TRIBULATIONS OF AN INTERN: THE INTERVIEW by Atwiine Timothy

There are always mixed feelings after an interview; especially when you are not sure about your performance. And after you have been told “we’ll give you a call,” words most interviewees dread as they are tantamount to a seemingly life time of sticking to your phone like glue. “I’ll simply wait,” you will console yourself but deep inside, waiting is the last thing you would want to do; you would rather be told immediately after the interview that you have the job/placement or on the downside told how you “unfortunately did not meet the required standard.” But of course when you do an interview, you should be ready for any eventuality.

I certainly didn’t survive the mentioned phases albeit being quite confident that I had convinced the interviewer of my abilities and willingness to learn. This being an interview for an internship placement, I felt that with my performance, it wouldn’t be just for me to be denied an opportunity to learn and offer the best of my abilities to Interface Consulting. Of course I had no right to hold such sentiments but thankfully the powers that be at Interface Consulting seemed to agree with me seeing that I got the placement. And for that, I’m certainly very grateful.

The interview itself caught me off guard. I had done my research on the company by reading through every single word on the website expecting questions about the company. But alas, my research went to waste! At least most of it did for that very moment. It however came in handy later. I was subjected to questions, very relevant to the professional sphere I was being interviewed for but not exactly about Interface Consulting. It then dawned on me that I had to upgrade and revise several long lost skills (especially computer ones) because I was destined for serious business. And it also dawned on me that interviewers no longer ask obvious questions about their companies but rather those to taste your competence. It was overall an interesting interview that enabled me to think and reason as a potential employee, and not merely a student seeking an internship placement.