Travelling day
Travelling for a job interview is, similarly to travelling for business, in theory super glamorous but in practice, mostly a bit of a drag. Monday I had a giant day of travelling for three separate interviews about one hour away by plane so the day started very early.
and I got there on time and everything at least. I was a bit early for my first appointment so I hung around the airport Starbucks for a while, recharging my phone just to be safe. The interview did go well although they I found out afterwards that, while they loved me and were sure of my skills, they were underwhelmed by my presentation. Which is fair, I actually brought up that I was unsure how they wanted me to structure the presentation and we discussed that, but nobody had anything critical to say. Which is fair enough, but I really worked on that for quite a while already, and I don't think I should be required to put in even more work than that for an interview. They did tell me they were talking to other candidates, so I mentioned I was interviewing at more places as well, which, as I also found out afterwards, they didn't love, though that I truly don't understand. Lovely people/office otherwise though! However they want to see some other people in about 2 weeks first, not sure if I would wait for them if something else came around first.
The second interview was with an agency from a network that I had always wanted to work for ten years ago, but wasn't super keen on anymore. They had heard accidentally from someone else that I was looking into moving to town and so they got in touch to see if they could snatch me from that agency. That's super flattering of course, but once I got into the conversation with them I had a strong negative reaction: they were very "advertising"-people in a way that I had forgotten existed and that I had never liked. Not sure if I even came across interested enough for them to make an offer, but I walked out of there thinking "ABSOLUTELY NOT".
I got a snack at a baker and managed to spill curry sauce from a sandwich onto my shirt, which I managed to remove (I think) before going to the last agency. I had sort of three conversations there, one with a strategist which I think went pretty well, one with the team which definitely went pretty well (lovely people also) and one with the CEO which ALSO went well I think, but they still haven't gotten back in touch and now I'm worried they will pull out altogether for some reason.
I made it back to the airport just in time, charged my phone some more and got home and on the train back with absolutely no issues. I got some ice cream on my walk to my apartment and felt like the day overall was a big success. However, the lack of feedback for several days has gotten me to reevaluate that impression. Ah well.
The plane was going to leave at 7:30, I'd have to be at the airport by 6:30 and leave my apartment at 5:30 - yay. Although I do have to say, everything went pretty smoothly. I had never flown from that particular airport terminal (CDG 1) and it has two disadvantages: the airport train doesn't stop there directly and you have to take a little automatic train to get to the terminal from one of the train stations and also, it is a Berlin-Tegel style Terminal, where they don't have one big security check and then all gates and shops and restaurants together beyond that but instead, one security check for 3-5 gates, with a maximum of one shop and one cafe. So basically it is pretty efficient and the security waits are never usually long, but there's also nothing to do while you wait at the gate. I took a few nice pictures of snacks and foods:
and I got there on time and everything at least. I was a bit early for my first appointment so I hung around the airport Starbucks for a while, recharging my phone just to be safe. The interview did go well although they I found out afterwards that, while they loved me and were sure of my skills, they were underwhelmed by my presentation. Which is fair, I actually brought up that I was unsure how they wanted me to structure the presentation and we discussed that, but nobody had anything critical to say. Which is fair enough, but I really worked on that for quite a while already, and I don't think I should be required to put in even more work than that for an interview. They did tell me they were talking to other candidates, so I mentioned I was interviewing at more places as well, which, as I also found out afterwards, they didn't love, though that I truly don't understand. Lovely people/office otherwise though! However they want to see some other people in about 2 weeks first, not sure if I would wait for them if something else came around first.
The second interview was with an agency from a network that I had always wanted to work for ten years ago, but wasn't super keen on anymore. They had heard accidentally from someone else that I was looking into moving to town and so they got in touch to see if they could snatch me from that agency. That's super flattering of course, but once I got into the conversation with them I had a strong negative reaction: they were very "advertising"-people in a way that I had forgotten existed and that I had never liked. Not sure if I even came across interested enough for them to make an offer, but I walked out of there thinking "ABSOLUTELY NOT".
I got a snack at a baker and managed to spill curry sauce from a sandwich onto my shirt, which I managed to remove (I think) before going to the last agency. I had sort of three conversations there, one with a strategist which I think went pretty well, one with the team which definitely went pretty well (lovely people also) and one with the CEO which ALSO went well I think, but they still haven't gotten back in touch and now I'm worried they will pull out altogether for some reason.
I made it back to the airport just in time, charged my phone some more and got home and on the train back with absolutely no issues. I got some ice cream on my walk to my apartment and felt like the day overall was a big success. However, the lack of feedback for several days has gotten me to reevaluate that impression. Ah well.
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