veiled4allah: turning the tables

On Monday, NWIRP was interviewing candidates for the executive director position. The board of directors were all there, as were a couple of people from the community who work closely with NWIRP. There were three candidates, each of them very different. Each of the candidates had to go through four panel interviews: three interviews with different groups of the staff, plus one with the board and the management. Talk about a marathon!

Each of the candidates had strengths and weaknesses. What's interesting is that they each were strong in a different area and each were weak in a different area. One was very knowledgeable about immigration law, as he's worked in the field for a dozen years, but he came off as both slick and arrogant at times. The next was very nice but without the level of management experience that I think she would really need to run NWIRP. The third has been an activist for many years including in labor unions and human rights organizations and at first he seemed like the best choice but then he said a couple of things that made us wonder if he really understands NWIRP's vision and mission.

Apparently the board and the search committee didn't have a clear favorite either so they're basically holding out an offer to whichever of the three takes it. It'll be interesting to see who it is.

It was also very interesting for me to be on the other side of the job interview process, evaluating a person's resume and thinking of questions to ask them to find out in an hour if they would be the right person for the position. I'm glad I took part; I learned a lot.

NWIRP is a great place. The staff have really made efforts to make me feel welcome and allow me to take part in things. I also feel very comfortable with them since they share my views about politics and social justice issues - after all, that's why we're all working for an organization like NWIRP. I think that volunteering there is one of the best decisions I've made in a long time, al-hamdulillah, not just for my career but also for myself. Now, I just have to convince them that they should pay me a salary...