Katy Klein Has a Chat

So after weeks of sending out half-arsed application letters to which ever job took my fancy at that particular moment (several applications went in on the strength of 0.6EFT and one went in to a company that sounded nice), I actually got a call for an interview.  The very first thought that popped into my head was ‘I might actually have to go to work darn it!’. Then I got another call for another interview.  Was this the end of unemployment?

It’s always really hard to know whether you’ve nailed the interview. You always think of the perfect answer well after you’ve left the building and you can’t phone them to update your responses (this could be considered a little strange and you need to appear normal until the end of probation).

Addressing why I left my previous role does make me quite nervous.  I am going with the honest ‘I was bullied’ since pretty much anything else will invariably lead to me appearing shifty as I try to answer further questions.  On the bright side I no longer appear bitter and twisted but there is always that urge to blurt out ‘Oh my lord she was a crazy bitch’! I’ve tried to wrap it up in positives such as ‘It was a great learning experience’ (on how to run from a building when I next meet a crazy lady),’Quite surprising when all my other working relationships were so positive’ (AKA It’s not me it was her – she was CRAZY!) and ‘I tried to improve the situation but her behavior was just inappropriate’ (AKA She was an absolute nutter). Of course you want to give them all the gory details but succinctness is the key at this point.

The first interview actually went quite well and they appeared quite understanding. One of the things that I have learned since the Crazy Lady is that the number of people who have been bullied, harassed or worked with a loony is surprisingly high.  The number of people who discussed it openly however is surprisingly low. They didn’t ask me why I had left my previous role in the second interview and I feel that it may have worked against me but I was very open about leaving the role.

Even now when I think about the Crazy Lady I just can’t understand how anyone could act like that.  Even worse is when you read about bullying and you understand the reasons why it happens, you wonder why  it happened to you. The short answer is that you were simply unlucky enough to come in contact with one of these crazy people. My only regrets after two months of umployment is that I didn’t leave sooner than I did and I didn’t line up a job before I left.