Thank you all again! So I had the interview today, and it went way longer than expected. Actually met with two people, one in HR and one as the manager to whom I'd be reporting. I knocked the proofing exam out of the park -- they each said it was the best they'd seen in months -- but it turns out proofreading is but a minor part of the job. Mostly the job requires staying on top of people to make sure they finish their piece of things on time (such as the various components of a billboard ad: getting the photo approved, the layout confirmed, the legalese, the corporate logos, the final text, etc., each of which is handled by a different department). The manager, Barbara, suggested that I might be "too nice" to lay down the law as is sometimes needed. And I'm not sure about the prospect of working with her: She's got a rather boisterous, potentially polarizing way about her, and seemed weirdly so during the interview. (Example: We were talking about how style guides are guidelines rather than hard-and-fast rules, and I gave as an example the fact that certain rules go out the window on Jane's cover in the name of making things stand out or "pop" more. She interjected, rather after I said "Jane," with a turned-up nose, "because Jane Pratt says so!" I found it inappropriately bitchy, not to mention out of date (Pratt hasn't been with the mag for several months), but wasn't about to get in the way of her riff.
So we'll see how it plays out. If I get, and take, the job, it'll be a fascinating learning experience on the business side of the record industry. Novel material, at the very least. On the other hand, may I not live in interesting times for a little while, I could use the rest.
