Most interviews I've gone through have been fairly straightforward and sensible. No really weird questions. However, yesterday, I got one that floored me. "How would you rate your proficiency with the English language?"

Huh!? I'm applying for a technical editor job. I have 20 years of experience as a writer and editor for higher education and government.

But more than just kind of being floored at this being a question to ask of someone of my experience, I really was not quite sure what they meant. My proficiency? How would I rate it? Oh, like, 9.8 out of 10?

I really stammered with my response, perhaps betraying that my proficiency is not something to brag about after all. LOL. I basically told them that I consider myself highly proficient in English, thanks to my undergraduate degree in journalism and my minor in English, and that I've been an editor and a writer most of my adult life. I also added that I don't pretend to know it all, that language is always evolving, and that I'm always surprised that there is more to learn about the English language. Something like that. Not quite as clearly as I've put it here.

How would you have answered that?

well yeah know that.
just as -very sort of- is when you go to watch a concert of classical music.



smth not that weird if i think about it.
insurance bosses wanted me badly. badly.
that i am good with people and that i have this vibe of making the other trust me. and some other really good stuff they were telling me to pursuade me.

i really liked the 1st boss... but i cant do sales. even though (both) were trying to tell me its not sales.
i mean i can do it, but i cant make the first move. just like with boys. if the first move -of introduction and if i have a green light that convo is allowed, noone escapes my NET!!!!

In hindsight, it's easy to come up with funny answers, of course. Maybe I could have disarmed them with something like this, affecting a Peter Sellers-like voice from a scene in Lolita: "Well, ya know, that thar is a purty darned good little question, yessiree, it sure is! Per-fish-ency, ya says. Well, now, lemme do some figurin' on that one. Gosh, that's a good one, hee hee, yessir. Well, ya sees, dem ol' English teachers never did learn me nothing no how."

"my profficiency with the english language is the cornerstone of my profession, and i am surprised that after all these years there is always more to learn..." etc.

i actually like your answer a lot but don't be afraid of bragging a little. then again you're in the midwest and they probably don't like people who boast too much. right?

Ah. I wish I would have put it as succinctly as that! That is perfect, really. My problem with interview questions that I'm not prepared for is that they unnerve me, even if it's a relatively easy question. When I'm unnerved, I lose my poise, and I start to stammer and ramble.

Yeah, I probably blew this interview. But I'll know better next time.

These folks were on the east coast, by the way. What it made it more difficult was that it was a phone interview. Those are always difficult for me. I seem to need visual cues to gauge how I'm doing.

I think what threw me was the word "rate." I grasped for some way to rate it.

well you can always make the caveat that you're a writer above all else and check out your work samples. i.e., "i write much better than i speak". or if humor is necessary "my inability to speak articulately is what propelled me to become a writer from a young age" h aha. i don't know, something. (this is easier for me to do in writing as well. if you asked me in person i'd be like "uuhhh.... ummmmm... my.... er... yeah?" ha ha ha)

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rate: i rate my writing ability much higher than my speaking ability! when i write i'm completely in my element (etc. etc.)

next time they interview you ask for a text chat instead!

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ps- nabokov only did interviews in writing

Good points. It's something I've been working on my whole life, it seems--becoming more poised and confident when speaking, even conversationally. I've made progress, but it's still tough, partly, I think, because I am extremely introverted and so engaging in conversation takes a lot of energy for me.

I know I'm not alone, among writers and editors this way. Many are very well-spoken, of course. But I've met many that come across as not so well-spoken and even downright inarticulate in conversation.

I really do this: I try to "channel" people I admire for their poise and eloquence. I try to imagine myself in the skin of someone like this, try to physically adjust myself even, take on their characteristics, speech patterns, etc., much as an actor might. Sometimes it works.

lifehacker just posted this:

http://lifehacker.com/job-interviews...que-1702539593

I think this is pretty good, too: http://college.usatoday.com/2015/04/...e-4-questions/

I find out Friday or next Monday if I got this new job here at the University. Out of the Library and into the Graduate School......