After sending my resume, the representative contacted me back to request more materials. The initial email was brief and professional. Subsequent emails became quite cursory and often very late at night, which made me wonder about the culture of the company. Would I be expected to be sending emails at 11 pm as often as I was receiving them? For a job that was advertising as full-time at just 32-35 hours, I began to wonder.
I was invited for a phone interview for either Memorial Day (!) or the following Tuesday. I wondered if perhaps the interviewer had gotten the days mixed up and emailed back and subtly mentioned being available "on the holiday" but they were actually interviewing on the holiday. This also made me nervous about the company culture. If the interviewer was working on the holiday, would I be working holidays, too?
It was a two-hour long phone interview - easily the longest phone interview I have ever had - with extremely in-depth questions. I found them to be far more in-depth than I've ever experienced for a simple Grant Writer position. Most of them were run-of-the-mill questions; others I found odd like, "Which grants have you applied for online and which were on paper?" For me, I didn't keep a tally of that and it was clear she was put off that I hadn't. The interviewer also vacillated between talking with me like a colleague and almost seemingly remembering "her place" and talking to me like a know-nothing interviewee and "schooling" me when I didn't answer questions in a way she agreed with personally - and she asked a number of questions that were subjective, like: Why do you think funders choose not to fund a grant? Why do you think you got this grant over that one? Why do you think you didn't get that grant? How do you decide what benefits to offer grantors?
I actually enjoyed my interview and time speaking with the interviewer, although two hours seemed excessive. I was given time to ask questions, which I did. I asked what kind of person would fit in at this very small company and the interviewer spoke glowingly of the owner, who seemed to be a relative (daughter?). She said what would work well would be "someone just exactly like [the owner]," and went on to list her traits. It was clear at the end that I got the "yearbook kiss-off" speech of "I think great things are in store for you. You're clearly so talented..."
Again, it was a lovely interview, but overly long for a phone interview and a litle too in-depth for a first interview, as well. I personally found it helpful for getting back in the swing of things.