That Interview

It's not fair to tell you I had an interview and then tell you nothing about it, but there has been a lot going on. It took place a few days ago.

I realized that my new, and not fully assembled interview suit was overkill, but that I had nothing else to wear, so I ended up wearing an outfit that I bought in twenty minutes (that's a very short amount of time, guys). Why all this emphasis on wardrobe? First impressions count and the employer has to be able to envision me flying his aircraft, which will be done in casual clothes for this job, but he has to see that respect him and his company. My pants did not fall off during the interview, which, because of the way pants are styled this way, was more of a concern than it ought to have been.

It was pretty standard inteview fare. Tell me about your career so far. How do you make decisions? How many attempts would you make to land before proceding to your alternate? What has been the greatest challenge of your career? Have you ever had a disagreement with a co-worker? Tell me about a time you accomplished something as part of a team. What was the toughest decision you have made? Why do you want to work for us?

Predictably I babbled on some answers, stammered on others and substituted irrelevant stories for carefully thought out but momentarily forgotten prepared answers. I left out lots I should have said, and inadvertantly told one lie, which I realized on the way home.

The interviewer was an old-fashioned gentleman, opening doors for me, not sitting until I did and so on. I'm pretty sure he is smart enough to know that girls fly airplanes just as well as the boys, but I think he has true distaste for the prospect of sending a female into a lousy base. And he referred to one of his own bases, during the interview, as the 'armpit of Canada.' If you're thinking, "I've been there!" remember that by that criterion, Canada must have more arms than a Hindu goddess.

I'll hear within a week or so, and meanwhile I'm playing telephone tag with another employer. We're both working too hard to make contact.