Facing an interview

Ever since I have been out on my own after college, I have found myself facing a lot of interviews, specifically for a job and even otherwise. I have failed a few, made a mess of some, got through some, and have had so much fun in some because the interviewer just made it all look so casual or maybe he was just wasn't doing a good job! Anyways, just the thought of an interview puts me on an alert. There is something about interviews that gives me the goosebumps and it makes me realize that it's time for a reality check. It ain't as if I am short of confidence, short of experience or as if I hadn't been in a crunch situation before, but this one is always different. The interviewer fires a question and you have a reply, but will it satisfy the guy, is it what he is expecting to hear, or is it something he already knows and is just interested in hearing my point of view. What if my point of view doesn't coincide with his views? Will my answer be to the point or be vague and irrelevant.

I have taken interviews myself, hired and fired people, judged them professionally, but somehow being interviewed just gets to me. It starts right with the way I look. Did I have a good clean shave, do I need a haircut, what do I wear, will it be a dark shirt or a light colored one. Should the shoe be brown or black. How will I be judged? Will the interviewer be a style freak, hard taskmaster, or a dimwit, or maybe a total nerd who is gonna kill me with his technicalities.

There is another type of interview, not the job category, but the life changing category, equally unnerving by virtue of its contents and nature, and the demands it puts on your psyche....the matrimonial interview. This one is much more ruthless, though it’s very subtle. You can't smart talk your way through this one, cos if you lie or make a tall claim, it will come back to haunt you all your life. This one's in the take it or leave it segment or the ‘you will lose anyway’ mode.

Finally, as I get ready to face another interview, I know this will not be my last, not because I am confident of getting through them unscathed or will soon be looking for another one, but I believe one needs to encounter situations such as these where you are periodically checked whether you are an updated version, to check whether you still have it in you, see if you are market ready, see if you are abreast with what's happening in the world around you, and whether you need to upgrade your skills and get to the library again. It busts the notion, if there was any, that I am overconfident and that I can handle any interview or situation.

I also have a matrimonial interview coming up as well next month, which will include a distinguished panel of interviewers, who will all have a very personal motive behind the whole exercise. They will be intending to scrape through the pit of the Earth to unearth the answers they have been waiting to listen, ironically coating the whole exercise with lots of sugar and honey.

So here I am, waiting to be interviewed, waiting to present my point of view, and to those interviewers who decide not to take me onboard and assume my incompetence, I say at least give me a chance to prove my incompetence!