I emailed in that I had an appointment and would be late coming into the office. I left the "appointment" part vague and ambiguous, as I always do, which enables it to cover a host of personal issues.
My plan was to drive to my office, park at the top of my parking garage where I would get decent cell phone reception, and take the call there so that I could immediately go to work afterward.
Thank god it was a phone interview. 10 minutes before the interview was scheduled, I started having hot flashes, clamminess and cramping. No, it wasn't nerves--I think it was a stomach bug or food issue. Anyway, I made it through the interview, but turned around and went right back home because I was not fit to be in the company of other human beings.
Who knows what my bosses though, first with the mystery appointment, then calling in sick altogether. Fortunately, it seems to have passed quickly and I was feeling much better by late afternoon.
Anyway, the interview went very well. I already have an in-person interview scheduled for next week. I'm kind of shocked, considering how poorly my interviews usually go. I liked what I heard and think the change would be positive. My only reservation is that I would be focusing on a single practice area, whereas now I get a pretty decent variety of cases. If I had to name my favorite practice areas, this probably wouldn't make the top 5 list--but I have had a couple of cases of this genre and I don't dislike this area of law.
5 comments:
A good working environment can make up for not loving the actual papers that cross your desk. I have that in child support enforcement. I have 4 good co-workers and a nice office, even though the "clients" cuss me out and call me incompetent even when I am very good at my job. So nice days in the office balance out the crappy court dates, mostly.
I like that you conducted the phone interview from your car at the top of the garage at work. That's a great idea, and I don't know that I would have thought of it. Congrats, and good luck!
Hope you are feeling OK today! Fingers crossed for you on the in-person interview.
Let's say you end up at this new job only to discover you're less than satisfied with the work itself. That's worth giving some thought to prior to switching. Rayne hit it on the nose "A good working environment can make up for not loving the actual papers that cross your desk." Try very hard to get them to tell you what flexibility exists, or might exist in the future, for you to do work in other areas also, or for future chances to actually move to another area eventually. Like in two or three years or whatnot. Or what their attitude about pro bono work is (if you could do interesting work that way?). I took a job that I knew involved 60% stuff I wasn't interested in, and it's a struggle to ignore my dissatisfaction with that aspect of my duties. The other 40% makes up for it, and the pay and benefits, and the stability and security. Pick your battles/pick your pain, is the point here, I suppose. And write down, now, why you chose to leave your current job. Keep that handy. It helps to remember what it was like.
Sounds like you handled it well. Congrats on the second interview!!
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