Somehow, I ended up with the task of screening potential interview candidates for our department over the phone and scheduling interviews with them. I don’t know how this happened since I have no experience in that line of work whatsoever and it seems to me that there could be some very heavy legal ramifications if I slip up (I’m constantly pestering the people in the recruiting/HR department with questions in order to ensure that I don’t say or do something that will give someone cause to sue us.), but there it is.

Anyway, I don’t think I do such a great job on this task in terms of seeming professional — what with the total lack of experience and all. I stammer a bit and say, “Um” quite a bit, but I think in general I do an OK job.

Today, however, I hit an all-time low. I called a candidate to schedule an interview with her, and as I was waiting for her to pick up, I was struck by sudden bout of hiccups. I was about to hang up when she answered the phone. For a brief, panicked moment, I thought of hanging up, but I had called her cell phone, which meant she probably had caller ID. I debated whether it would be more unprofessional to hang up on a caller or to try to talk to someone while hiccuping, but decided to try to soldier through.

I made the wrong choice. Thank goodness it was a rather brief conversation. I had to apologize profusely for my hiccuping, and it was all in all, quite an embarassing phone call. My hiccups were bad and my attempts to control them only made them come out as high-pitched squeaking noises. Next time, I’m hanging up and making up an excuse if the person happens to call back. I really can’t think of a more inopportune time for hiccups to strike. And, of course, as soon as I got off the phone with her, they stopped.

Oh and she’s coming in tomorrow for a face-to-face interview.