2nd Interview

The SCORE councilor reminded me of meetup.com. Someone else told me about them when I was still in LA. The site includes local networking groups by theme or purpose. Boise has some really lame ones with 3 members and no artists groups, but they do have really big web design, Adobe Developers, Flash design, and graphic design groups. These would be good for finding some freelance.

I was nervous about my 2nd interview, which is unusual for me, and I felt a bit off. I went though this whole what to wear thing. I don't have very many choices because I have been poor and have not bought clothes and could get away with things that were old and casual at the last job. The good enough choices I have left need dry cleaning or shoes and the weather changed completely during the day yesterday. It was cold and raining in the morning, an hour before my interview it was clear and hot, by the interview it had cooled off again. Should I bother to dry clean the Summer suits I probably won't wear until next year? Should I wear a Summer suit and maybe be cold? Should I wear the Fall suit and be too warm? In the end I wore a skirt and a light sweater and a pair of the few decent shoes I have left and I was fine. I don't know if the nervousness caused the what to wear issue or the what to wear issue caused the nervousness. If I do get this job, I am buying some clothes, and I am really hoping there is not a 3rd interview.

The interview was with two people that work for the woman I interviewed last time, so they would be my peers. They were a bit more stiff and hard to read, but still pretty casual. The interview included more typical interview questions, rather than technical stuff about human services, which is good for me since I am new to the state. One question was, what would I do if they told me that the current interview is going badly? I've never experienced that question, but thought it was a good one. I said I would ask if there is anything that I can do to change that and that I would appreciate them giving me that feedback at the interview.

I presented my test, which was describing how I would re-engineer a process that I did not like. That went well and I used a work process I had already re-engineered with a sample. I think the interview went well in the end and they will make a decision next week. There is an issue with my references, they said that some of the numbers are disconnected. I think they are trying to call the video game companies I worked for that no longer exist. I have to include a phone number for every past employer on my application, so I used the numbers the companies had when they existed, even though they are all disconnected. I gave the manager a list of references at the first interview, but she appears to have delegated the calls to someone who is not using that list. I sent her an email about it today and we'll see what she says. Why they want to call 7 to 10 year old references, I don't know.

The lawnmower arrived and I cut the backyard grass yesterday afternoon. I started before my interview, to see if I could get rid of some of that nervousness, and finished afterward. It was really hard, the grass was still wet from the rain and was about 6 inches tall. I had to mow the whole yard 3 times and rake in between. I did not get a grass catcher, they are really unnecessary under normal circumstances, and only have a hand rake. I missed my real rake. It is not my best mowing job, but it's done. Today I am letting the grass dry out, it is sunny and clear today, and I will do the front and give the back another go over, although I am pretty sore from yesterday.

I am learning my way around Boise, but honestly I am not used to a small city, everything is closer together than I think that it should be and I keep passing places. I now have a list of addresses for places in my car, but I need to start pulling over when I see something and adding the address to my list. I don't know where things are that well, so I tend to go to place #1, across town to place #2, and all the way back across town to place #3, which is right next to place #1. For now, I see places I need when I am driving back and forth and learn the town, but it is a bit annoying.

Today I am going to the Boise Art Fair and starting a new list of chores and things I want to do.