To Land a Great Job, Stop Interviewing
At 11:59 PM on a Monday night, I lay wide awake in bed, begging my mind to let me sleep. I had to get up early to spend the next full day in an 8-hour interview process for a job I coveted: a senior position on a high-powered team of executive coaches, and every one I’d met was a great person to work with.
I tried to reason with my own mind by saying that I’d been through this kind of thing before, that I was well prepared and already knew a few of the stakeholders in the hiring process. It didn’t matter. Going into an interview is a special kind of mental torture: it’s an inspection of my worth. In effect, I’m walking up to a group of people and trying to convince them that I’m a “good enough person” for them to take me in and share their resources. It triggers primeval defense circuitry in my brain. Tribal instincts question whether I’ll be left to fend for myself in the forest afterward.
Giving up on the idea of a good night’s rest, I grabbed my tablet and tried to play a game. My mind kept dwelling on the interview process, complaining about how invasive and personal it is. I felt indignant that I had to interview for a job at all, that they were questioning whether I was a fit for their team. I’ve been selling services like theirs for years in my own businesses, after all. I knew they could drop me off at their client’s doorstep and I’d deliver…
