Job Interview at Merriam's

I had my first ever job interview today. I was ill prepared, considering the fact that my "career" has been a cruise and I treated it as such. Also the lack of experience added to what I thought was a horrible interview was the fact my last two great jobs ("great" = high paying) were obtained via a simple phone interview. I wouldn't have hired me. Well actually, on second thought, I would have hired me because that would've been quite a breeze on everybody!

A week ago I got an email from Merriam's School of Music saying that they want me for a job interview. It seems that spamming my resume all over the place pays off after all! Ever since mindlessly putting myself everywhere, I've been getting offers here and there. Granted, I applied to most jobs that were high-paying general labour and high-paying jobs that nobody really wants, but it feels good to feel wanted.

I went into my interviewer's office, and the first flop up I did was on the most important thing in the whole interview.

The handshake.

I heard about how the handshake tells everything about your character and whatnot. A mere grasp of someone's hand should not be an indicator of someone's personality, but the world thinks otherwise, so I was going crazy over this, especially since I've never shaken the hand of an employer in the context of a job interview.

My fingers were scattered all over the place as I shook her hand. My middle finger extended beyond her wrists and touched her gold bracelet. I thought, "oh no, she must think I'm some pickpocket." The crappy first impression bugged me for the rest of the interview, as I stumbled over my words and stuttered my expertise of music as I bragged how great I was.

Merriam's also told me to prepare two piano pieces of contrasting styles.

Crap.

I haven't touched the piano in a serious manner in such a long time. The night before I was scrambling, going through my books, seeing what pieces I could play. I was going crazy because I couldn't memorize my chosen songs for the life of me. I decided to do it with a book in front of me. Unprofessional, perhaps, but they'd understand that it's been seven years.

After the brutalizing my pieces, I had to do a mock teaching session where the head of the piano department played an 8-year old A.D.D. kid and I had to go through a ten minute mock lesson. I know that these are extreme cases of students so I didn't fear that much about dealing with difficult students. But still, it instilled in me a little bit of fear.

Well, here's where I learn!