Last Tuesday morning, before the disaster at the World Trade Center, I had a very different anxiety on my mind. I had a job interview at the BBC for a position as online producer for BBC films. Everyone I knew was going ‘apply for it, Tom – it’s ideal for you’ – and I basically agreed. It seemed like the kind of job that my experience was designed to fill, and in a really good company with lots of opportunities for development. The night before I was shivering with fear – there seemed to be more than normal resting on getting this job. It had been the first major opportunity that I’d had to work somewhere that I was actually excited about for months. On the morning of the interview however I got some slightly startling news. Two other companies, EMAP and Captial Radio, were keen for me to come in and do some freelance work for them. And in only a couple of weeks’ time as well.
Interviews are interviews, and they’ll always be hellish and I’ll never be any good at them. I’m completely incapable of regulating my tone – I prefer discussions rather than Q&A sessions, and so I was immediately wrong-footed when they asked me what my favourite movie was. A question that may seem obvious to people, but has little or no bearing on whether or not you are actually good enough at running a film site. When the interview was over I felt strangely confident, although that confidence faded fairly swiftly. I met an old colleague from TimeOut.com for lunch afterwards – he’d been in the interview before me, and we talked about the job and tried to relax and have fun.
Now it’s a week later and I haven’t heard anything from the BBC at all. Normally this wouldn’t be a worry, but because I have to inform these other potential employers about whether or not I can do their contracts, it’s beginning to alarm me. I asked them when I’d hear at the interview, and they told me the beginnng of this week, but I’m sure that events around the world will have had some impact on their schedules. In the meantime, I’m feeling increasingly nervous about my future prospects once I get past this patch. No one is employing, except for contract work. People are being let go left, right and centre. I really need a break…