13 July, 2007

Would you believe...

...over-qualified? As I've said before, the position was a bit of a hybrid: part admin assitant, part executive assistant and in many ways almost "part assistant director." I received this from the Director [with whom I'd twice interviewed] today:

Sorry for the delay in this response. I have been asked to repost the position. You are an outstanding candidate; one I would love to have as a colleague. But after some discussion with [the big boss], I was encouraged to re-advertise in an effort to find a candidate whose skill was geared more toward the administrative assistant level.

I have no doubt that you will break into the VSO [Veterans Service Organizaton] field and the organization that is smart enough to hire you will be making a good decision and a wise investment. When you do land that position, please contact me - I would enjoy working with you in some capacity.

I have to admit, I'd started to prepare myself for the "I'm sorry, but we hired another candidate who better met our needs" speech, but I never saw that one coming.

Heh. Actually, I should have seen it coming: they are building up a "satellite" office from scratch and it makes sense that they see the admin aspect as most pressing (what I've seen of the inside makes me tend to agree). I wouldn't be surprised to see them create some kind of assistant-director-type in the next two years, though.

But that leaves me without the lifeline I thought I had. It sucks. And yes, I AM apparently over-qualified for admin assistant positions, as that is what I'm constantly told when I apply for local office jobs or contact temp agencies. Which is all terribly ironic, because if that's true then I'd love to hear the word they use for "master's degree with teaching background working in entry-level childcare." Hah!