Steps Towards a New Year's Resolution

Today, I had one of my first interviews concerning employment in the field of pastry. And the day was made happier by the fact that it was a spontaneous appointment made as the result of my turning in an application to a bakery at a whim.

The interview itself lasted for almost forty minutes, but left me with a nervous feeling in my chest- as I always feel this way after interviews. I believe it went fairly well, yet the main concern of the interviewer was that I haven't the proper amount of experience in a real bakery environment. She stated that since much of my pastry experience was garnered in a school setting that I may not be ready for the experience her bakery would provide. Though, she will be having me come in for a few days to work real shifts (unpaid, of course) so that I can then speak again with her at the end of the experience and see if it is something that I would be able to do for a year- as that is the shortest period of time she signs employees on.

I believe the reaction I received was not something unexpected, but it was most definitely not the most cheerful. As I am a nervous person who often time finds herself lacking in self-confidence, it did not boost my feeling of self-worth any more to hear something akin to "so you are probably a home-baker who went into a pastry program and now wants to play in the 'real world'". What also contributed to my nervousness was the style and type of questions that were asked.

The questions the interviewer asked, at first, were typical of most interviews: why would you like to work here, what got you interested in pastry, etc. They were the type which I expected. But what caused me to shiver nervously inside were questions that I will refer to as "zingers". These all were questions where my resume was looked at in a less than positive light. Where my experiences her dissected and treated as if they were minimal- I will not say my experiences are the most extensive, but I would not say they are nothing worthy of note.

I do hope though that everything will go well with my trial period at this bakery. I also hope that I hear back from other places which I applied so that I will have more than one choice in employment.

Image by Giuseppe Crespi in 1710