Girl Friday feels down trodden and defeated lately. Let’s examine all the possible things that could have zapped her Superheroine powers…
When it rains it pours: After rushing around to get all the bosses prepared for their conferences, I had a momentary break from the storm. I didn’t spend the break preparing for the next storm because I had no idea what to prepare for, but now I’m really paying the price. I have ten travel files to reconcile. Joy. I have four candidates arriving for interviews and I’m responsible for coordinating everything for them, and arranging meetings with our large staff. I have conflict resolution training to coordinate and that involves stuffing students into bad time slots that are good time slots for directors. If I was 20 years old the last place I’d want to be at 8:30 AM on a Friday is in a directors office learning to resolve conflict by saying, “Tell me how you feel about that?”
Looking for greener pastures: Being recommended for jobs has opened up a whole can of worms. My direct supervisor really seems to resent my quest for a better job. She’s spoken with a director about it already and makes me feel, in general, very uncomfortable by discussing my opportunities with forced interest. Instead of showing me that I’m appreciated and trying to give me reasons to stay, she is pushing all my buttons and it really makes me want to leave at a dead run.
My own worst enemy: I find that I’m too honest during interviews. I feel confident and know I’m an engaging person, but I refuse to jump through hoops. I don’t lie about skills I don’t possess or evade answering questions that make me uncomfortable. I’m honest, I’m real, but I do try to show people that I’m more than just the sum of all my parts. I have a lot of potential, but I fear it might be overshadowed by unwillingness to paint pretty pictures.
Today is better than yesterday: I went to my interview yesterday. It went fine. I dazzled them with…um, something. I don’t know what they think of me, and I don’t know what I think of job. I told my nosy boss as much and she just got all huffy about it. I ended up being gone for two hours—so I took one hour as my lunch and then came back to work and stayed an hour and a half extra. I had lots of stuff to get through, but I did finish something major that has been weighing on me. So far today in between my mountains of work, I’ve eaten a chocolate croissant and caught up with Notorious M.A.G. and The Pink Fairy. Today is already better than yesterday!
I bet most interviewers find honesty refreshing, it will pay off in the end! See the ! that’s just how confident I am in saying this.
when i was interviewing all the time trying to staff two stores, i founds interviewees exactly like you the most promising. when people bs about their own knowledge and such, you can tell, trust me, and it’s really nice to see people that acknowledge their limitations and gaps, but express a confidence in their ability to learn. really. those are the people that will give a damn and that will try. anyway, you rock. if they don’t want you, they’re dumb. and your boss is mutarded. if she can’t be supportive then screw her.
I think you should consider posting a blog entry with cliches such as what works and what doesn’t work in interviews. Such a compilation will be a much useful tool to all of those trying to land a job…and we can laugh together about how silly and pompous some of them sound.
BTW: I like the word mutarded-it is funny and politically correct. I promise I will start using it more often;-))