A Passion for "EXCEL"-lence

I just finished my phone interview for the internship. Boy, what a megillah. It was one hour long, and you can't imagine how exhausting these interviews are.

They really put you on the spot in a lot of things. A lot of questions about your past, about projects you were on (whether in class or in the working world) and your role in those projects. I had a lot of questions about a Macroeconomics project that I frankly barely remembered, and my only hope was that I remembered it accurately and didn't come off looking like an idiot for being unneccessarily vague.

At the end, the interviewer asked questions about my computer knowledge. She stated various computer programs, and asked me to rate my expertise from "1" to "10" on them.

As for Excel, I could only rate it a "4" -- and that's being generous. I play around with spreadsheets for games, but I've never had a class in Excel. The interviewer stated that that would be the biggest concern. The internship would involve loading massive amounts of data into an Excel spreadsheet, and this would obviously require an easy familiarity with Excel. So that didn't leave me feeling good.

However, the interviewer will (supposedly) get back with me by either the end of the week or by next week. If the interview moves up to the next step, then I'd have another interview, this time with a working actuary. The interview would be more technically grounded. Goodness knows what it would entail.

So my plans are:
1. By an Excel computer manual from Barnes and Noble or somewhere. Learn Excel thoroughly, so that when that question is asked again, I answer with a "10".

2. Continue looking for work.

I haven't even been able to think or do much, I've been dwelling so much on this interview. It's over. It's time to move on, look for other jobs...although after my second phone interview, if this one doesn't lead anywhere either, I'll have to put the feeling of discouragement behind me and soldier on.

As for buying that Excel manual, I just got off the phone with my wife. She suggests that I try the tutorial that supposedly comes with the program. So I'll try that before I purchase an expensive manual.

And now, it's back to doing one of the hardest jobs of an actuary -- keeping hope alive.