The same old scenario, the same old rain. And there's no explosions here.

So I went on a job interview a week ago Tuesday and I was very nervous because I really wanted the job. I actually got there about 45 minutes early, so I left and went to get food. Then I thought, if I get food, I‘d need to run home to brush my teeth. I don’t want to go into the interview with food in my teeth! Fortunately, this place is very close to home, one of the many reasons I wanted this job and essentially, I picked something up on the way home to brush my teeth!

I returned in half an hour, teeth clean, and walked into the building, which is in this massive complex of buildings, all connected by underground tunnels so people don’t need to go out in the summer Houston heat. In the tunnels are shops and restaurants and it was then that I realized I could’ve eaten there and bought a toothbrush, or some floss. Anyway, I went upstairs to the main floor and walked into the office. I spoke with the receptionist who let me know I was to go to the 16th floor and meet interviewer #1 (I-1).

I-1 was a very nice lady in her late 40’s who had been with the company 19 years and loved every minute of it. She told me how much she enjoys working for her boss and many other positive things about the company. I can only describe the vibe I was getting as very positive! We chatted about my work history, why I need to leave my current job, why I moved to Houston and numerous other things and by the end of my 30 minutes with her, I was so at ease, I forgot all about being nervous.

I-2 came in a few moments later and I’d already had a phone interview with her where we had hit it off, so this was very laid back for me. We went into a little more detail about the job description, but overall, it was more a half-hour of BS’ing than anything else.

I-3 came in and was the person I really needed to impress. He is the attorney I’d be assisting, so he went on about his expectations of what he is looking for and talked about what it is that he does. He then asked numerous detailed questions about my current and former jobs, which I thought I answered very well. We talked about my restaurant management experience and what I liked and disliked about it, why I left that, my current situation, including the “below my intelligence level” issues and where I want my career to go from here.

Overall, I could not have been happier with my interview and I thought that I had a strong lead on most of the candidates because I knew the HR person as well. I was able to talk with him last Sunday, he told me that I impressed everyone I spoke with, that I had I-1 wrapped around my finger, and that I-3 was very high on me as well. I thought I was golden.

On Wednesday, I was told that I interviewed too well, I was considered over-qualified and that they hired someone else. Last year when I was looking for a job, I was under-qualified for everything and now, all of a sudden after one year, I’m over-qualified? I was pretty mad for the reasoning, but I had no issue with the people I spoke with. In fact, I-3 mentioned he was going to pass my resume on to other departments in case they needed someone as qualified as I was, so I guessed some good came out of it, just not how I expected it to.

So on I go with my job search and in the meantime, I’ve turned in my goals to my boss and I expect he’ll want to discuss them with me this week. That’s about when I plan to hit him up for a raise, since I think I may be there a while.