One of my mentors told me that every three to five years you need to go on a job interview no matter what your current job status is. I’ve been at Brentwood Baptist for over three years, so it was time get out there to get interviewed. Now the point of the exercise is not to find a new job, but instead to make sure that your interview skills are stil intact.
I found a global company who’s local office just happened to be three miles from house and I put my name in for a job as Director of Creative Services. After a quick HR phone interview, I had a face to face interview with a senior executive and the person whom I would be replacing.
Now here comes the fun part. I’m in the middle of interview and it’s going quite well from my end (I think it well on their end too), and then they describe the job that I’m applying for. As they described it, I realized it was like they were building a checklist of everything I’m not good at.
Now this is normally where I would break into a cold sweat, try to somehow salvage the interview, and convince them that I’m who their looking for.
But… I didn’t.
I simply said to them that this job sounded wonderful, but I’m not the person they’re looking for. (There was then about 20 seconds of awkward silence, because none of is knew how to end the interview.) I then left their offices and had three doughnuts from bakery next door (don’t judge me).
So why didn’t I panic? Wasn’t it supposed to be my job to wow them and get them to hire me on that spot? Wasn’t I supposed to convince them that I’m their guy?
No, because despite the feeling that I was supposed to impress them, I know who I am, and I know who I’m not.
It’s why I reset this blog, gave away the contents, deleted Twitter from my phone, and rarely check Facebook.
It’s not that I think I’m better than someone who does all of those formentioned things. Instead, it’s understanding how I function best.
I function best when I’m surrounded by a small group of creatives who are passionate about what they do and want to be the best in their fields. I succeed when when the work seems slightly bigger than something we’re supposed to be able to do. When the entire team thinks to itself that the chance of succeeeding is slim, but worth a shot.
The world already has enough people tweeting, commenting, and selling Rodan and Fields (yes, I went there). What it doesn’t have, is people who are understand who they are and who they’re not.
So it’s time to figure out who you are and you’re not. It’s time to put the phone down and spend time thinking about who you want to be and what it will take to get there.
If you’re not sure, go on a job interview.