Is there anything more stressful than job interviews? Everything from filling out that lovely application (mandatory of course and you must explain your employment "gaps") to answering "what are your skills" questions coherently....Anyway, I've been home from California almost three weeks now and the search is slow but progressing. I had one great interview yesterday right here in Tampa...and another will be tomorrow in Boca Raton (yes I'm driving the 4 1/2 hours for that one, leaving tomorrow a.m. early). I think buying a brand new interview outfit has helped! The Tampa interview said I will hear from her TODAY! Should I take the job here in Tampa if I get it? I've always wanted to live in South Florida however, as in Boca Raton....who knows?? God and time will tell...Meanwhile, I'm off to Boca tomorrow.....Please wish me luck everyone and pray for me:)

joan: GOOD LUCK AND DRIVE CAREFULLY!

Joan I think that is one of the reasons I don't change jobs often, I hate interviews .LOL

Good luck. I'll be thinking of you tomorrow.

Good luck Joan!!!!

Thanks. I am in Boca Raton now having just had interview. I think it went well....but who REALLY knows? Time will tell...Anyway, so much cooler here than Tampa....I will drive back tomorrow.....:)

On my way back to Tampa today. Tough interview questions yesterday at this hospital in Boca Raton. I was asked, "tell me about a time when you used lousy communication skills and how you could have improved". YUCK. And she wanted me to "discuss my organizational skills" (I wanted to laugh out loud, literally). To be honest, I had to BS my way through some of the questions or I would have taken myself out of the running:( I hope I did not misrepresent myself as being too good. See that's the thing about us ADD'ers. We're such good performers and so interesting and nice and entertaining and smart that we come across -- perhaps as more knowledgable and competent than we really are. THAT IS MY BIGGEST FEAR! And the little voices inside me say "can I do the job"? I came up with great answers yesterday when she asked me about theoretical patients and how I would handle their nutrition....BUT, can I do the job? Okay, thanks for letting me share this...Nowhere else would I share this...:) Thank God for the Forums....:)

Hope you get the job Joan and yes you can do it. You've worked really hard to get to this point and the future looks great. Change is hard for many of us and I'm really proud that you have come this far.
Don't let the ANTs get you down lol.

Super inspring words, thanks Cobweb...:)

You were in Boca...and didnt stop by to say hi?

j/k...I was up North anyways...lol

Good luck with the jub hunt!

You know we are all cheering for you Joan

I'll say it again Joan for even more luck !!!

YOU CAN DO IT !!!

Thanks Danny, Tara, Cobweb, Paula (again!), Garry, and Andrew (yes I KNOW your neck of the woods Andrew!)....... You are all great....:)

hey joan i know you know that boston has some of the best hospitals in the world.just a reminder:D

thumps up Dan !

But I think Joan has been living where it's warm to long to ever come back here to our winters ....lol...

;)

Dan: Paula is correct....even wild horses could not drag me to Brigham and Women's Hospital OR Mass. General OR the Beth Israel.....as awesome as these Boston hospitals are....sorry:( I get c-o-l-d just thinking about returning to these winters....:( not to mention sad...:(

You certainly are an inspiration to me Joan. I've been down since my car broke and can't make it to anymore interviews until it gets fixed.

Hey Barbette: Yuck. I know how that feels. Are you near any public tranportation by any chance? OR would any places let you do an initial interview over the phone??? EVERYBODY'S car breaks down at some point and so I'm sure any potential employers would understand if they had to accommodate you because you could not drive yourself to an interview in your own car. Heck, they could even pay for you to take a cab there....Ya never know! So how's your job search going Barbette? I admire you for choosing not to go the disability route and actually trying to jump back into the workforce:)

Joan, Did you hear anything back from any of your interviews? Any more new interviews coming down the pike?

Yes I did hear from the one here in Tampa and it is between me and a more experienced candidate (sigh).....and she will "let me know when she has made her decision"....and the one in Boca Raton was last Friday....she has my "thank-you" note telling her I'm interested in the job and would like to return for second interview (etc. etc.). I will call her tomorrow. Other than that, that's it. FLORIDA MARKET IS SLOW.....I really want the one in Boca, quite frankly.....the hospital was gorgeous, nice people....I liked the woman who would be my supervisor, etc....(no of course I did not mention my ADD:) ) Thanks for asking.

Okay, I heard from Boca Raton today (sigh)....she said that I "certainly am a strong candidate"...and that they have a few more interviews to do and that they have a JCAHO inspection going on August 11 (those things are a nightmare for any hospital), and because of this their hiring decision may be delayed a bit and I should be patient and they will contact me....so that's the scoop. Meanwhile, I'm still looking........

Well don't get discouraged....sometimes it really can take a long time to get a job, be persistent. It took me about 3 months to get my job where I am. Actually longer in a sense if you count the job I took in between the time I first interviewed with my company in July 1999. Shortly after that I took a job working at Cisco as a contractor for the company that did Cisco's telecom(I actually was fulltime employer for that company, Spectrum, but a contractor in Cisco's eyes). That was a terrible job, terrible company. I was sold a bill of goods that was not very accurate. So anyway I was looking on the web for jobs in December '99 and I saw that the job I originally interview for back in July was posted again on their website. Well I had the contact info of the guy I originally interviewed with and I started calling him, 1st time again a few days before Christmas. I kept calling him and he was very interested in me, then it took a long time for him to get back to me. I called some more. Then finally he had me go up to Sacramento from San Jose to have an interview with the Call Center Director of the Sacramento location and it went well. I called back the guy, Peter, after a little bit, and he said that they wanted to make me an offer. Then the HR person was on Vacation, then she had sickness in her family, then finally they made me the offer and I accepted it and that was mid to late Feb 2000. I started at my current job on March 13, 2000. It was quite a process, but well worth it....1. so don't get down, 2. don't get discouraged and 3. Never, NEVER, NEVER
GIVE UP!

Here are a couple of quotes to hang onto in your search, when things seem like they are taking to long and you are losing heart a little:

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."
~Calvin Coolidge

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Thanks James. Appreciate the support and encouragement and quotes. And no I will NOT quit. I WILL persist....(I don't believe God brought me this far only to drop me)....:)

Hang tight Joan

Your station will come up

Thanks Garry:)

Ah yes, I must refer to James' quotes and all the rest of the suppot here...a rough week of job hunting. I may have to end up somewhere weird, like Fort Walton Beach....(near Pensacola which is really the middle of nowhere....) yuck! Oh well, I really did my best this week.....I didn't hear from any of the places I had applied....oh but as they say, no news is good news....

I used to live in Pensacola when I was in 6th and 7th grade. I loved it, as kid anyway...may be completely different as an adult living there.

Well I guess I will share where I am at with this....I did not get job at TGH....I don't think I liked her that much anyway....and I was hoping for interview at Brandon Medical Center but they hired an internal candidate.....I'm STILL waiting to hear from Boca Raton Community Hospital (who basically said don't call us we'll call you)......I have my resume into a Miami V.A. and she said they may be getting an opening soon....

There's a position becoming available in another hospital in Miami....I called them yesterday and today and waiting for a call back....I will try back tomorrow if I don't hear....I would like to get that interview...just get the damn interview....

AND I have an interview this Thursday in Jacksonville....working with all heart patients type of position....a nice hospital....I will do all my homework/preparation...drive up very early THursday a.m. Wish me luck:)

Best of luck to you Joan.

I actually love job interviews myself, it's writing resumes and cover letters that drive me batty. :D

Okay I got the call back from Miami hospital tonight....the job is working as a dietitian for the hospital's psychiatry facility.......okay, let's check it out some more tomorrow....anyway.....

Thanks Paul...you love interviews???? (actually part of me is not surprised with that statement!).....in that case, would you mind showing up at such and such hospital in Jacksonville, Florida at 11:00 a.m. on THursday....You are meeting with the CHief Clinical Dietitian.....:)

ACtually, I despise the resumes and cover letters too....My resume actually did not come out half bad...but it isn't that great either...due to LOOOONNNGGGGGG job gaps....But I tend to write pretty good cover letters.....I just need to think up some awfully impressive interview questions.....

It's the three years I've spent as an improv comedian. When you're on stage in front of 75 people and forced to come up with a sentence that ends with a rhyme for the word "testicle", in five seconds or less...

Well let's just say if you try this for a while, you will never have any fear of mere job interviews (or first dates) anymore... :D :D :D

First dates?????????? Now those are even scarier than interviews:D So what (rhyming) word did you come up with for testicle???? (if I may ask).....or were you just kidding?? Because quite frankly, in my mind right now, I'm not coming up with anything....:)

I don't remember, I think it was "miracle"... hehehe

My specialty was the Hoedown game, like on Whose Line Is It Anyways? I was the best at that game so they put me last in line to "bring it home".

An example I actually sung in front of a small audience (given the subject of "the military":

I've got a tale to tell and I'll share with you the facts
The Army tested on me a new kind of Ex-Lax
It was made with grass and weeds and rhubarb and thistles
And now I can launch Incontinental Ballistic Missiles!

:D

Not all of them were that good (or that tasteless), but you get the idea... if you can sing something like this on stage, nothing as mundane as a job interview can ever terrify you again. :D :D :D

Originally posted by Paul S


I've got a tale to tell and I'll share with you the facts
The Army tested on me a new kind of Ex-Lax
It was made with grass and weeds and rhubarb and thistles
And now I can launch Incontinental Ballistic Missiles!




Very good:D
Maybe I will bring this to interview tomorrow....:) Think it would go over well in my interview????