久しぶりの面接で思う事

I had a job interview last night. It was the fourth time this was re-scheduled, and I was just glad to get it done finally. It’s always a bit of a challenge when you have interviews for international positions. It usually involved people in multiple locations, multiple time zones and not so optimal connections in certain countries.  I’ve had many interviews when I had to repeat my response three times. 

For this interview the first time I got the notice too late, as I was alone at home with the baby. The second time, the HQ had a trouble connecting one of interview panel members. The third time one member could not hear me through my mobile phone connection. So finally, they asked me to go to their local office at 8 at night to use their land line!! At this point, I didn’t care as much about how I did, as I just wanted to complete it…

This was the first interview after I have given birth, and it makes me think about my (immediate) future career and work/family balance. I thought I would be the kind of person wanting to go back to work as soon as possible. I enjoy what I do, and work has been always an important part of my life and identity. Now I am home all day mostly alone with the baby. I don’t do much other than taking care of him, and days can get a bit monotonous in an intellectual way. But, I enjoy spending time with him. It’s been almost three months, and many working mothers will be soon going back to their office. In the US the maternity leave is only two months, so I would have to be already back. At this point, I can’t imagine leaving him all day to someone or at a day care. It must be so hard for these mothers.

M.FR went back to work after taking two months off last week. He now rushes home every day to see the baby. Yesterday, I bathed the baby without him, and he was rather disappointed. I am sure he would rather spend time with him at home than working. I am lucky to get to stay home, because I am unemployed and the primary (and only so far) source of baby’s nutrition. 

Till now, choosing a job has been flexible. I quit the last fixed term (staff position) to be with M. FR, but I ended up taking two consultant contracts away from him: north of this country and BKK. Now that we have the baby in the picture, it will not be the same.  It will be harder to balance my and M.FR’s career. He is also applying for jobs in different places. Let’s see what come up for both of us.

昨日は久しぶりの面接。１ヶ月前に面接のお知らせが来てから、やっと4回目のトライで面接を終える事ができた。出産期初めての面接で、この仕事は取れるかどうか分からないけど、今後の事を色々考えさせられる。内容によっては出張が多い仕事もあるだろうし、私とFR氏のどちらの仕事が先に決まるかで、お互いあきらめないといけないことも出てくると思う。家族が増えて、ややこしいこともあるけど、３人でいられることか優先だな。今年中には何かの動き（仕事や国が変わるとか）があると思う。