employment GET, etc

[jazzfish]

I'd poked at the Elections Canada website a couple of weeks two ago but there weren't any job openings. Over last weekend it occurred to me that that's because the upcoming election is provincial, not federal, and it's Elections BC that I should have been looking at. So I put in an application for various electoral-support positions in all the electoral districts within about a half-hour drive of me. I knew it was kinda late notice: the election's on 19 October, so they're at the very tail end of hiring. But hey, they were all still accepting applications, maybe I'd luck out.

In the event I got an email early Monday morning from the North Surrey office saying "hey can you come in for an interview this afternoon." I immediately said "sure" and dug up some vaguely presentable clothing.

Thank gods for West Coast casual. I am just about dead certain my actual suit doesn't fit me anymore, and neither do my two sport coats. But I do own long pants (black), and a long-sleeved shirt (also black; I have one or two in other colours but "bright satin silk" seems counterindicated for employment-seeking). My ties are mostly meant to go with a white shirt and dark suit but I've got a nice dark red one that I'm pretty sure I bought explicitly for my Le fils de l'homme Halloween costume. It wasn't until I was actually out the door that I realised I'd reflexively put on my sandals, and had forgotten entirely about socks and nice shoes. Oh well.

I got there exactly on time. The office is in a warehouse/industrial stretch; I drove past it once, expecting it to be, I don't know, bigger, or more permanent, or better signed. They let me in and put me through about ten minutes of grueling Generic Interview ("describe yourself in five words" type of thing). I stumbled over this somewhat: I'm used to "convince us you're able to function in an office environment" and "convince us you're able to write" interviews, not ... whatever this is.

At some point while I was stumbling through "three strengths, and three weaknesses" ("well obviously Talking Off The Cuff is a weakness but I can do alright if I know what I'm doing and basically prepare myself a script beforehand") the lead interviewer started nodding and maybe smiling a bit, and eventually held up her hand and said "I'm gonna ask you a question, and you absolutely don't have to answer, but ... are you neurospicy?"

Record scratch, freeze frame.

Thought process:

• ABSOLUTELY DO NOT DISCLOSE
  
• What the fuck positive relevance could it even have?
  
• She said 'neurospicy,' that's a shibboleth
  
• You know, whatever, if this loses me the job I didn't want it anyway.

"Yeah, I am."

Ice completely broken. "Yeah, I thought I recognized that. I am too, and so are three of my five kids. This is a neurospicy-friendly office."

... well alright then.

We talked through some slightly more job-relevant things ("if someone comes in to the office to register to vote and gets really agitated about the requirement to show ID what do you do?" "I go get my supervisor!" etc). They showed me the big training room, which was warehouse-y and full of VERY LOUD fluorescents, with "if this is a deal-breaker for you I totally understand." If I had to do office-type things in there all day it would be a problem but as it is, I can handle it for a couple of hours at a stretch.

I left feeling pretty confident that I'd done well but not at all confident about getting the job. They only had the one position and had had an awful lot of applicants. But as it turned out at 10PM I got an email saying "you're hired, send us your references so we can check them."

As of today, nearly a week later, they still haven't called at least one of my two references. I'm probably bottom of the list, though. I guess we'll see. My official first day is 15 September. Things will ramp up from there through the election on the 19th and then taper off again pretty quickly. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing, even, other than "voter registration" and "tech support for the voting teams." But it'll be good to have an actual income again, if only for a little while.

---

Still no real word from the BC Ministry of Forests on getting a practicum placement for spring. This is way over in the category of Stuff I Can't Affect at the moment. Classes start in just under two weeks as well; hopefully the Project/Practicum Prep course will include "how to get a placement".

Other than that? I'm doing alright, I think. Happy meterological autumn.

Comments

[jessie_c]

Congratulations! You've got a job, and you get to facilitate us throwing out the old rascals and installing a whole new set of rascals. Win-win!

[jazzfish]

Thank you!

Honestly given the choices at the provincial level I'd much prefer to leave the current set of rascals in place. Devil you know, etc.

(Not on my bingo card list: John %&$ Rustad's BC Conservatives swallowing up the BC ReformaTories Liberals United.)

[jessie_c]

On the whole, the old rascals have been doing a good enough job and the whoevertheycallthemselvestoday on the right don't give any of us the warm fuzzies.

[jazzfish]

Your second clause: HEAR, HEAR.

I could wish the BC NDP were leftier but I am also a believer in electoral politics consisting of Work With What's Possible.

[reedrover]

Hunh. Maybe I’m misunderstanding your use of shibboleth. Folks around the Greater Washington DC Area still use “neurospicy” as common self-labeling.

Regardless, good job with the interviewer showing you the Loud Light Room before finishing the interview, and congrats on the job!

[jazzfish]

*nod* I'm using it as a verbal sign to distinguish an in-group. It was a positive indicator! I can see where it didn't look like I was treating it as such, though.

And thank you!

[sartorias]

Wow! Sometimes disclose is...not wrong, eh?

[jazzfish]

*is skeptical*

(Seriously though, apparently it's sometimes okay! It's a little reassuring.)