20 minute phone interview

This was one of those screening interviews, 20 minutes on the phone, and they'll invite the people they like down for lengthier interviews.

Just one person on the other end, and he dove right in.

• Where did you hear about the job and what interested you in the position?
  
• What skills do you have, as related to the job description, that make you a good candidate? (This isn't just me being vague, he really didn't mention any specifics and left it up to me to identify things from the job description.)
  
• Can you give a specific example of one of the skills you just mentioned?
  
• Can you describe how you approach working in teams?
  
• Give a specific example of a team project you worked on.
  
• He also asked how I deal with ambiguity and change. (I loved that.)

That's it.

The entire call lasted 25 minutes, and the last five or ten were devoted to the "do you have any questions about the position" part.

The toughest thing about the quickie interview is there aren't any warm-up questions. I'm always a little twitchy for the first question. It takes a moment to hit my stride and relax into the rhythm of the interview. I think the appropriate thing to do would have been to take a moment, sip my tea, and then resume talking.

It was also interesting because the person doing the interviewing isn't directly involved with the position I was interviewing for. So it wasn't just about the skills and the qualifications, but about how I would fit into the culture of the place.

(Okay, it's always exciting to get a job interview, but part of me was excited for the new blog content. Is that wrong? I mean, I haven't done a 20 minute screening interview before.)