first interview down

[Zoe Girl]

I will know today or early tomorrow if I am one of the 2 candidates for the second interviews on Wednesday. The 4 people who were interviewed are all very strong candidates so there is that stress. I know that the interviewers said that it is hard with such highly qualified candidates. The interview was very much on our working style, strong points and challenges, and a lot on how I work with a team. I am feeling strong, I know that one candidate I really like is also loud and argumentative in some ways. In the recent email good incident she fired off a response to the supervisor even though it was really affecting me, meanwhile I met with the person who was the person who made the decision and cleared the air and let the part about the email goof slide. Obviously it was not meant to go out and most people did not see that part of the email. One of my answers was my challenge (the organization of paperwork and a situation where I had conflict with colleagues and how I felt I could have done better) and I was honest that I want to support my team and I also feel a fierce protectiveness to some of my families who are struggling. To me that is a strong point, many people do not want to talk about conflict among the people you are interdependent with, and instead talk about subordinates or in my case families and youth.

What I wanted to talk about was how I know a lot about grant funded programs, and the other candidates are all parent tuition funded programs, but they know that. I did work in a lot about data, which is a very grant funded focus. I got to use my favorite piece of data about a camp I ran where the survey response was 50% and out of that 37% of the families changed a behavior based on what their children learned at camp. So it is not just data but really useful data. And I talked a lot about mediation and how that has helped in situations of conflict at all levels.

Okay I can stop selling myself right now. I will update when I know,

[iris lilies]

ZG, those are very good points, it all sounds good so far.

[JaneV2.0]

It would be excellent if you got a new place and a new job all at once. Hoping for the best possible outcome.

[Teacher Terry]

I am rooting for you!!!!

[Float On]

Thinking good thoughts for you!!

[Zoe Girl]

i didn't get a second interview. i am pretty devastated. i know that the one interviewer will meet with me later this week and i really trust her, i can get some feedback. still this was a once in a lifetime chance, there were not going to be any openings at this level ever the last time i talked to someone, now if i didn't get this one then if there ever was a miracle and another job opened i really wouldn't get it. i am totally embarrassed because a couple people, my staff included, know that i am the one with 100% of the qualifications so that means something else must be seriously wrong in my work.

i am just reliving the last school year, the times i felt unfairly attacked, the times i went up against everybody to serve one of my families (and even the grants people told me to drop it), the times i honestly did have a bad inspection visit and didn't return the form. Also the total lack of check-in on the operations side (the part i really struggle with). the person who can do this follow up with me works with a different group so she does not know this stuff. i am really really convinced that no one read my camp proposal! i was put off for over 4 weeks! i also feel like when i hear people talking and they want to check out a good site or learn from someone they talk about other people all the time. i have been running a one of a kind site for 3 years and no one has visited or even sat me down to talk about what advice i have or what i am learning. i had so many compliments about my training abilities one year, now we have a totally new person doing the majority of trainings (and honestly i could improve on them). i feel i am fluctuating between negative and invisible most of the time.

tiny bright side is that the work load and stress level were concerns of mine. the job is open because the current person wants to return to my type of position so she can have contact with the children again instead of just doing paperwork. And tomorrow i meet with the head of the department and she said it was good news. they did a salary survey in our department so maybe i will make better money without having to leave my current job. i had a feeling this was coming and almost stop applying for the job on the last day, but went ahead.

[Valley]

I'm very sorry ZG that you didn't get a second interview. I'm glad that one of the interviewers is meeting with you later this week. I hope that she will be totally (and maybe brutally) honest with you. I've learned over that years that even when I don't want to, I need to hear the truth about how my supervisor regards my work. It helps me decide if I want to remain in that position or look for a change. The hardest part for me was to understand and accept that if my supervisor (in my case my principal) felt that the most important part of my job was what I regarded as the least important part of my job...we were never going to agree that I was doing a good job and had earned a good review. When I moved to another position where they regarded my strengths as positives...my reviews were positive. It is all about finding a place where you "fit". I wish you luck as you accept this decision and move forward.

[Zoe Girl]

thank you valley, i think my concern is that as a person who has struggled with this pretty much all my life that there is not going to be a place where i both fit and earn an income that provides some ease.

edited after i slept on it for a night, i can see what you are saying more this morning Valley, i am so disappointed in this year. i thought i was going to like my new person better and she has turned out to be somewhat unstable. i have had times where i was so happy with something i did and i told her only to get a one sentence 'don't do that'. i realize i am fighting is the idealistic urge to go improve everything and no one really wants me to! ouch. i have bumped a lot of heads trying to help, but i still need to pass on the info that we are not getting what we need on a very basic level (sign in/out sheets, copies of health forms, materials in spanish). meanwhile i honestly don't have another place to go,

[rodeosweetheart]

I'm sorry. Yet I still cannot shake the feeling that there is a better fit out there for you, a place where you would be more appreciated and happier in your work, and that you will find it--you may have to look outside of that particular school district, though.