Interviewing: It's complicated

Interviewing for a new job is almost always stressful, anticipating the difficult questions to be thrown your way and trying to ascertain if you’re a good fit for the job you’re interviewing for.

Is there any interview question that has really thrown you for a loop?  In an interview today, the third person I talked with asked me about my weaknesses. I know this has always been a pretty standard interview question but I’ve typically avoided asking it when I interview people since everyone knows to expect it and has a prepared, acceptable, pat answer. After all, is anyone going to say anything really negative?

However, even after thinking about this question prior to the interview, I couldn’t think of a weakness (without making up something that sounded trite…).  So, I told him I couldn’t think of a weakness but a former supervisor once mentioned I sided too much with my clients (which I vehemently disagreed with) but I was able to turn that into how I saw the role and what I could have done better to address that perception.  There are plenty of things that aren’t necessarily my favorite things to do, and I know I have weaknesses (doesn’t everyone?), but in an interview I want to emphasize my positive, desirable qualities in hopes that I’m a good match for the requirements of the job.

I find interviews are often like conversations in any business situation. They become a give and take of questions and answers, sharing information yet allowing the interviewee an opportunity to probe about the position and the company while seeking the appropriate opening to share ideas or one’s own successes.

If it helps you who are, or may soon be, interviewing for a new job, here are some recent interview questions I've encountered:

1. Would you be bored in this job?
2. Tell me about a time you’ve had to negotiate something with a client.
3. How do you handle giving bad news?
4. Have you ever had to fire someone?
5. What kind of role/job do you see for yourself in 4 or 5 years?
6. Is the commute a factor for you?
7. What have you been doing since you left your last job?
8. Why did you leave your last job?
9. What classes have you taken?
10. What are you looking for in a job?
11. Why did this position interest you?
12. Describe a time that something went wrong and how you handled it. 

What is the most unexpected, most challenging interview question you’ve been asked?

10 things to divert your attention while looking for a job

Perhaps your day is more productive than mine, but now that I'm at home every day, I can think of scores of things I "must" do every day that are ever so much more interesting and immediately rewarding than the job search. My top 10 diversions, in no particular order:

1. Checking email. Again and again and again…always thinking there will be one important one, perhaps a response to a submitted resume, or a contest I’ve won. And if nothing important appears in my in-box, I can always spend time emailing friends and family and forwarding important articles to my daughter working in the next room.
2. Reading newsletters clogging my email box: professional newsletters, job search newsletters, travel newsletters. I want to keep up to speed in my profession, so I try to read everything, and consequently spend far too much time on this than I should.
3. Checking the old bank balance, looking to see what checks have cleared, ascertaining how much is left in the account, calculating how I’m budgeting, determining if money needs to be transferred. It’s always good for a diversion and feels very important.
4. Making plans for the weekend, this evening, or lunch next week…all done on email, of course. It’s much more fun, time consuming, and rewarding to schedule time with friends and to plan social engagements than it is to figure out the next tactic in the job search arsenal.
5. Doing laundry. Because of course one needs clean clothes for the job search and it’s such a rewarding task. You put in dirty, smelly clothes and you finish with new additions to your wardrobe (or linen closet). 
6. Exercise (an important diversion, to be sure). After all, if I can get outside during the day to walk in the sunshine and see the flowers in bloom, or visit the gym when hardly anyone is there, it helps to eliminate stress and makes me feel better. I’d rank this as a highly worthwhile diversion.
7. Planning for dinner. When working I would typically arrive home at 7 or 7:15, cook dinner, clean up, then collapse exhausted to chill out for the evening. Now, with both daughters at home and being a temporarily at-home Mom, I feel compelled to cook dinner every evening (ok, most evenings), so of course I must use part of the day to plan the meal, go to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or Giant to get all the ingredients, then start cooking so dinner is ready not long after daughter #2 arrives home from her rough day of being a teacher’s aide. Early dinner=nice.
8. Reading my horoscope. If it’s a good one, it brightens my whole day and I feel positive about the future. If it’s a ho-hum horoscope, then I’m sure it’s all just bunk anyway.
9. Check the mail (as in snail mail), and if there anything interesting like a new Washingtonian magazine or possible checks in unidentified envelopes, then read the mail, too. Plus, getting the mail, promotes activity in the day and allows me to check on the front lawn, the neighborhood, and the weather.
10. Eating (couldn’t forget this one). After all the kitchen is mere steps away, and  by 11 am I’m starved and must break from hours at my laptop writing cover letters and updating resumes. Consequently, I’m spending a fortune on groceries these days, but it’s nice to eat scrumptious, fresh food at home.

I actually think there are many more diversions than this, especially since I didn't include blogging and Twittering, two more of my favorite things to do each day. Counselors always advise job seekers to stick to a schedule. It may be time for me to heed the advice.

Rites of Spring

Washington in Spring: the joy of the unemployed

One of the true joys of not being in an office or cubicle at this time of year is the opportunity to get outside and explore the many gardens and beautiful scenery of our historic area. Yes, there are often tourists everywhere at this time of year, but wander off the Mall and into the neighborhoods and there are quiet, lovely places in bloom throughout the area.

I recently took a couple of afternoons to wander downtown for the annual walk of the Cherry Blossoms (call me crazy for doing this on a Friday afternoon at the peak of the tourist season) and to see the Spring blooms at the lovely Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. Sometimes just being immersed in the beauty of nature can calm one's soul and sense of anxiety about what lies ahead in life.  Just wanted to share these beautiful places with you. And for my unemployed friends, these gardens are free... 

Beautiful Brookside Gardens

Quiet and beautiful, tucked away in a residential neighborhood in Wheaton, Maryland. The trees, flowers and shrubs change throughout the year, so there is always something interesting in bloom.

Wandering the Tidal Basin to experience the Cherry Blossoms

Yes, just like every tourist to Washington..

Our doubts are traitors

I ran across this quote from William Shakespeare recently and thought it was so relevant, particularly to job seekers.

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.

 The longer one is out of work the more doubts one has about finding the right job, or in this economy, finding a job at all.  We begin to doubt ourselves, our skills, our years of professional knowledge, and our ability to find the challenging, satisfying work we’re seeking. Believe me, I know. 

Fear is a troubling – often debilitating -- feeling that holds us back from learning new things, going in another career direction, starting a new business, reaching out to others for help and guidance.

How do you overcome your doubts? Have you attempted something that has given you a tremendous sense of satisfaction?

The key to conquering, or at least facing, your self doubt is to take on something outside your comfort zone. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a career step…it can be anything that builds a sense of, “I CAN do it.” 

1.  Take a class – any class -- in something that is new and interesting to you to help you acquire new skills: cooking, white water kayaking, Zumba, Spanish, or anything else you might not normally do.
2.  Attend networking meetings to introduce yourself and your career interests. This can help re-focus your thinking to a workplace mindset and expand your contact list.
3.  Set a goal: what about running a half marathon, starting that novel, publish your poetry online, create your own family website, paint your home, take an improv class.
4.  Take advantage of free webinars; they’re available on lots of topics, such as Twitter, starting a small business, financial planning and more. Just do a Google search for topics you're interested in.

Sometimes it's the little steps we take that give us an enormous sense of accomplishment and willingness to tackle something else new and slightly uncomfortable. I have a fear of heights -- not a paralyzing fear but a sense of foreboding and "what if." On a trip to Bandelier National Park, New Mexico, to see the ancient cliff dwellings, one must climb a series of 12 foot "ladders" made of rough trees and branches in order to access the caves on the cliffs. The ladders go straight up. It was scary, but I did it (I made myself!). I told myself then and have reminded myself many times since when I've been apprehensive to do something:

If not now, when?

Gotta love Toms Shoes

This is a company that walks the walk -- literally. It's a company founded on the principle of doing good for others. For every pair of shoes you buy, Toms donates a pair of new shoes to a child in need.

Check out today's One Day Without Shoes event!

From the Toms website:

It’s Hard Without Shoes

Through everyday encounters with domestic poverty, we are reminded to appreciate having food and shelter, but most of us all but forget about our feet. Food, shelter, AND shoes facilitate life’s fundamentals. Imagine a life without shoes; constantly aware of the ground in front of you, suffering regular cuts and scrapes, tending to infection after each walk, and enduring not only terrain, but heat and cold.

The problem is large, but the solution is simple. Wearing shoes and practicing basic hygiene can prevent both infection and disease due to unsafe roads and contaminated soil. By imagining a life barefoot, we can all contribute to the awareness of these conditions. On April 8th, communities, campuses, organizations, and individuals are banding together to walk barefoot for One Day Without Shoes.    

How many pairs of shoes have you bought this year? Were they need to have or nice to have?  If you haven't checked out Toms Shoes yet, what are you waiting for?