Have a job interview in a week!!

I just got an email inviting me to write a take home examination and attend an interview on Friday December 19. It is for Service Canada's Call Centre. I have been entering competitions for years trying to get on with the government and have succeeded a few times (casual positions tho). I am so hoping I get this job! My unemployment runs out in March, and with the economy right now, I don't know how easy it will be to find full-time work with anything other than government.

I am so nervous about this interview! I interviewed with them last year and didn't pass the interview. They are looking for certain words/phrases and if you don't say those words/phrases, you don't pass. Luckily I have a friend who currently works for Service Canada (well she will again when her maternity leave is over) and she has offered to prepare me for the interview if I make it that far. I will have to call her up soon and arrange to meet her. The day of the interview is going to be very very busy. I have a doctor's appointment at 9:00 AM, the interview at 10:30 AM and I have to work at 5:00PM. The appointment and the interview are in different towns (but only 20 minutes away if there is no construction, but there is!!) and I have to be there 15 minutes early. This doctor I'm seeing is hit and miss for being on time. I'm thinking I'm her first appointment of the day, so hopefully there is no wait. Last time I saw her, I waited for almost 2 hours (that was with an appointment).

Please wish me luck on the interview! I could so use this job! This job will also mean me having to buy a car (used), get insurance (obviously) and start driving again for the first time in about 7 years (and on winter roads, LOL). Could be fun! Oh and any help on having a successful interview would be appreciated. LOL.

Good Luck Dawn. Go in there thinking you will kick butt, and you will

Good luck! I will have you in my thoughts that day and hope you have some great news!

That's wonderful news, Dawn! I bet you'll do fine. I haven't interviewed in a long, long time but I do remember reading recently that interviewers look to see if you were prepared. Did you bring a pen to fill in forms, ID if necessary, notepad to take notes, etc. And Scott (who always does remarkably well in an interview even though he doesn't look good on paper) says that it always impresses them if you have a few well thought out questions such as "What do I need to do to prepare for this job?" or "What specifically are you looking for in your employees?"

I was thinking of having some question ready for them. I was thinking about when the job would start, how long training was, etc... The interview I had with them last year was so weird! It was nothing like a normal interview. They gave me the questions beforehand. I then had 30 minutes to read the questions and write out my answers (point form, whatever) for all questions. When my 30 minutes was up, I handed the paper to them with my answers and when the interview started, they gave me back my answers. I was told that after all questions were asked and answered, I would then have a chance to add to my answers and it wouldn't hurt my interview at all. They also asked (and told me they would be doing it) twice after each question if there was anything else I would like to add. Again, if I added anything, it wouldn't hurt my interview at all. Like I said, it was a really weird interview!

Thanks for the well wishes. I told DH I got the invitation, and he now wants me to re-schedule my doctor's appointment. That might be the smart thing to do, but it took awhile for them to figure out when to fit me in because of the holidays, and her going away. I might call tomorrow to see if I can get in the day before instead. I don't want to put this appointment off, but I don't want to be rushing and getting stressed out either.

It might be smart to reschedule the interview if possible. That way you definately won't be rushed and out of sorts for the interview. Government jobs always have weird interviews, but now that you've been through the process once you should be ready for whatever they throw at you!

There will be no way to reschedule the interview. I have tried before, and they just won't do it here without a very good reason. I'm going to call the doctor's office today and see if I can get in the day before and if not I'll just have to schedule the appointment for after Christmas. It's just a check-up appointment, so nothing serious, but I hate rescheduling. LOL. This doctor usually takes about a month to get an appointment for.

I had my interview today! I get there, and I find out that there is a computer test, and a written test plus an interview. Both the computer test and the written test were pretty easy, so I'm not worried there. I think the interview went really well as well! I have a much much better feeling about this interview then I did last year. They said they were hoping to hire in 3 months (that I didn't want to hear since my unemployment runs out in about 3 months, LOL). They are going to let people know pretty early if they didn't pass any of the qualifications, so hopefully I will not hear anything for 3 months. LOL

Cool! I'm glad it went better this time. Did you end up going to the Dr, too?

I hope you get it, I'm glad it went well

Your description of your first interview - weird! I hate to think they're missing some great employees because they're so caught up in playing their psychological games. I usually get a feel for a person when I'm next to them, so I just don't understand why they make people jump through hoops.

Sounds like the latest interview went well. I hope you get the position and let you know soon.

They make everyone jump through hoops because they don't want people getting hired because they know someone and not have the qualifications. I don't mind all the testing (it's a PIA tho), it's the interviews and not knowing exactly what to expect and what they are looking for. I think I was more confident this time, because I didn't have to worry about making a good impression. I do get points for oral communication, but that's not a huge part of it.

Karen - I ended up canceling the appointment. I'm glad I did now because we got some snow the last couple of days, so the roads weren't the greatest. I know I would have been stressing out about being late. I couldn't get in to see the doctor until the new year (early January). I now have pain in my back around the kidneys, so I'm sort of regretting canceling (but I knew I had to). Plus my father works out West and was coming home today, so we met him at the airport with Zach (didn't realize his plane was expected to arrive in time to meet him, so we had already dropped Ceilidh off at preschool). Zach was so excited to see the airplane come in so it was worth it.