## JOB INTERVIEW



Yawning at my desk post a heavy Indian buffet lunch around 1.30pm my phone buzzed. It was a phone number from Georgia and I was only little stunned since I was applying for a bunch of jobs anyway. The questions the guy asked me were quite similar to what I have been asked before only that the way he framed them. We have all been asked questions like - what's your strength or what's your weakness and state an example or what's unique about you or what sets you apart as there are several others with same skill sets as you or why should we hire you. In essence they all boil down to talking about your positives and negatives and pitching your negatives also as positives.

Only that this time again on a Thursday afternoon I was asked give any 3 positives and 3 negatives about yourself. My jaw dropped. My head spanned to only find no answers. My skin goose-bumped as I walked out the door to take the interview call and all of a sudden I found myself at a loss for any word to get started. After several such attacks on my body mind soul I came up with these and as I spoke I realized the list I made again on a Thursday afternoon post a heavy Indian buffet were quite brilliant. I will let you judge me -

Before getting started on the list trust me I had to recollect all those points I made (up) during the phone screening and it took me several edits as I wanted to maintain the order of my "true" story (it's true believe me)

Positives

1. I did not let go of my technical skills despite the functional aspects of this job. Even though I wanted to grow on the business side I carried my technical knowledge unlike most others
2. I don't give up. If there is an issue that's what wakes me up first thing in the morning - be it trying solutions to fix the design or talking to the person to resolve a fight
3. I have learnt to balance peoples' expectations and politics that happen during the course of a project and maintained how important is your direct supervisor's support than buy-in from stakeholders

Negatives

1. Loosing patience while dealing with business people who have little knowledge about IT systems
2. Pretty detailed in the sense periodic followups on action items and status updates. And some managers don't necessarily want to know about the progress but simply want to get the JOB DONE
3. I have been scared to approach and talk to people. It's good to talk and find out what mistakes they made and what would they do differently and incorporate that advise into your Career.