Isn't that kewl? I thought so. I have my second round of interviews tomorrow morning at the Marriott Marquee in Manhattan. kewl.

Hmm. Don't think I mentioned the interview that wasn't. A week or two ago I was contacted by an agency who saw my resumé on monster.com and wanted to set up an interview for me with Nextel. The job was business marketing cellular and I think some network solutions for about $80k on target earnings. I said bring it on (not in those words), and the guy from the agency rang me back later and gave me a date, time, place and name. The name rang a bell. I realized that I had already interviewed with Nextel a long time ago with the same guy there, and via the same agency, but the guy at the agency said no worries, the job is presumably open again.

Ok so I turn up for this 9am interview in Manhattan looking all professional in my black designer suit and white YSL shirt, silk tie, black leather satchel and Bill Blass overcoat, y'know, the whole nine yards, shining resumé and all. Come 11am I'm still sitting there waiting patiently and wondering wtf is going on. The secretary has been checking his line religiously every 20 minutes or so for me while he's been on some major conference call, and finally just after 11am she tells me he is on the way. Yay.

Finally out comes this guy and we instantly recognize each other and smile and perform the obligatory 'hello again, how are you' handshake routine (I managed to get down to the 'short list' in the interviews for the same position months previously).

He asks, "You're here for an interview?" He looks confused.
I reply, "..err ...yes." I look perplexed.
He asks, "umm ..who sent you?"

One eyebrow may or may not have been raised by me at this point. I tell him who, and the name of the agency that sent me. He then tells me that he doesn't know why they sent me, and backs it up with two qualifiers:

• They aren't actually looking to hire anyone, and
• He's interviewed me already so he would contact me direct if they were looking for someone anyway.

He apologies profusely for keeping me waiting so long for nothing, and explains he was on a high level conference call, although I know it's not his fault, and I leave the building. Damn.

I called the agency and the guy there who sent me was not sure what happened either but also apologizes. An employee there had resigned a week or so prior and he took over her work, and I only guess he found my old file from the interview months earlier and thought it was current. Doh. End of story. Fun huh?