Tell Me A Little Bit About Yourself

There is a software company in Shawnee, KS (one of those smaller towns that got absorbed into KC but retains its autonomy) that is looking for a product trainer. I applied for the job a couple of weeks ago because it looked like it would fit my skill set pretty well. The company culture they represent on their web site looks like one of those places that might truly foster employee growth and well-being. There are a couple of items on the job description that I wonder how well I might handle (i.e. am i up for up to 30% travel? including international?) but I just get this vibe I would be able to handle them. My last job did not really foster a team or cooperative environment (at least not for my position) and that made it all the more stressful for me to deal with (among other things).

I hadn't heard from the company and I really wanted to at least check them out a little further so, on Monday, I sent a follow-up letter. I said I was still interested in the position and mentioned that I felt confident my experience would provide a good foundation for learning and teaching their products (which I named). I don't know if I just came up in the rotation or if the follow-up pushed it over the edge but I got a call on Tuesday to set up a phone interview for Wednesday.

The interview went pretty well but not spectacular. I didn't botch anything but I am pretty sure there were some questions I didn't give the exact response they were looking for. The big one was asking about experience with enterprise software such as SAP or PeopleSoft. I have none. Their product integrates with these and other applications and I would need at least a working knowledge of them to be able to effectively train. The good thing is that I am quick to learn.

Because of some of my other answers I also got asked how long it had been since I had done any formalized training. It's been 5 years since I've been in a classroom/training lab and my training experience is not widely varied.

The one thing I can say is that I was honest. I didn't oversell myself but I didn't undersell myself, either. I have no expectations on whether I will make it to the next level. If I sounded like I might be the one they are looking for, I will. If those answers put me out of the running, I won't... but at least I got an interview.

UPDATE: 30 Sept. - I received an email today that I was not selected to move forward in the interview process. I'm not too upset about it. I'm not sure I wanted to travel up to 30% of the time.