Interviewing

This week I had a three hour interview for a financial analyst position with a very famous company. During the three hour period, I had to meet with four different sets of people for 45 minutes each.

When I graduated from college I was going on interviews frequently and I got quite good at them. I have been on a few recently as well, but this interview process was unlike anything I had ever gone on before. The thing I forgot was that during interviews you need to continually sell yourself. Even when the interviewers may not believe in you, or might be giving you a hard time, you need to keep believing in yourself.

By the end of this particular interviewing process though I felt worn out and unsure if I could even do the job. This was my own self doubt taking over.

Part of the issue at hand was that I would be moving from the Government sector to the Private sector. It seemed like this private firm had some reservations about the differences in work load and pace between the two sectors. I assured the team of people that my 6 years of experience working on the Governor's Budget was not the stereotypical "state" job where people are leaving at 3:30 everyday and just doing the bare minimum. However, I do not know if they really believed me or understood how hard I had worked. It was very frustrating to sit there and tell these people how much I had done, and for them to keep telling me how fast paced and tough their work environment was, like I was a baby. They did not even know me!

The interviewer even asked me my college G.P.A., after having over 6 years of actual work experience. It was as if she was just looking for reasons not to hire me.

The lesson I learned through all of this is, you really cannot listen to other people and let them bring you down. I know if I was given this job, that I could do it just as well as anyone else, maybe even better. I was starting to feel down because of the doubts this woman and her team had about me, but I know they are not true. In the end, interviewing is like anything else, you need to keep your confidence about you and continue to persevere even when people are telling you, you can't do it.

When I think about Britney Spears, or Jennifer Lopez, or any other big star that has made it in Hollywood, you always hear about how many people tell them "no" before they actually make it. Just because one person doesn't hire you or doesn't think you can do the job, does not mean that they are right. Interviewing, job hunting, and pretty much life in general are all about perseverance in the face of doubt and scrutiny. If you can overcome these things and keep plugging away at your goals and beliefs, it is bound to work out at some point. And even if you do not get exactly what you want from your dedication, I would bet you that you will get something pretty close or maybe even better than you could have imagined for yourself.

So in the end, I do not know if I would even want to work for these people that are putting me down before I have even been hired. If they are doing this now, what do they do when you are actually working for them? Everything in life happens for a reason, and if I do not get this job I am going to look at it as a blessing that I will not be surrounded by such negative people. It is their loss and I will be great - even without them!