutes before I was spoken to as the young lady on the phone was busy and I’m assuming the other lady wandering behind reception was too (I could be completely wrong on this though, however I have no way of knowing).

I was also a bit shocked by the appearance of behind the desk. There was a towel on the floor rolled up by a skirting board, I’m not sure why but it didn’t look good. I could also see directly into the office behind reception, this office had booking forms, invoices in folders but it look like a bomb had dropped on it. Now from my background we were told any areas that could be seen by the public should be clean, tidy and organised, this was not what I was seeing. For me if there was no way of making the office any tidier, close the door. I honestly can’t comment about the towel because I have no clue why it was there.

While the young lady put the guest on hold as she was struggling to find a menu, she asked could she helped I explained I was there attending interview, she asked my name and then asked who I was attending interview with. My mind went blank, I couldn’t remember, so I said “I don’t know, it’s for the office assistant”, and as soon as those words came out of my mouth I remembered who it was with we both said at the same time the member of staff’s name, for arguments sake and to protect identity we’ll say Bethany*. She asked me to take and seat explaining Bethany will come and collect me. So, I take a seat on the big leather couches in the waiting area and I noticed a champagne flute had been left at the table I was sat at with a red lipstick stain on it. I’m unsure how long the glass had been there for or who’s responsibility it was to clear the glass away, whether it was reception’s or a member of the bar staff team.

So I waited for my interview, which as I said was at 16:00 and I arrived at 15:50, I always make a point of being early for interviews, it’s my belief that you should turn up early to an interview, it gives me time to prepare, it shows that you’re taking the meeting seriously and that time keeping is important to you – I believe in an office job this is important as you often have to keep to strict timescales.

16:00 came and went, I’m keeping an eye on the time looking around me thinking maybe their previous interview has overrun, have I come on the wrong day, have they forgotten about me, at this point it is heightening my anxiety as my mind is racing. Well as it turned out, there was no interview candidate who had overrun in their interview, they were just late.

After twenty minutes of waiting meaning they were ten minutes late for the interview, I was greeted with a handshake at which point I very inelegantly get out of my seat as the sofa was so soft that I settled right into it, or perhaps I’d been there so long it had accepted me as one of its own.

As I walked along the corridor there was no apology for the fact Bethany* was late for coming to collect me, I was then greeted by the General Manager of the hotel who was interviewing with Bethany* as she needed someone else to interview with her. They took me into the restaurant to carry out my interview, however the young lady who had been on reception taking the phone call to the guest was having a meeting with another member of staff. So they said they couldn’t do it in there, which was fine, but this is quite a large hotel and has quite a few meeting and function rooms available and according to the board which helps guests attending functions find which room they are in, there was only two function rooms being used. The general manager said, after a standing by the exit to the restaurant while I stood and held the door as I was actually unsure as to what was going on, that we could potentially use her office but it was a mess, this was not filling me with confidence. However, they then decided we could go into the bar to conduct my interview, it had hotel guests in it as well as staff, this was not a comfortable setting for an interview.

We sat down at the back of the bar area, I was asked to give an introduction of who I was, how I came to apply for the post, and just generally give an overview about my work history. I explained that I had 13 years’ experience of administration in the Housing sector and another year with various organisations for experience. I also explained that there was a gap in my CV as I have been working self employed for the past 8 months. They asked a few different questions and then the general manager asked, “If I was to be successful in gaining the post would I be willing to remove my piercings as it was policy that facial piercings be removed”. I explained yes and that I’d probably just take them out all together if that were the case.

Now this in itself wouldn’t have been a problem, even though more places are hiring people with piercings, tattoos and all manners of weird and wonderful hair its still not acceptable everywhere which I’m more than fine with, however their receptionist had a nose piercing, I have a nose and lip piercing. The fact I have piercings and tattoos makes me no more or less capable of doing my job to a good standard, tattoos can be hidden, piercings can be removed, and hair can be covered up. Anyway, I digress.

So, I finished the interview I answered all my questions, as the interview closed I shook hands with Bethany* and went to shake hands with the general manager who declined due to a cold, she had frequently blew her nose throughout the interview apologising as she did so.

I left the hotel feeling really bad about the interview, I knew two things when I left, firstly that I was not going to be offered the job and secondly that I didn’t want the job.

The fact that they were late to interview was the first thing, I can accept a couple of minutes, maybe even five minutes, not ten minutes. There was also no apology for the fact they were late, that’s quite disrespectful to any candidate and for me it makes me wonder how they treat their staff. The fact that they hadn’t been organised enough to book a meeting or function room, or even set the general manager’s office up to take interview candidates shows a lack of organisation and planning on their part. The piercing policy, this I could live with, however what I couldn’t abide was the fact that a member of staff had piercings, which is against policy; this tells me that the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing.

I headed to the holistic centre I worked at I was running a sister circle that night and I needed to change and set up the room for the women due to attend. As I was heading there, I got onto Lowther Street in Carlisle.

Now you may remember I mentioned I was wearing my polka dot irregular choice shoes, these are my old faithful shoes that I’ve had for about 9 years, I don’t fall in these shoes, like ever, even after one to many drinks. Well, I fell, on a main street, at 5pm so it was rush hour traffic and there were plenty of pedestrians too. Not only did I fall, but I smacked my face off the railings on Lowther Street, and all the people in the cars were bound to have seen plus, someone noticed as he was crossing the road, no doubt he laughed, because in hindsight it was funny. And then to finish it off, a man stood on the other side of the road noticed and was shouting to me over the road to ask was I OK as I was trying to scramble to my feet. Mortified.

This just finished off the experience for me. I headed to the centre where I was greeted by the owner who asked how the interview went, I said terrible, explained what happened and then explained that I’d fallen. She asked, “Did you cry?” to which my reply was “No, but I wanted to, in fact I might cry now.”

I didn’t cry, I sent some voice notes via WhatsApp to a group of friends who at first were sympathetic, then tore the interview to pieces worse than I had and also laughed at me. This lifted my mood and then meant I could go on and carry out the sister circle in a good humour.

So as a final closing piece I’m reaching out to all those who interview and to those attending interviews. I’ve been sat on both sides of the table.

As an interview candidate it’s our job to sell yourself as best as possible

1. Giving examples and situations of how you have met challenges, and what makes you the best candidate for the job. What do you bring to the table?

2. If you’ve sold yourself to the best of your ability, then that’s all you can ask of yourself, but know there’s always room for improvement.

3. Research the company you’re going to work for, are they holding events, learn about how the company started or came to be.

4. Learn about their ethos.

5. Be honest and be you.

6. If you feel like the company isn’t for you after you’ve left the interview, and you’re offered the role, it’s OK to say no.

Now onto those on the interview panel:

1. Be punctual for your interview, because if you can’t do this common courtesy, you’re sending a message about them as a candidate, about how you treat your people and you’ve probably already made them anxious, in a situation few people are comfortable with.

2. If you are late, offer your apologies and be sincere, explain why you’re late. You don’t have to go into detail, but some explanation and an apology is better than none at all.

3. Make sure you have a space to interview in, one that’s private, some people don’t or maybe can’t openly discuss their employment history out in the open but could behind closed doors. It’s unlikely that you’ve not had time to secure a room. Particularly in cases where you’ve organised the interviews a week in advance. I believe this to be another common courtesy.

4. If you have a policy about staff appearance such as hair, piercings or tattoos, that you reiterate in the interview, make sure that all your members of staff adhere to this or it’s just a waste of time having the policy.

5. When you are sending your sorry you didn’t get the job emails, as well as having your name, include your job title. I’m a huge advocate of knowing who has sent the email and what their role is within the business.

And this last point is please, please if you’ve got a customer facing office and desk please make sure it’s clean, tidy and organised. It’s better for you finding things and therefore you can work in a more mindful way but also, that is one of the first impressions your customers get of your business when they walk in.