So, my interview at Fabric yesterday was pleasantly surprising! I walked in expecting to hate it, and really thinking the job was not for me, and walked more than a little excited. :-)
Still, I don't think it will work out, but it was a nice interview and it was certainly good to know I was well received. I was interviewed by the PA to the Director, and it was more an informal chat than a structured interview. She said she'd seen about 25 people, and was hoping to start second interviews this afternoon. She gave me a second interview on the spot.
The whole working environment is very much like working for DMP, the production company I spent three years at in CT. A little chaotic, very fast paced, always busy, everyone pitching in to help everybody else.... basically organised mayhem, which is exactly the type of thing I'm looking for. Everyone wears jeans and tackies to work, and the office is open plan but they all sit close enough to absorb each other's roles. Also, the role I went for is working directly under the Record Label Manager, so it cracks open the door to the music industry.
The reason I don't think it will work is money. She said the salary isn't set in stone, and it would be discussed at the second interview, but I know what I want and I still don't think they'll pay that much. So that's really the main issue. Of course, I was surprised once, and I could be again. The other thing is, I didn't manage to work up the nerve yesterday to ask if they work flexible hours, so for example could I come in at 9am and finish at 6pm. I somehow doubt it, but I will ask at my second interview. So what it comes down to is this: if I go and they like me and they're willing to pay what I'm after, then perhaps I have a real shot at this. If I actually get offered the job, I would have to decide if I can live with the hours, assuming they don't have flexi time.
However, this is all what if what if what if, and at the moment, although it's really nice that I have a second interview (my first ever!), it doesn't mean that this could actually be the right thing for me. I am leaving it in the hands of Fate.
The best thing about yesterday though was walking into a place that felt instantly familiar, and having my interviewer immediately recognize in me the traits that connect me with a place like this. She knew I was the right kind of person, and I knew I'd be a good fit. So even if this doesn't actually work out and I have to keep looking, that moment where I got her approval made me feel for a second like I could conquer the world. And sometimes that's just as important as actually getting the job.
In other news that doesn't involve my work situation, Shoes, Eyes and I are completely
obsessed with a series on Sky called Ross Kemp on Gangs. It's a documentary style show that has former EastEnders' actor turned investigative journalist Ross Kemp travelling the world in search of the meanest gangs on the planet, and then burrowing his way through the layers of hierarchy to the Dons to find out the truth of what they do and why they do it. So far we've been introduced to the Crips and the Bloods in America, neo-Nazis in Russia and California, teenage delinquent gangs on the council estates of London, Polish football hooligans, the criminal underworld in Kingston, Jamaica (aka the murder capital of the world) and The Numbers Gang in South Africa, where he spent time in the cells of Pollsmoore with the leader of the 28s. It's absolutely fascinating watching, and the high levels and rapid spread of violence linked to poverty is eye-opening. Of course it doesn't hurt that Ross himself is a bulky skinhead with the look of an army colonel and the diplomacy of a politican, and he is as compelling as the bellies of the monsters he visits. Stirring stuff, and a good andtidote to the excesses of reality tv.
