The Interview
I am just back from an interview. It was with one of India's leading newspaper dailies for a job as a journalist. And it was quite hilarious (I don't see myself getting the job).
It started off with the giy interviewing me wanting to know why I had quit advertising to join journalism (that was three years ago). I told him rather honestly that I was bored and I had seen an ad looking for journos, applied, got a response and they gave me the job. He then wanted to know if I had found journalists to be different from managers. I replied that the difference I saw is that they did not seem to like managers or management much. That was not the answer he was looking for so he put the question again in a more convoluted manner and I gave him the same reply in a even more convoluted way. He then decided to change tack and asked me what area would I be comfortable writing on. I told him that advertising would be the natural area of strength but my interests were varied and I quite enjoyed writing on anything under the sun.
This answer too did not please him and he said if there was one area which you would like to write on which would it be. I told him that there was no such area and while advertising would be the natural area of strength I take that as a granted. He said but there are some kinds of reporting which needs contacts so where would my contacts be. I told him that would be in advertising and business circles thanks to my previous job. He then told me that in this paper everyone could write across the paper. I told him that was good since it is what I wanted to do. And then he said that even then I must have an area of specialisation.
Clearly we were going in circles.
He then asked me if I would be comfortable doig number based stories. Analysing numbers and such stuff. Obviously if you are an MBA from IIMC you are supposed to be good with numbers. I told him that I would love to give it a try but the truth was that in India numbers were quite unreliable. He agreed weakly and said but still would I be willing to look at numbers.
At this point he decided to ask me why I had quit my previous job. I told him that I was very bored and tired of doing the same thing again and again. And that I had cribbed to my former employers but they kept patting me on my head saying what a great job i was doing and that I should not worry about monotony and lack of work. Another dead end (i am sure a good answer would have been that I was hungry for new challenges or something like that)
He then asked me if I had any experience in production. I told him that I did if they used QuarkXpress. He then told me how when he had been with my former employer he was the one who had lobbied for Quark and implemented it across the organisation. I told him that was great since I could not think of anything else to say.
At this point another guy entered the room and the first man benignly nodded to the new guy that I was all his. That guy also asked me what it was that I would like to do and I gave him the same response as before. He too looked perplexed and then told me that surely there must be something that I would like to specialise in . I told him that I would like to write satire . But that was not the right answer and he said what else. I told him I was OK to writing on everything else. He then asked me that ok which area did I think was an area of weakness for the paper. I told him that I don't really read the paper and even if I did these things were not things that I gave much thought to. Instead, I suggested that he could tell me which were the three weak areas and I could tell him which area I would like to work with. He just looked perplexed.
Then he asked me if I had to make the rail budget interesting what would I do. The truth is that the railway budget is a bore and nobody but journalists make a big fuss about it. Now since I could not say that I told him that I would write about the railways in general. Like it was run by Anglo Indians once (i quoted John Masters' Bhowani Junction), why is the infrastructure so bad and why is it not privatised etcetera. He replied that I would have known about the anglo indians from my days at IIM calcutta since Kharagpur and some other station have large concentrations of anglos. I wanted to tell him that we never bothered about remote places like Kharagpur in IIM Cal but decided to just listen.
He then asked me what was I doing currently. I told him that I was writing, reading and running. He looked at me like I was a raving lunatic and then thankfully for him his mobile phone rang and he left.
The first guy now asked me more of the same andI replied more of the same> he then asked me my salary and said he would get back to me in a day or two.
I am convinced now that I am a bad interview taker but what amuses me more is that I could have said I want to write only on advertising and got this job. I could have said that I love numbers and its such a great idea to analyse numbers and flattery might have gotten me the job. The simple truth that I enjoy writing and I could be of use to them across more than one sphere somehow seemed too far-fetched. What a life!
It started off with the giy interviewing me wanting to know why I had quit advertising to join journalism (that was three years ago). I told him rather honestly that I was bored and I had seen an ad looking for journos, applied, got a response and they gave me the job. He then wanted to know if I had found journalists to be different from managers. I replied that the difference I saw is that they did not seem to like managers or management much. That was not the answer he was looking for so he put the question again in a more convoluted manner and I gave him the same reply in a even more convoluted way. He then decided to change tack and asked me what area would I be comfortable writing on. I told him that advertising would be the natural area of strength but my interests were varied and I quite enjoyed writing on anything under the sun.
This answer too did not please him and he said if there was one area which you would like to write on which would it be. I told him that there was no such area and while advertising would be the natural area of strength I take that as a granted. He said but there are some kinds of reporting which needs contacts so where would my contacts be. I told him that would be in advertising and business circles thanks to my previous job. He then told me that in this paper everyone could write across the paper. I told him that was good since it is what I wanted to do. And then he said that even then I must have an area of specialisation.
Clearly we were going in circles.
He then asked me if I would be comfortable doig number based stories. Analysing numbers and such stuff. Obviously if you are an MBA from IIMC you are supposed to be good with numbers. I told him that I would love to give it a try but the truth was that in India numbers were quite unreliable. He agreed weakly and said but still would I be willing to look at numbers.
At this point he decided to ask me why I had quit my previous job. I told him that I was very bored and tired of doing the same thing again and again. And that I had cribbed to my former employers but they kept patting me on my head saying what a great job i was doing and that I should not worry about monotony and lack of work. Another dead end (i am sure a good answer would have been that I was hungry for new challenges or something like that)
He then asked me if I had any experience in production. I told him that I did if they used QuarkXpress. He then told me how when he had been with my former employer he was the one who had lobbied for Quark and implemented it across the organisation. I told him that was great since I could not think of anything else to say.
At this point another guy entered the room and the first man benignly nodded to the new guy that I was all his. That guy also asked me what it was that I would like to do and I gave him the same response as before. He too looked perplexed and then told me that surely there must be something that I would like to specialise in . I told him that I would like to write satire . But that was not the right answer and he said what else. I told him I was OK to writing on everything else. He then asked me that ok which area did I think was an area of weakness for the paper. I told him that I don't really read the paper and even if I did these things were not things that I gave much thought to. Instead, I suggested that he could tell me which were the three weak areas and I could tell him which area I would like to work with. He just looked perplexed.
Then he asked me if I had to make the rail budget interesting what would I do. The truth is that the railway budget is a bore and nobody but journalists make a big fuss about it. Now since I could not say that I told him that I would write about the railways in general. Like it was run by Anglo Indians once (i quoted John Masters' Bhowani Junction), why is the infrastructure so bad and why is it not privatised etcetera. He replied that I would have known about the anglo indians from my days at IIM calcutta since Kharagpur and some other station have large concentrations of anglos. I wanted to tell him that we never bothered about remote places like Kharagpur in IIM Cal but decided to just listen.
He then asked me what was I doing currently. I told him that I was writing, reading and running. He looked at me like I was a raving lunatic and then thankfully for him his mobile phone rang and he left.
The first guy now asked me more of the same andI replied more of the same> he then asked me my salary and said he would get back to me in a day or two.
I am convinced now that I am a bad interview taker but what amuses me more is that I could have said I want to write only on advertising and got this job. I could have said that I love numbers and its such a great idea to analyse numbers and flattery might have gotten me the job. The simple truth that I enjoy writing and I could be of use to them across more than one sphere somehow seemed too far-fetched. What a life!
posted by bababull at 1:57 AM
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