RevGal Friday Five: Interviewing

From Bishop Laura:
Songbird just had an interview for a "vague and interesting" possibility, and More Cows than People is doing campus visits for doctoral programs. There always seem to be a few RevGals applying for new positions, and I just got my first call for this year's preliminary interviews for college teaching jobs at the American Academy of Religion meeting in San Diego coming up in a few weeks. It's for my dream job among this year's offerings, and I am flipflopping between excitement and nervousness. So please keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer for everyone facing such conversations, and share your thoughts on the wonderful world of interviews:

1. What was the most memorable interview you ever had?
I think probably my interview for Postulancy, and unfortunately, that was memorable for terrible reasons. I was granted postulancy, but I cried most of the way home. (A spiritual director I no longer work with was on my COM, as well as my rector's wife. Unbelievably uncomfortable, and I didn't feel at all free to be open.)

2. Have you ever been the interviewer rather than the interviewee? If so, are you a tiger, a creampuff, or somewhere in between?
I worked for a staffing company as an employment consultant for a couple of years, so I've done a LOT of interviewing. I'm neither a creampuff nor a tiger. I am very forthright, but I don't think interviewing should involve scare tactics.

3. Do phone interviews make you more or less nervous than in-person ones?
I hate phone interviews. I've done them, and they've been fine, but I much prefer face-to-face to phones. (Just ask the friends I'm doing a crappy job of keeping in touch with!)

4. What was the best advice you ever got to prepare for an interview? How about the worst?
The worst was "trust the process" (hard to do when you know you don't trust some of the people running the process). I'm not sure what the best was, but overall I interview very well.

5. Do you have any pre-interview rituals that give you confidence?
Umm... damn. Well, here it is: I started wearing lucky knickers in college. Red ones, on game days. Now, on "game days," (interviews, stressful stuff, whatever) I still wear red knickers. Oh-- and if I need to feel like I can kick some butt, I listen to "Brothers in Arms," because of that incredible episode of West Wing, "Two Cathedrals."