The weirdest part of the layoff stuff I just had to sign was the part where I promised I wouldn't apply for work at the company EVER AGAIN.

What would they do to you if you broke the agreement and sent them an application?

"Sorry, we're not gonna hire you. And since you weren't supposed to apply for a job here, we're not gonna hire you twice as much."

When I interviewed for my previous job, when I went back after my failed attempt at freelancing while taking care of Annabel, I was asked borderline-inappropriate questions about childcare plans and work-family balance. I answered the questions and took the job despite the red flags that raised because we needed me with a paycheck again that badly.

Turns out I was absolutely right about the red flags. There was all kinds of drama there about me doing my 50% share of staying home when AB was sick or daycare was closed because of snow (which happened a lot last winter), and even about my taking leave that my boss had signed off on, then forgotten about despite repeated reminders. The day after I found out my mom has cancer, back in April, I went in to tell my boss to warn her I might need to take unexpected leave depending on how things developed. This happened to be right after she'd been affronted that I'd had the nerve to take pre-approved leave the week before, and the first words out of her mouth were, "Your schedule is already ridiculously erratic, and it's a major problem." I kept my cool, but I instantly went from sorta job-hunting to applying for everything in sight, and I turned in my resignation a month later.

As for goals, I was honest in interviewing for my current job about the fact that I'm an aspiring novelist, and that my professional goals were to continue working my way up in university/hospital administration, but that I wasn't really shooting for high power. Turns out they LOVE that I'm a writer. My predecessor was an actor/aspiring director, and they value having artistic types around.

I've always been upfront about this being a day job.

I tell them that, short of Spielberg calling, there would be several months warning before I would leave.

The work I do has a lot of minutia -- so it takes concentration and a certain amount of intelligence but it is boring as hell.

They generally like having people who have some outside interest because we're unlikely to quit from the boredom.

Turns out they LOVE that I'm a writer. My predecessor was an actor/aspiring director, and they value having artistic types around.

This is so cool.

Speaking as someone who does a lot of interviewing--any good hiring person is trying to look beyond "interviewing" skills. Sure, a lot of the questions are lame, but it's what we got to work with. In hiring, you use the interview as a tool to try to learn as much as you can about the applicant, stuff you can only learn face-to-face. You don't have to be totally cool, calm and collected--interviewers expect you to be nervous, so that's okay. Most jobs require keeping a cool head, so if you can still converse intelligently even if you are nervous, that's a good sign. Someone, for example, who has come into an interview without doing any research on the company (which a question like "What interests you about this job?" is designed to elicit) is not going to get a job here.

The people on the other side of the table want to hire someone who is a good fit for the company, so they are using the stilted interview process to find out whether you are that person--and any help you can give them by giving answers which reveal what they want to know will be very welcome. Even bad interviewers want to hire good people. Good, of course, varies from job to job and company to company.

You don't have to be glib or fake, but you do have to be smart and able to roll with the punches. In essence, interviewing is having a conversation with a stranger and trying to show off your best traits--something that is not natural but is worth practicing and learning to do well.

One of my more interesting interviews was the one I had that got me hired here 15 years ago this November. It was with the woman who is my boss now, again (the circle goes around), and she had been a manager here for only a few months. She's a great woman, very nice and a great manager, but she is a bit nervous-acting at times, including during my interview. For some reason, that put me more at ease, and I basically took over the interview, answering the standard questions before she got around to asking them and being, not forceful per se, but let's say strong-willed. It got me hired, so it wasn't a bad move, but it could have backfired on me if she was the type to want to be in control at all times.

Out of sheer delirium and an attempt to not get into a huge thing with the roomie who was conveniently absent, I let them...until one of them chirped, "I know, let's tie her roommate up! Tee hee."

It's just as well I lived at home and never roomed with anyone in college, because detectives would still be trying to find out what I did with all the bodies if anything like that had ever happened.

Timelies all!

Weather's nice here. (Sorry, I don't have anything to add on the interviewing topic. It's been 7 years since I last did interviews, and I hope not to have to do any for a while longer)

Speaking as another interviewer, Robin gives very good advice (and, really, are any of us surprised by that??).

in a gently-couched sort of way, what my circumstances are (since I"m looking for a job with relocation)--do I rent or own, do I have someone else who would also need to be relocated, etc e'tc.

I think for a recruiter those are fair questions. Some of the jobs I recently interviewed for had a residency requirement, so I was asked if I was aware of the residency requirement and would it be an issue. Again, fair question. They didn't any questions in any more detail than that.

Even bad interviewers want to hire good people. Good, of course, varies from job to job and company to company.

You're too kind. I've seen enough interviewers not know what good is, because they're not familiar enough with the position and there's an essential disconnect there.

You don't have to be glib or fake, but you do have to be smart and able to roll with the punches. In essence, interviewing is having a conversation with a stranger and trying to show off your best traits--something that is not natural but is worth practicing and learning to do well.

It's great if you can have a good conversation with a stranger and show yourself off, but it might also be irrelevant to your job duties.