things I learnt about interview technique

So, I've been told that I'm due another blog post. I should really be working on my rotation case presentation for this coming monday, so today's post will be a little filler that I've been thinking about- the three most important things I've learnt about how to attend a job interview.

1. Pray

In keeping with my decision to submit to God, this includes praying for direction, for wisdom, for God's favour. Praying as Jesus did, in a way that seeks God's sovereignty "...yet not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22 v42, NIV).

2. Be prepared

Do your research- about the company, about the job, about what questions you will be asked. You may be a quick thinker, but I find it much easier to return a smooth answer to a question that's been anticipated. Know the questions that your interviewers love asking. If you can, find out who's interviewing you and read about their interests (I'm referring to professional profiles, not FB stalking).

3. Wear a suit

Sounds like a no-brainer, but I met a couple of people at my interviews who didn't wear suits. Of course, this is dependent on what job you're applying for. I would never wear a suit to work, but it doesn't hurt to over dress- it shows your interviewer that you're serious about wanting that job! And everyone else is probably going to be wearing a suit, so why disadvantage yourself?
P.S. I also borrowed some of my sister's spiral pins and put my hair into a bun.

a year of faith

So... this has been an interesting year of smothering my anxieties and putting my trust in God. Some observations:

1. It's nice to live life free from the worries of tomorrow. By the end of last year, the joys of working to my full capacity in a rewarding job were being increasingly replaced by a growing anxiety about my uncertain future. My holiday to Japan in early January was as much a break from my excessive stressing as it was a break from work itself. Putting my trust in God has been a constant endeavour of mine, and the journey has been simultaneously daunting and exhilarating.

2. God's plans are always better than yours. I don't mean that you'll necessarily be happier about them. Or that they'll be easy to figure out. Sometime early this year, I would have prayed to God that I simply want to be obedient to his plan for my life. The only problem is that I wasn't quite sure what that plan involved. So in order to facilitate this, I decided that I was going to be very open minded about my career and experience as many different rotations as I could.

Fast forward three months and I'm putting in an application for a job that I've previously vehemently opposed. Fast forward five months and I'm sitting in a boardroom making an idiot out of myself in front of five people who are taking turns to interview me. What's the link? Where did I go wrong? Why would there seemingly be a series of divine interventions only to culminate in a long plane flight home replaying various embarrassing scenes? I don't really know, but I'm just continuing to trust. Perhaps one day I may post more on these events and let you decide.

3.You don't have to do it alone. I'm always surprised by the way that people come into my life and play pivotal roles- whether in directing me or simply just playing a supportive role. And I wonder if I have ever let myself be used in a pivotal way in somebody else's life.

I have another interview on Monday. The human part of my brain is telling me that statistically, I didn't even deserve an interview, and that certainly there will be no job offer resulting from this. But the other part of me tells me to keep trusting in God, that somehow, in some way, this too is part of His plan. So... skirt suit, or pant suit?

work experience week

today a work experience student spent some time tagging me to see what my job is like. it felt a little nostalgic, and I can still recall my week of work experience with a urologist almost exactly ten years ago. it was exciting, everything seemed so new and so "cool", and nobody mentioned any of the potential obstacles in my path.

unfortunately (for the student and me both), I am nowhere close to being a urologist, and my job isn't nearly as exciting. I tried to explain my day-to-day jobs to her- preadmission clinic, writing scripts and discharge summaries, reviewing patients... but I guess it wasn't that interesting, because I lost her after a couple of hours. Seriously. I was writing a letter and when I turned around, she was gone.

which is a shame, because she missed seeing first hand many of the highs and lows of the job. things such as:
1) seeing how hard it is to try and co-ordinate your lunch break so that you can meet up with your friends as you wolf down your food in 15 minutes. (You do this anyway because your shifts may never align so that you can meet up outside of work).
2) seeing how repetitive and mundane some jobs can become.
3) coming close to tears when you find out that your last patient has a very bad type of cancer and that he can choose not to have kids with his young wife, or have kids but never see them into primary school. And then consenting him for a major operation that is not going to save his life, but may perhaps give him some hope and make him more comfortable towards the end.
4) trying not to be rude to a patient who came in making demands, sarcastic comments, and who had a million medical comorbidities but whose greatest ailments were her permanent scowl and inability to control her tongue. And for the Christian work experience student, being stunned to realise that you can never love as much as a God who sent his son to die so that this person might be cloaked in innocence and purity.
5) going home (yet again) an hour after your designated home time, despite your best planning and efforts.

and ten years ago, I never would have been able to imagine myself in this role. I'm quite sure I would have imagined something much more glamorous.

on belonging

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague the other day. In between seeing patients, he sat down next to me and said "so, where's home?". That's a question I used to struggle with. I spent a lot of time thinking about things like that in high school, which I attributed to me being particularly insightful and self-aware. I realise now that I was just trying to figure out my identity.

This particular conversation was different because the colleague who asked me the question was in a similar position to mine. He too was a "citizen of the world", belonging to several countries, or none of them. Although there are a lot of people in my situation (that is, being born in some part of Asia and then moving over to Australia), the weird thing was my family's timing. Most of my friends therefore are either born in Australia (therefore mainly identify as being Australian Born Chinese), or moved over to Australia in late high school/university, therefore identifying as Asian and living in Australia. What about those of us who are stuck in between??

Also, remember that saying "give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man"? So am I a product of my early upbringing? There's a subtle difference between the questions "where are you from?" and "where is home for you?". And I think my answers would be different.

Finally and most importantly, knowing that we belong to the kingdom of God makes such matters less relevant (Luke 18:16).

I don't really worry too much about figuring out where I belong anymore :)