The Story of the Amazing, Shrinking, Disappearing Interviews

A couple of weeks ago, I had a job interview. It was basically the same kind of job I had at my last company, Admin. Asst. at a small ad agency. The lady who was to interview me stressed that it was an entry level position, and I said I realized that. The company I worked for did mostly PR, and I still don't feel I've gotten a lot of actual ad agency experience, although I've written lots of ad copy, mostly for radio. The interview took place at a Starbucks and I really liked the woman, who's one of the partners. She said they wanted someone who was ambitious and didn't want to stay in the position, but she gave me an idea of what they'd be paying and it wasn't much more than I was making before. She did say there could be a substantial bonus involved. Now, I'm not sure what substantial means. To someone, it might be $500, to some executives, it's $10 million. I'm thinking a couple thousand, which would with the salary would still have been less than I want to make, but I figured I'd get in there and dazzle them and get promoted. They decided I was overqualified. I'm sick of that word. (Duration of first call to interview 4 days, turndown letter came 8 days later)

3 days after that interview, the employment agency called and asked if I'd be interested in...an administrative assistant position at an ad agency. Another one. A bigger one. Yippee. I've applied with this company before and heard very little feedback. 3 years ago, they actually called me and asked me to fill out a personality assessment. Geez, I hate those things. The employment agency faxed me another one, which I immediately filled out and faxed back. I got a call a few hours later after the ad and employment agencies had conferred. The ad agency said they knew me and if they had anything creative that would fit me they'd love to hire me, but...they want someone who only wants to be an admin. asst. They figured I'd find something else and move on. It's been 6 months and I haven't found anything at all, so I have my doubts about the "something else". In all honesty, it's been 3 1/2 years and I haven't found "something else." I wasn't thrilled about taking my last position but thought it was my foot in the door. Apparently it was just a toe. (Length of process from call from employment agency to no from agency <1 day.)

So yesterday, I got a call a little before 9 AM. It was from the airport, which is where I had high hopes about a PR position a couple of months ago, but never got an interview. They wanted to know if I wanted to interview for another position in the same department, a position as (say it with me now) Administrative Assistant. I said yes, I'd like an interview. While the airport office is temporarily located downtown, a round trip drive to the airport from my house is not much more than a mile. Besides, I like airports. Early yesterday afternoon, I left to do my freelance job and run a couple of errands. By the time I got home, there was a message saying that my interview was canceled, and they had decided not to fill the position due to restructuring. ?????? Why did they call me in the first place? Are they insane? Is there no communication between departments? Did my little bad luck demon accidentally let my interview slip through the cracks and then realize his mistake? Geez Louise. (Time elapsed between interview call and cancellation: approx. 5 hours 11 minutes)

I told Garland that the next time I get a call they're going to say,"We'd like you to come in for an interview (pause), wait, no we don't," He said the next call will come from someone who'll say "We heard you were going to apply for a job with our company. Please don't." At least I can't complain about the process dragging out.