The Career Clinic Blog

A job interview isn’t a competition. You’re not trying to edge anyone out of anything.

A job interview is an opportunity to find out if you’d enjoy working with the person who suggested you meet.

“In my book,” communications consultant Richard Gallagher says, “no one ever blows an interview. Even if you walk in unprepared. The purpose of an interview is to show who you are.”

Maybe you’re the kind of person who doesn’t prepare for important meetings!

An interview is an information exchange. Maybe you’ll click with the person asking you questions, maybe the job will be even dreamier than you imagined, maybe you’re needed this afternoon.

And maybe not.

Then what? What happens if you get an offer for a job you don’t want, or don’t get an offer for a job you do want? And why the heck does it sting if you don’t get an offer for a job you don’t want?

Some thoughts in my final post this week.

Comment (0)

Big part of your life just went up in flames, eh?

I am so sorry.

Here’s hoping you’ll forgive me for being excited at what new beginning awaits. The one that will come, as the song goes, from some other beginning’s end.

Forest fires serve a purpose, you know.

Comment (0)

I am afraid to die.

I know this because for a while, I wasn’t. I was writing my first book, and so immersed in work I loved it was easier to stay Zen about everything else. I was filled with such purpose and peace that if someone had asked me what I thought about dying, I think I would’ve brushed off the question. “Well, whatever,” I can imagine having said. “I just want to get back to my book.”

I had a feeling Barbara Sher would understand. She’s written some of my favorite books--including Wishcraft, I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was, and It’s Only Too Late If You Don’t Start Now--and says the passage of time drives you crazy if you know you’re not using it right. It does me, anyway. I don’t want to get to the end of the road and discover my life hasn’t added up to anything. I want to run a subtotal now, so I can make adjustments.

Barbara made one of my dreams come true when she accepted an invitation to be a guest on The Career Clinic. She topped that, right after Saturday’s show, by agreeing to come back soon--and often.

So tomorrow, a present for you. More inspiration from Barbara. We’ll start with the question, “Do you think it’s selfish to find work you love?”

See you then!

Comment (3)