I Interviewed for a Job

I interviewed for a job today at a college.

Anyway, I applied for the copywriter's job there, mostly because it seemed like a great job opportunity - but I'm 90% sure that I'm not going to get hired.

Instead of asking me pertinent questions about my job experience or what I can add to the college, the interviewer wanted to talk with me about what I enjoyed reading. She also told me that in her last interview, she talked about reality TV shows. I really didn't know how to steer the interview back to my qualifications and the job. I've never interviewed for a writing position where they did not ask for any writing samples and did not give me a writing task.

I think that, to the interviewer, writing is very much like stocking oranges and apples at the A&P - anyone can do it.

I wasn't sure if she was a really inept interviewer or if she already had someone in mind for the job and was going through the motions. I thought that perhaps she was not that bright and considered explaining my qualifications - like:

Barnard College is a really good school, it's a top-tier liberal arts college, not one of the top 250 colleges in the Northeastern region like this one.

My graduate degree from NYU is really prestigious - they only accepted 20 students the semester I attended, out of the thousands of people who applied. The program is the 6th best program in the country according to US News and World Report.

I wrote for the New York Law Journal, which is the most widely-read legal daily newspaper in the country.

During my interview, I came to the realization that, perhaps I should be interviewing for a job where my skills and talents and credentials actually mean something, because according to Peter, the same lady who was interviewing me once said something disparaging to him about "people with fancy degrees."

Which all boils down to this. I think I should work at a place for "people with fancy degrees." I might fit in better.