It was weird. But totally my fault. The position I was applying for was a low level, public-facing role that involved a lot of repetitive shifts and regurgitation of the same information for different people. There was a little bit of a sales element, lots face to face interaction and customer service.

We were given a scenario on Tuesday and told to prep for the interview this morning (Thursday). A group of tourists were going to ask us for advice and we had to prepare what we’d say to them. I prepared. I had a list of fun facts, useful info and ticket information to impart but the interview format really jarred me. Instead of going one by one into a room to perform the scenario, we were gathered together in a group and asked the same question about how what we’d say to these imaginary of tourists.

After years of being told that the way to get a job is to stand out, to say something no one else says, I’d fixed myself into this be-original-mindset. Massive fail. This is a low level, repetitive job. The employer wanted to know the team she was putting together would not only be well informed but deliver consistency to all her customers. As we went around the group and everyone said pretty much the same thing, I tried to stand out, to be memorable. That’s not what they were looking for and I should have figured that out at the start.

The ‘be original’ thing still stands. It’s good advice in a job market that sees hundreds of people applying for the same role but sheesh Naima, be judicious!!