Justify Your Existence
Fraternity hazing and meat-market dating.
Those are the only two experiences more humiliating than interviewing for a new job regardless of how well or poorly the exercise is going.
So I had a job interview this morning. Thanks to my coworker Simon, who gave me the inside track.
Luckily the interview was over breakfast, so that made it feel slightly less intimidated, but the imbalance of power between interviewer and interviewee is inescapable. Every word that comes out of your mouth is a step towards or away from getting the job. Your entire existence - every departure from a previous job, every empty spot on your resume, and every lackluster position you've held - must be justified. Even when it's a job that I don't want I'm a bit nervous.
Dating comes to mind, not having to do which is by far the best part of marriage.
The interview for my current job at FalStaff is probably the best I have ever had. Most of them time was them trying to convince me that this was a job that I had wanted. It didn't take much.
This may well be the second best interview that I've ever had. It turns out that I have some of the skills that I didn't even know they wanted. Blah, blah, blah, none of this is that important. Turns out the position is a couple months away from opening.
Besides the defensiveness, the worst thing about job interviews is the dishonesty. I have to pretend to be detail-oriented, for instance. The big one this time around, though, was declining to mention that I was getting my butt out of Deseret as soon as Clancy finished her residency. The current holder of the position is leaving because of his wife. If I'd mentioned that was a possibility with mine...
Sigh.
I hate lying. Even if it's by omission.
But I guess I don't hate it as much as I like the prospect of a better job.
Those are the only two experiences more humiliating than interviewing for a new job regardless of how well or poorly the exercise is going.
So I had a job interview this morning. Thanks to my coworker Simon, who gave me the inside track.
Luckily the interview was over breakfast, so that made it feel slightly less intimidated, but the imbalance of power between interviewer and interviewee is inescapable. Every word that comes out of your mouth is a step towards or away from getting the job. Your entire existence - every departure from a previous job, every empty spot on your resume, and every lackluster position you've held - must be justified. Even when it's a job that I don't want I'm a bit nervous.
Dating comes to mind, not having to do which is by far the best part of marriage.
The interview for my current job at FalStaff is probably the best I have ever had. Most of them time was them trying to convince me that this was a job that I had wanted. It didn't take much.
This may well be the second best interview that I've ever had. It turns out that I have some of the skills that I didn't even know they wanted. Blah, blah, blah, none of this is that important. Turns out the position is a couple months away from opening.
Besides the defensiveness, the worst thing about job interviews is the dishonesty. I have to pretend to be detail-oriented, for instance. The big one this time around, though, was declining to mention that I was getting my butt out of Deseret as soon as Clancy finished her residency. The current holder of the position is leaving because of his wife. If I'd mentioned that was a possibility with mine...
Sigh.
I hate lying. Even if it's by omission.
But I guess I don't hate it as much as I like the prospect of a better job.
posted by trumwill at 9:09 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home