Being on the other side of the table in an interview situation is certainly more taxing than I ever thought or gave the position credit for. I have always imagined (pre-interview) that interviewers were half bloodthirsty ogres and half Jeremy Paxman. Or at the very least 1 part Good cop, 1 part Bad cop, 1 part Robocop and 1 part Bebop and Rocksteady, the henchmen from Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles.
In preparation for the interviews, the synergy between criteria and questions was tricky to ally and the actual barefaced interviewing of candidates quite simply terrifying.
In my attempts to keep parity throughout all interviews in everyway, I regrettably found myself descending into the realms of insanity and my self-awareness being subsumed by full-blown paranoia – ‘Was I stuttering through some of the questions?’
‘Had I rushed through questions too quickly giving an unfair advantage to one candidate over another?’
‘Did I give more water to one making them more hydrated and able to perform better?!’
The interviews were excellent despite my misgivings. I felt a whisky like warming emanating from my toes as I was filled and then refilled with a creative distillation worthy only of the Irish. The interviews took place at the always hospitable g39 a perfect venue albeit difficult to erect tents in…but we managed!
Drunk on entertaining presentations and sit up and take notice visuals, I retreated home for the first of my ‘let’s sleep on it’ sleeps. I dreamed of camping, George Formby and blue skies. I’d settle for two out of three.
After much deliberation, three days and two arduous sleeps later. As it is always best to sleep on these things! A decision was finalised. There were some regrettable omissions but justifiable ones. The trouble with such a strong shortlist is the decision will never be easy, instead your final decision is what is most comfortable and exciting. I still worry if the decisions were the right ones but only time will tell. What I do know is that I was knocked out by the standard of presentations and still, two weeks on, excited by the different possibilities each of the artists will bring to the project.
See the list of selected artists at www.cerbyd.org
