The interview went quite well (in my opinion) yesterday. I had a couple of people in the room with me, and one on the phone (remotely from the Denver office). Even though they all had names that started with a "J" sound (one had a spelling that started with a "G"), I was able to keep them all straight.
There were no real surprises in the interview for me. The only question that I would consider maybe being a minus for me is the fact that they asked me if I had any HR experience. I am hoping that the question was mainly a nice to have instead of a must have. The job description didn't mention it as a requirement, but you never know what people might read between the lines when they are trying to create a job description.
The biggest surprise came as I was walking out the door. One of the authors that I edit for was attempting to come in through the secured door while I was trying to escape. Because I knew her, I let her in. I said a quick hi in passing, but I thought that she was just ignoring me because I received no answer. She didn't look up, she didn't acknowledge me in any way, shape, or form. I figured that this was because she was coming to an interview, and felt a bit awkward that the both of us happened to bump into each other.
Maybe it was how the earlier part of Cautious Thursday turned out, but Cautious Thursday turned into Paranoid Thursday for me by seeing her there. I know that she just graduated with her Masters degree from my alma mater in Technical Communication, which will be a leg up for her over me. My interviewers don't know that there is a 60% overlap in the curriculum between the bachelor's and Masters programs, so I spent the evening with a gnawing in the back of my brain while comparing her writing and what I knew of her credentials to my own.
Before leaving work yesterday (and to ease my troubled mind), I decided to send her an email wishing her well. I thought it would help diffuse the semi-awkward situation of me saying hi and her completely ignoring me. And I ended up getting a response from her this morning, profusely apologizing for not noticing me. She had come to visit a friend who just started working there, and her friend wanted to show off the new place. She had a really bad headache/sinus infection, so she was trying to avoid looking into the lights and things. At least that's what she said.
Needless to say, my worries were unwarranted. With that being said, now I have a gnawing in my brain that she is going to go looking on all the job boards and find the posting for this position and sneak her resume in before the position closes and I'll find her sitting in a room with me during a second interview as we try to battle it out. She has ammunition against me, and I have ammunition against her as to why we are the better of the two writers.
For my sanity's sake (as well as my pocketbook's sake), let's hope that this daydream remains nothing more than a thought.
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