I have always enjoyed writing and researching online for my own knowledge on such issues as politics, arts, people, careers, education and so forth. Most of what I write is rather informative about leisure activities, but I have also written on political topics as well, which it turns out would come back to haunt me.
One day I came across a job listing for a part-time teacher's assistant at a daycare. I have a few years experience as a substitute teacher, a lead teacher and a after school teacher in which I have done fine work.
I made it on time to my interview and was asked the general questions interviewers typically ask during the first 10 minutes or so. Later on in the interview I was asked what I do in my spare time, so I explained that I am a very artistic person so I do a lot of crafts and I pay attention to the local politics in my area.
The look I got convinced me that this would be pretty much an investigation from this point on. She wanted to know what made me write about politics and how that related to childcare. I feel that she asked the questions very pointedly so that she could figure out how I think politically and how it would affect my job. Regardless of my political affiliation I felt that she was interrogating my social media networking by asking mainly about why I wrote political articles. I think she could have tactfully asked me what articles that I wrote on childcare, arts, crafts and other subjects before she jumped to the political issue. She asked me if this was a public site or if I wrote on my own personal blog, I told her that it is public writing site that many people can access. She then got very quiet and I felt an uneasy silence.
She also scrutinized my resume closely, and I could tell that since I did not want to give her more information on my political articles and how to access them, she wanted to "politely" conclude my interview. I felt very patronized as if I was not applying for a childcare position, but instead for a job in Congress. I think that her own political beliefs were in conflict with what she presumed mine to be. I am a common citizen of Virginia, not a political representative of either the Democratic or Republican party. However I do feel strongly in the privacy of my own home and the right of my own thoughts and mind I can write and express them freely. I feel that my experience towards the job did not matter to the interviewer, she more or less, was a looking for a problem in my social media endeavors that did not meet her approval.
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