Under pressure

I have a job interview on Wednesday. This is for an actual job - not a contract, not a part-time short-termer, but a job with a desk, a cubicle, co-workers and a commute (by foot, too!). It's a government job - analysing policy, reviewing grant applications, that sort of thing.

The first part of the interview was an assignment, which I just did, just now. It was kind of intense (if things can be intense in a 'kind of' way). I had to write a sample briefing note for a minister in one hour. I haven't had to write under pressure like that since the final exam of a poli sci course I took six years ago. Normally, I write at a ridiculously slow pace (part of the reason I don't update this blog very often) so this was the opposite of my habitual ways.

Typical me, I hadn't figured out what the assignment would be, so when it arrived in my inbox I thought, I must be a moron not to have seen that one coming! I didn't waste too much of the hour dwelling on my short-sightedenss and got on with writing. Before I knew it, the hour was up and there before me was a briefing note, proofread a risky single time but otherwise something about which I felt quite pleased.

The range of productivity in a small window of time always amazes me. Twenty minutes is not long, but I can think of a few instances where I've done more in 20 minutes than in an entire day. I miss that stress. If this job could bring some of that back into my life, then I really hope I get it.