You know you’re going to have one of those days when you manage to sleep through all three of your alarms…all of which were set 15 minutes apart in different bloody ring tones…all of which were set to wake me up with ample time to get my shit together for an interview. An interview I found out about yesterday just before watching “Skyfall” for the second time….I’m tempted to watch it for a third time (which is worrying actually because initially this Bond movie rated as something like 5th in my top movies for this year….it now sits at 2nd place, just behind “The Avengers”! Seriously, what the piss has happened to me?…..actually don’t answer that, I fear I know the answer, and you will too after this post).

I like to prepare for interviews so the bus was my transport of choice for today, granted it adds like 30 minutes onto the journey but I needed a bit of last minute reading time to get my head around the more in-depth information regarding legal procedures and statutes (I haven’t studied Law since college and as such my brain is a little bit hazy on the subject).

The role I was being interviewed for is a rather manic one in comparison to what I’m used to (and my last role was absolutely bat-shit!), there is very little in the way of a support network within the unit I’d be in (should I get the job) as the department is under development. I’d be thrown in at the deep end and expected to swim…I’d be expected to be running a department within a matter of weeks…and I’d be expected to spend alot of my time in computer databases, statistical programs, spreadsheets and documentation.

Would such a thing bother me? …..initially maybe…it’s a totally different working environment and field to which I’m trained in. But I’ve become very adept when it comes to dealing with new situations.

Is being thrown in at the deep end something I could handle? ….more than likely, I’ve been there before without drowning.

Do I think I’m up to it? …..simply yes. Yes I am. Computer systems, databases, spreadsheets…they don’t scare me in the slightest, in fact, running statistical analyses is actually rather exciting. I have no problem developing, maintaining and using them…at all…and data interpretation and manipulation is just something I find incredibly easy to do.

However, I am rather rusty when it comes to legislation…animal testing and ethics is something I know alot about but corporate law, not so much. I was wishing I’d been given more time to revise, after all, I had less than 24hrs to prepare…and I remember 2 years of Law at college wasn’t enough for the basics!

As you can imagine people gave me a wide berth when they found me at the front of the upper deck with papers strewn everywhere and mumbling the dates of various cases and changes to legislation that may or may not be relevant (surprisingly all my years as a student has conditioned my brain to take cramming of information seriously…which may slightly explain my ability to remember actors in obscure roles…I refer you back to yesterday’s post for this one).

I did get a bit of a break when I could hear a commotion on the lower deck and the shrieking of “your dog has just shit on my foot!” followed by much howling in horror from many other commuters….the bus stopped after the motorway trip to get rid of said offending item.

The revision paid off when the first interview question I was asked was – “what can you tell me about Litigation Law?” …. I knew that! I knew that! I knew that!….. which was closely followed by “what about employment law? Tax law? Family law? Mediation? Licensing?”

There was then a brief pause as the interviewer flicked through my resume, sipped at her tea and then…

“What are your computer skills like?”

…

I was thrown, this wasn’t a law question, all other interview preparation had been stashed away in the brain filing system, as such my brain panicked and out of my mouth came “I’ll hazard I can do more damage on my laptop sitting in my pyjamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field” (*facepalm* thanks Q…luckily the interviewer was a “Skyfall” fan otherwise that would have been really embarrassing – while she laughed that out of her system my brain figured out a better answer).

The interviewer apparently has shocking computer skills…so that was a plus point I think!

I do know that the interviewer was rather unnerved by my qualification level and course (she spoke her mind)…I can’t say I blame her. The MSc course wasn’t easy, nor is it something that appears in general conversation. But I guess we’ll see!

Ah well….Loki by name, Loki by nature….And on a Thorsday too!

Loki-Lou

PS – Happy Thanksgiving (to my readers from the USA!) and Happy Thorsday (to everyone!).

(Thorsday….a reason for me to share pictures of Loki )

Today’s song of the day is:

The Script – Six Degrees of Separation (I think they wrote this song for me….or at least to all the heartbroken out there….Bravo guys, this is beautiful! – and so true!).