There comes a time in every princesses life where she finds herself pondering the benefits of a little extra cash that she wants to earn herself and not have to ask the king or queen (a.k.a parents) for.
Who am I kidding? Sure the motivation is extra money but truth be told I embarked on a job hunt because I need to find a way to fund myself through summer and winter school to compensate for the three business courses I so miserably failed last year - in my defence, I have a knack for purely English (and only English unfortunately, my French is hardly good enough for me to pursue subjects in French) subjects involving no numbers whatsoever.
My boyfriend will vouch for me when I say I can barely even subtract eleven from four...no, wait, I meant four from eleven. See what I mean?
And so, I lightly searched around and found a seemingly perfect job where I would tutor English. An interview request later I found myself down a very dodgy and dangerous street in Adelaide with my boyfriend's mother and sister peering hopefully at buildings looking for the place. A little while after I found myself waiting with other candidates in a crowded, dingy corridor: a pretty girl in a faded top, skirt and sparkly heels and an arty, moody guy. Then entered an uptight Bree from Desperate Housewives woman and I bravely voiced out the question burning in each of our minds and what do you know, we were all told we would be interviewed at 5:30pm. With giggles from all of us females and a "this should be interesting" mutter from moody guy we all settled in and eavesdropped on the candidate poorly pleading his way through his interview with numerous regrets such as how he should have brought his lesson plans and his...shade sticks? Hm, must have heard that wrong.
As more candidates showed up and there were six of us giving one another surreptitious glances, suddenly the half-closed door wrenched open and an Asian version of Snape (oh I wish I were kidding!) peered out at all of us and nasally informed us he would not be long. Shutting the door on us, there was a collective sigh as we all continued listening to the bleating of the candidate inside who continued recalling tales of his teaching days.
It seemed Asian-Snape got fed up eventually (thankfully) and slowly launched into a "I can see you have passion" and an "unfortunately I am not sure you can tackle students from Hong Kong" speech...
Wait? Did he just say "students from Hong Kong"?! I sat up straighter clutching my resume and recommendation letter (four years old but hey, it is still valid right?) from an English as a second language school I taught at in Hong Kong when I was living in Hong Kong. It was a mini hallelujah moment for me as I congratulated myself on possibly ousting all the other candidates in that I had direct experience with Hong Kong students.
A few pleads later, Asian-Snape peered out once more and asked who was next and we all looked at one another fervently hoping someone would go in and brave the possibility of a Lord Voldemort interrogation when I hear pretty girl with sparkly shoes telling me I ought to as I was first to arrive. Perfect.
Strutting in as only the model in me can (I crumble in social situations and considering I turned up in jeans, a pale pink top and flats I hardly fit in "interview" material as some of the others who showed up in suits and skirts, oh and were all Caucasian whereas I appeared to be the only Asian albeit with an American accent and I bet all of them had Australian accents, score!), I was curious to see pleading-very-experienced-candidate and oddly enough he resembled Remus Lupin minus hair. I was starting to wonder whether I was the Cho Chang in the situation when I was ushered into a seat and Asian-Snape pored over my resume and started making notes.
"You are a student yes, so you can only work twenty hours?"
"Yes that is right"
Cue: Scribbling on back of my resume...hey! I did a trek all the way to university to print that out!
"Can you tell me what kind of experience you have in teaching?"
I launch into what I hope is a very to the point and short summary of my time in Hong Kong.
"You studied in Hong Kong is that right?"
Cue: Drawing an arrow to my high school education section on my resume
"I did, I lived there for six years previously."
"And you are studying...bachelor of commerce?"
"Currently, I hope to change into social sciences."
Cue: More scribbling and possibly another redundant question or two I cannot recall.
"We will send your resume to Hong Kong and I will get back to you later this week if that is okay?"
"Yes, perfectly fine."
"Do you have any questions?"
Mindful of the growing crowd outside I flick my hair back (only to realize it is in a bun, damn!) and reassure him I had all the information I needed and surely he would inform me further should I get the job.
My interview concluded, I strutted past all the various oddities and tried not to fall down the badly covered in felt stairs. Thus concluding my amusingly quick reminiscent of a bad one-night stand (not that I have personal experience) job interview for today.
Cross your fingers and hope for me dear Readers, times are hard and even princesses have to scrub floors for a bit of shilling!
